In this article, we will discuss one of the main missions of Make It Green. This is the cleaning of the hiking paths surrounding our beautiful town of Tramonti. We have already carried out two clean-up sessions and many more will take place throughout our volunteering period.
How does it work in practice?
To make it as easy as possible to sort the waste, we decided to assign roles. Some people collect the waste while others carry the rubbish bags. There are four different trash bags (Plastic/metal, Paper, Glass, and Mix) and these, unfortunately, fill up too quickly. Indeed, we are often surprised and disgusted to see these piles of rubbish in the middle of nature, sometimes several kilometers from a village. We usually have to dig a bit to extract some of them and we wonder how long they have been there and how many are probably trapped under the ground contaminating our soils.
Once the bags are full, they are placed in strategic locations and the municipality is notified so that they can come and collect the already sorted bags.
During these clean-ups, we regularly meet pedestrians or residents who encourage us in their own way. Some of them offer us water, others fruit, and this always warms our hearts. The best example was during the cleaning of the provincial road from the Chiunzi pass. Many cars slowed down to congratulate us, many gave us the thumbs up and we also got to chat with some. We hope that everyone we met will think of us the next time they want to throw something out of the window.
However, even if we are very keen to collect waste, the main purpose of this mission is to increase the awareness of the inhabitants of Tramonti. There is no point in cleaning up an area if it is going to be dirty again the following week. We want to make everyone aware that throwing waste into the environment is killing them. Indeed, many people do not realize that the waste that decomposes in nature and in the ocean generates microplastics that are then ingested by the animals and plants that we consume. As a result, according to some studies, the smallest microplastics end up in our cells and these will undoubtedly have devastating effects on our health.
It is not yet too late to react. Let’s act together because every action counts to allow future generations to enjoy life on earth as we did.
Until the next time, Make It Green.
Author: Gabriel Jadin