“Varese, make a difference” a campaign to become virtuous as in Salerno.

Today, a poster "reveals" the meaning of the mysterious billboards "Varese is not Salerno" and "Varese is not Pordenone". Posters that have created great debates online and many suspicions:  in particular from the community  from Salerno , that sees, in those mysterious phrases,  a prejudice between the north and south.

Prejudice that in fact was not there, because on the contrary the posters denounce a lack in the garden city, because only 48.9% of the rubbish is separated, while in Salerno it is 70.3% and Pordenone (the other city involved) it is even 78.1%. The billboards, in fact, spoke first of waste, and recycling quotas: where Varese performs well, but could do much more.

And so today, under  the patronage of the Municipality of Varese, kicks off the second phase of the Aspem campaign, the company that operates in the territory of the capital and other nearby towns, the service of waste and disposal collection. The message of the next poster "Varese, make a difference" in fact wants to urge all the city dwellers of Varese  to work hard to help achieve the goal of 65% of recycling provided by the European Union by the end of 2012. From the beginning of March, start the first 60 days of experimentation: that focus on improving the quality of waste, already done by the inhabitants; dividing the rubbish into separate binbags.

And  a "football system" will be used that rewards the virtuous and "admonishes those who make mistakes" and in the first two months when the rubbish is being collected one of two cards will be delivered: one green, with a thanks from Aspem, if the contents of different bags have been correctly separated. And a yellow one, if the waste in different bags has not be correctly separated. From May onwards, however, a red card  with "disqualification" and non-collection of waste for those who continue to make mistakes. "A way of getting used to the degree of precision in separate bags," says William Malnati, president of Aspem, talking about the practical details of the campaign. And if you have any doubts about which bag to use for a specific waste, the Aspem site even has  a "search engine" for trash.

"I cannot praise enough the initiative of this communication campaign, which takes its origin from the indications of the European Union that we have to reach the percentage of 65% of waste separation by  December 31, 2012. Our city is still below 50% and is lower than other provincial capitals that are more virtuous then us, for example, Salerno and Pordenone” says Attilio Fontana, the mayor of Varese. “To achieve the goal, it is necessary to place firmly at the centre public opinion of Varese  the need to practice good behaviour that will lead us to the specific percentage. "

The awareness campaign will reach in particular some of the categories involved; "We have provided important information measures such as the delivery to all customers of an artwork, a special communication to businesses and citizen centres” adds William Malnati.  “We also directly involved  building managers at a meeting dedicated to create the stable cooperation with condominiums of buildings designed and managed by their actions addressed to foreign families. " A strong commitment to achieve the result, will be efforts by the operators of the company "The valuable work done every day by our operators in the area becomes even more crucial because they will have the task to monitor and report improper behaviour in the delivery of the waste” emphasises Massimiliano Masi, CEO of Aspem ”all that the slogan ‘Varese, make a difference’ does not remain just an invitation, but can become an active behaviour of all of Varese to return to being among the first in the ranking of the best. "

For the time being, the curious campaign has done much: "We felt that, given the complexity of the issue of waste and the ambitious goal of 65%, an awareness campaign was crucial in two stages” explain Hagam managers, “the ‘organisers materials’ campaign which has caused such a debate – the first aimed to elicit an emotional reaction and raise the level of attention on the issue, the second to pass the full message. "

That is completed by a direct involvement of users: thanks to a questionnaire that will lead to an analysis focused on the issue. Whoever wants  can start to "do his duty" from now: the questionnaire is already online.