Limited by the anti-Covid-19 restrictions, we kept on organising small, local groups of volunteers, often consisting of families or groups of friends, who take part in so-called “eco-walks”. Observing all the anti-contamination rules ( masks, gloves, keeping distance) we managed to run 4 small events during the first month of 2021, collecting about 1200 KG OF WASTE and involving 80 volunteers!

The main source of the waste collected in January continues to be the FLY dumping of FLY tipping ( illegal abandoning of house-originating waste in the open, interesting study related to Italy’s fly tipping problem can be found here). The usual suspects are: big black bags full of unsorted rubbish, debris from the house redecoration (shower base, toilet, bags full of old tiles), clothes, car seats for children, broken buggies and furniture.

We also continue finding waste linked to the past beach season like flippers, single-use plastic plates and cups (reduced to tiny pieces), plastic bottles, ice-cream and ice-drink cups, beach equipment like chairs, beach umbrellas.

Our efforts last month were significantly reinforced by local voluntary groups, like the “active citizens” group from Quartu Sant’Elena. The residents of this coastal town ( now the third town in Sardinia when it comes to the size of the population) regularly participate in the efforts to clean-up the coast, which in this municipality stretches out for 26 kilometres.