G. Do you think that the lifestyle of the inhabitants of your

town or city reflects behavior that is in line with the

concept of sustainable development? In your opinion,

what should be improved?

Alberto Massa

IE Application Essay

OVERVIEW

Between 2007 and 2008, Piano di Sorrento wasvictim of the waste emergency that struck theCampania region, which my hometown is partof. Today, Piano di Sorrento is an example ofsustainability thanks to its waste managementprogram.

I live in Piano di Sorrento, a small town of 13.066 inhabitants located in Southern Italy, approximately 50 km away from Naples.

Let’s see why the lifestyle of the inhabitants of my town is in line with the concept of sustainable development, and what can be improved.

WASTE EMERGENCY

The crisis regarding waste disposal took place in the Campania region from 1994 until 2009.More specifically, in 2007 the Italian government declared the state of emergency for the region,which ended in 2009.

CAUSES: a mixture of technical and administrative errors, but especially because of political,industrial and criminal interests. The state of emergency is economically advantageous fororganized crime: the profits from illegal waste management are even larger than those obtainedthrough drug trafficking or extortion.

IMPACT ON PIANO DI SORRENTO

The two major concerns about theemergency laid on health and economy.Specifically, tourism is a major source ofincome, and counteractions needed tobe taken in order to prevent a decreasein terms of touristic affluence.

SOLUTION: SEPARATE COLLECTION

In 2008, the municipality of Piano di Sorrentoimposed the separate collection of waste to all thecitizens.

The separate collection consists in dividing wasteinto plastic, paper, glass, organic and non-recyclable. The waste is collected through the door-to-door system, from 10pm to 2am, according tothe calendar below.

DAY TYPE OF WASTE

Monday Non-recyclable

Tuesday Organic

Wednesday Plastic and Glass

Thursday Organic

Friday Non-recyclable

Saturday Organic

Sunday Paper

Thanks to this system, a large part ofdomestic and non-domestic waste canbe salvaged, transformed and re-used.

PENISOLAVERDE SPA

Me and the managing director of Penisolaverde SPA, Luigi Cuomo.

Penisolaverde S.p.A. is a public companycontrolled by the Municipalities of Piano diSorrento and Sorrento. It takes care of thecollection and disposal of all the waste producedby both municipalities.

I personally visited the HQ of Penisolaverdeand met with its managing director, in orderto better understand the processes and togather some interesting data.

In the following slides, we will see how thiscompany and the citizens contributed tomake my home town an example ofsustainability.

THE PROCESS

1. Everyday, from 10pm to 2am, eachhousehold is required to leave their wasteout of the door. The type of waste to dropchanges everyday based on a calendar.

2. At night, mini trucks (like the one in thepicture) pick up the waste and bring it to thecollection center.

3. From the collection center, the waste isbrought to different processing plants thatvary according to the type of waste.

For every ton of recycled waste deliveredto processing plants, Penisolaverde S.p.A.is able to collect a certain amount ofmoney, according to the price tableprovided by CONAI, a consortium for therecycle and recovery of packaging.

Last year, Piano di Sorrento was able tocollect €127.0001 from selling recycledmaterials.

1. Source: Penisolaverde S.p.A.

DATA AND RESULTS: PART 1

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Piano di Sorrento 21.5 45.74 65.59 60.16 58.29 60.39 59.92

Italy 27.5 30.6 33.6 35.3 37.7 39.9 42.3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

% of recycled waste2

The graphic below shows the percentage of recycled waste in Piano di Sorrento compared tothe Italian average, from 2007 to 2013. Also, considering the EU 2020 objective of 50% ofrecycled waste1, we can deduce that the results are very satisfying.

Sources1. European Environment Agency2. ISPRA; Anci-Conai Database; Osservatorio Regione Campania

DATA AND RESULTS: PART 2

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Piano di Sorrento 7592.4 6867.6 7116.5 7032.3 6485.6 6323 6439.4

6000

6500

7000

7500

8000

Ton

s o

f w

aste

Total Yearly Waste Produced1

The graphic below shows how the separate collection helped to reduce the total amount ofwaste produced per year. From 2007 to 2013, Piano di Sorrento has experienced a reduction inwaste produced of 17,90%.

