Our actions matter
Don't waste food and do recycling properly. These are the themes of the two commercials aired since the end of last week on all TV channels, digital channels and social media wanted by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy (MIMIT) and the Superior Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) as part of the communication campaign "Let's Circulate - Your Actions Count."
The goal is to raise awareness among the citizenry toward more sustainable consumption behaviors. And the concept is highlighted by the campaign's claim: Your actions count. Because every consumer has the power to make a difference in environmental sustainability, even if only through small daily actions. Such as precisely not throwing away leftover food and being able to carefully separate waste.
Two commercials that use irony to persuade, but mostly to highlight the cause-and-effect relationship between bad behavior and good practices. As food is thrown away, electricity drops, water no longer comes out of the faucet, and the little girl who is brushing her teeth is left with a mouth full of toothpaste screaming "Mommy!" Because food cost energy and labor: to throw it away is to waste everything that went into its production. And if you throw the waste in the wrong bin, that's when the dog starts barking because he sees pieces of furniture disappearing from the house: it's those items that could have been built through recycling.
The communication campaign chose two issues that are important right now, both environmentally and socially. Between 12 and 18 million tons of food are lost every year in Italy, also complicit in domestic consumption. A phenomenon that on a global level has gigantic dimensions, considering that one third of the food produced - equal to 1.3 billion tons - is lost in the agricultural production phase or wasted as waste.
And with regard to separate waste collection, reducing waste generation is among the "circularity" priorities of both Italy and Europe. The goal is to contain landfilling as much as possible. In 2021, our country recycled a total of 48.1 percent of municipal waste, with a landfill disposal rate of 19 percent. But the European target to 2025 calls for us to reach 55 and 10 percent respectively.
Below are the two circular economy commercials analyzed:
