Respect for the environment? It must be broadcast from an early age, but not only in words. And in Sicily there is a seaside village that is doing it in an original and engaging way: offering free tickets for the rides in exchange for waste of waste on the beach. Succcede in the Messina municipality of Olivieriwhich has about 2000 inhabitants, where where the initiative of a game has turned into an experiment of an active citizenship, inspiration for everyone.
It all started spontaneously, with a group of children, armed with goodwill, who wanted to remove paper, abandoned bottles and other abandoned garbage on the beach. The mayor Francesco Iiarrera, through a post on Facebook, tells him directly.
“There is this game, started almost as a game, that watching it well is much more than a game. It works like this: the children collect waste on the beach. Bottle, cards, what they find. Then take a photo. – explains the first citizen, known for his civic example and his rides on the bike on the hunt for garbage in the streets of Olivieri – some post it on social media, others send it directly to the mayor (who has the memory of the phone full of recycled plastic).
Afterwards they run in common to collect a free block for the Tofaro Luna Park rides. A ticket for the wheel, one for the gallows, one for that hellish thing they call Tagadà . The children are happy. The beaches, as well. Parents save. And we adults can hope to build better adults than us.
There is this game, which began almost as a game, that watching it well is much more than a game. So: children … the children …
Posted by Francesco Iarrera on Thursday, July 17, 2025
An initiative to be replicated also in other municipalities
The initiative, which will start again next week, has already involved numerous children and families. So a simple gesture (accompanied by a welcome prize) has become an opportunity to turn on the spotlight on the protection of the environment and to remember that the beaches are of everyone and everyone can do their part to keep them clean.
Seeing a child collecting waste with pride, showing his “trophy” to the mayor, being happy not only for the prize but for having done something right is a great victory. And he questioned the habits of adults, often more resigned or indifferent. In a historical moment in which there is a lot of talk about civic education and sustainability, Oliveri’s children are already putting it into practice. The initiative of the Sicilian village demonstrates thatAnd there are no great means or investments to change things. Just have a little inventiveness and the desire to listen to even the little ones and gratify them. Because, sometimes, they are the ones who remind us what it means to be aware citizens.
