Every home in San Giorgio has now received a booklet outlining the system of door to door refuse collection which is expected to start in March. The large rubbish bins in the street will become a thing of the past.
The system is already in operation in Mondavio and according to their newsletter it has been a great success despite some inital teething problems. They claim that the amount of differentiated rubbish collected has risen from 24% to 68%. This means that the amount of rubbish taken to the municipal dumpĀ dropped by 75%. The commune has to pay for each ton of rubbish taken to the municipal dump and so the new system saves money. Of course it costs more money to manage the new system which means “the annual rubbish tax” will rise. However, the success means that Mondavio is now very near the EU target and will not be penalised by central government for not differentiating their rubbish.
When theĀ San Giorgio system starts in March we will have container for food waste, a container for paper and cardboard, a container for glass, a sack for plastics, a sack for cans,and a container for miscellaneous dry items. The very useful booklet explaining the system clarifies important questions such as do yoghurt cartons go with the plastics (they do) and so orange juice cartons go with paper (they do). As well as all the cartons and sacks an “Ecological Station” will be created for items such as medicines, batteries, old clothes, garden waste etc. It all seems very complicated to people used to throwing everything in one large container but if Mondavio can do it so can we.