Events and News

A virtuous Sardinia emerges from the Ecoforum organized by Legambiente Sardinia on the circular economy. Two nourished round tables gathered on Thursday 12 December in the lecture hall of the "Michele Giua" Institute in Cagliari, to sum up the state of the art in the waste management system, and the spontaneous excellences of the territory in terms of circular economy. With 67% of disposed waste, the island ranks sixth in Italy, first among the central-southern regions. 110 municipalities out of 377 exceed 65%, and 82 are able to go beyond 80%. Results that force Gianni Lampis, regional councilor for the defense of the environment, to “feel a double responsibility, an administrative and a generational. We certainly need to improve the technical solutions, but environmental protection is a cultural battle that begins in places like this, and we will do everything in order to win it”. Among the future action listed by the councilor the creation of ecocentres for each municipality, the mitigation of the enormous amount of undifferentiated waste in the summer season and the creation of a single tariff for municipal waste delivery.

"The green island of the Mediterranean" imagined by Lampis has already been born in San Vero Milis, a municipality that abolished the use of plastic in municipal areas, and in Orosei, always close to 90% of disposal, as well as in Domus De Maria, where the ecocentre is a village to which everyone, even tourists, have access, and where the splendid dunes of Chia are protected by fences and walkways, and plastic has been banned from beaches and schools. But good practices continue beyond the confines of the institutional world, with the Sassari eco-volunteers inspired by the great environmentalist Roberto Cavallo, with the waste management system in the Marina di Portisco and the Oristano’s Industrial Consortium.

The MEDSEA Foundation intervened at the Ecoforum. Its environmental consultant Giorgio Massaro illustrated the action carried out in the port of Marceddì of Terralba, one of the eleven municipalities that make up the territory of intervention of the Maristanis project. On the quays of the port the oleo-absorbers banners of the avant-garde Sardinian company Edizero have been placed. The long drapes immersed in water are composed of sheep's wool and vegetable fibers and have been designed for the cleansing of the sea and lakes and the daily prevention of micro-spills in ports. A kilo of Geolana oil-absorber can neutralize up to 17 kilos of hydrocarbons. A revolutionary product due to its perfect circularity: made in Sardinia with zero km industry (Edilana biotechnology) it uses Sardinian wool underlayings, otherwise unusable and destined for disposal. Banners allow the formation of bacterial colonies capable of decomposing hydrocarbons, and they gradually dissolve into the sea without any kind of impact.

"We do not yet have reliable data on the state of pollution in the port of Marceddi, and consequently the effect brought about by the use of banners", explains Massaro. “But we showed to the administrations that with a minimum investment and few technical implications, certified technologies can be positioned that are extremely efficient and simple to remove. Banners are a great example of innovation. I also think about the Geolana cushions now mandatory for all boats over ten meters that cross the Sinis Marine Protected Area. It is sufficient to place them in the bilges to degrade oils and hydrocarbons. A very important tool for all our marine protected areas".

“Our 150 products come only from renewable sources deriving from secondary or last materials. Less waste, less pollution, less landfills, fewer incinerators and products that once they have finished their task go back to belong to the earth, or to the sea", explains the owner of Edizero Daniela Ducato. Only a few days ago “Edizero Architecture for Peace” was mentioned for the fifth consecutive year by the report on recycling carried out by the Sustainable Development Foundation, Ispra and Ministry of the Environment. Over one hundred types of renewable material to create high-performance biomaterials for construction, energy and acoustic systems,

elements of the interior design, geotechnics, environmental engineering and pollution control. A unique company in Italy according to all numbers and evaluations. But it is the concept of "architecture for peace" that Daniela Ducato wishes to underline: "Peace means not using hydrocarbons, the first cause of pollution and war. We make every new Edizero product with great attention to the sea. We can say that we look at the world with the eyes of fish. Today oil pollution has become of second-class media relevance, although only in the Mediterranean Sea it represents 27% of the total. This is why for us to collaborate with MEDSEA and the Maristanis project is so important, because it addresses the protection of the environment with an all-encompassing approach".

A contact, that of Maristanis with the wetlands of the Gulf of Oristano, which always passes through the communities and institutions representing them. The positioning of the banners in Marceddì received the green light from the fishermen, and was promoted by the municipality of Terralba. "We immediately embraced the proposal of MEDSEA, and we are happy that it is a local company like Edizero to have accompanied the foundation in its realization. The fishing sector of the port really appreciated the banners", says Simone Puddu, Councilor for Fisheries of Terralba, one of the “big recycling municipalities" awarded during the meeting at the Giua Institute. "We are waiting for the results from MEDSEA and Edizero, although today the experiment seems to have been successful. We are ready for the next initiative. We have many ideas for the port of Marceddì, and we are carrying them forward", concludes Puddu.