Future Cities: Shaping Europe from the bottom up

”The catastrophe meant people were open to radical
solutions,” Ercolini said.
an alternative that was good for the environment, but
also for the economy.
created 60 well-paid jobs in recycling and doorto-door
collection (the average number of people
working in an incinerator is 62). The town saves €2
million a year from sales of recycled materials.
”Europe is poor in raw materials, but our cities are
electronics and other garbage,” Ercolini said.
foremost environmental award.
”All may not reach that goal but at least they are
working in that direction,” Ercoloni said.
People in Treviso generate on average 53 kilograms
of non-recyclable waste per inhabitant a year.
THE EU’S AMBITIOUS REALISM
So what stops the movement from spreading
throughout Europe?
for an industrial revolution. The circular economy
package aimed to reform the EU economic model
from a “take, make, use, and throw away”, or “linear”
approach, into one in which resources are re-used,
repaired, and recycled.
recycling municipal waste at 65 percent.
journalists at the time: “We could have also said: 100
percent. And then it would be even more ambitious.
But what would that have meant in the real world?
We've set a target which we think is very ambitious,
but realistic.”
THE CIRCULAR LOOP
publication why some waste was not recyclable.
she said.
Some materials lose quality after each additional life
cycle.
”Paper, for instance, can be recycled up to seven
times,” she said.
Primary school teacher
Rossano Ercolini
redesigned the waste
management system
in his home town of
leads the zero waste
Photo: Zero Waste France
10 — FUTURE CITIES OCTOBER 2016