1. Source: Penisolaverde S.p.A.

DATA AND RESULTS: PART 3

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Piano di Sorrento 6081 3575 2288 2630 2575 2379 2417

1900

2900

3900

4900

5900

6900

Ton

s o

f w

aste

Total Yearly Non-Recycled Waste1

1. Source: Penisolaverde S.p.A.2. Calculated using the coefficient of 0,65Kg of CO2 per kilogram of waste

The graphic below shows how the situation has changed from 2007 to 2013 in terms of non-recycled waste per year. Piano di Sorrento has experienced a decrease of 151,59%. Moreover, thetown contributed to avoid total CO2 emissions for 2.381.600 Kg(2).

IMPROVEMENTS

The main problem with the separate collection liesin its quality. In fact, some citizens do not separatethe waste properly, and their behavior is reflectedinto a poor recovery of re-usable materials fromrecycled waste.

A good solution for Piano di Sorrento is toinvest money in communication to sensitizethose careless citizens;

A great solution is to offer them benefits inexchange of recycled waste!

How it works: the citizens bring their waste to thecollection center. The waste gets weighted, and foreach kilogram they get a point. With a certainnumber of points, they get vouchers or goods.

The waste is being weighted to calculate the points.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

The main concern for the citizens is to reduce the amount of money to pay for the Waste Tax(TARSU in Italy), which amounts €2751 on average. In Piano di Sorrento, each citizen has thepossibility to save almost 30% on that tax. Let’s see how.

By investing on a composter.

Each family could invest on a composter for theorganic waste. After 2-3 months, the organic wastein the composter becomes humus to be used forplants.

By receiving benefits from bringing recycled wasteto the collection center3.

Supermarket vouchers, maximum €30worth allowed.

1 liter of Extra Virgin Olive Oil every 5liters of exhausted oil. 4 liters maximumallowed, worth €6 each.

SAVINGS

10% on the waste tax2

(€27,5)

€ 30

€ 24

81,5/275 = 29,63%

€ 54

Sources1-2. Municipality of Piano di Sorrento3. Penisolaverde S.p.A.

INNOVATION: A SUCCESS CASE

Today’s biggest concern in terms of waste management lies in finding ways to reduce thequantities of non-recycled waste. In regard to this issue, an innovative company called ContarinaS.p.A. seems to be the success case to follow.

Contarina operates in the Province of Treviso, and wasable to increase the percentage of recycled waste upto 85%1.

HOW?

Like Piano di Sorrento, Contarina uses the door-to-door system.Their point of difference consists in the conversion to a quantity-based fee system for non-recycled waste, in order to calculateexactly how much money each citizen has to pay.

Every non-recycled waste container belonging to a family hasa transponder.

The unique code contained in the transponder is read by adevice, which registers the weight of waste, the date andtime of collection.

1. Source: Contarina S.p.A.

PROCESS AND RESULTS

Production ofwaste

Collection and transmission ofdata about waste produced

Calculation of the fee

Thanks to this system, in the territory covered by Contarina the percentage of recycled wasteincreased from 66,3% (basic door-to-door system) to 85% (door-to-door with quantity-basedfee system).

In Treviso, which is the capital of its province, from 2013 to 2014 the production of non-recycled waste dropped from 271,4 Kg per inhabitant to 133,3 Kg per inhabitant, with aconsequent reduction in terms of money to pay for the citizens.

Sources: Contarina S.p.A.; Consorzio Priula; Consorzio Tv Tre

CONCLUSION

As we have seen so far, thanks to the behavior of my fellow citizens and to the work done byPenisolaverde, Piano di Sorrento proudly embraces the principle of sustainable development.

How can we do better?

Piano di Sorrento should adopt the quantity-based fee system. It represents a great incentive to bemore careful about the separate collection of waste. In fact, by reducing the quantities of non-recycledwaste, we will have to pay less money and we will reduce the environmental impact in terms of CO2emissions caused by disposal operations;

The public administration should invest more money in communication to sensitize the population;

Besides the actions that may be taken by the public administration, the entire population should beproactive to make this beautiful place a great ecological paradise.