In urban parks there are 4 waste every square meter: join the World Cleanup Day to make your city cleaner

Four waste for each square meter. This is the business card of our urban parks, transformed into silent landfills where to walk means to trample an invisible carpet of dirt.

The latest Legambiente survey on 49 green areas in 20 Italian cities returns a merciless photography: 24,260 waste cataloged one by one, with cigarette butts dominating the scene (10,472 pieces) and plastic that reigns sovereign representing 64% of the total. Yet, just as these data emerge, thousands of citizens are preparing to react: from Friday 19th to Sunday 21 September “we clean the world”, which this year is intertwined with the global world cleanup day to say enough to the degradation of our green areas.

The numbers of the Park Litter survey speak clearly. Legambiente volunteers have sifted with scientific precision every corner of the monitored areas, revealing a density of butts that reaches 161 pieces per 100 square meters. A figure that transforms each green area into a gigantic open -air ashtray, where the habit of throwing the butts on the ground is now rooted as an automatic reflection.

But the butts are only the tip of the iceberg. The real protagonist of this environmental disaster is plastic, which with its 64.3% of the total monopolizes the scene of degradation. An even more worrying fact if we consider that over half of the waste found (51.1%) belongs to the categories of products that the European SUP directive (Single Use Plastics) has banned or regulated by 2022. A signal that the rules, alone, are not enough without a change of collective mentality.

The structural causes of the problem

The investigation is not limited to the count, but digs in the roots of the phenomenon. 60% of the monitored areas have areas of systematic accumulation, concentrated mainly around benches and tables, places where sociability is transformed too often into neglect. The infrastructure deficiency does the rest: only 28 transepts out of 65 have baskets with windproof closure, while just 27 are equipped for separate collection.

Then there is an aspect that amplifies the damage beyond the boundaries of the park itself. In 73.8% of the monitored areas there are drainage channels and manholes which, in the event of bad waste management, are transformed into the pollution highways towards rivers and sea. Every abandoned plastic or but so much bottle can thus start a journey that will lead him to contaminate distant ecosystems.

The answer: from indignation to action

Faced with this scenario, the mobilization is not long in coming. The weekend of 19-21 September marks the return of “We clean the world”, the historic Legambiente campaign now in its 33rd edition, which this year synchronizes with the World Cleanup Day coordinated by Let’s Do It! Italy. A movement that on September 20 combines millions of people in 190 countries for a common challenge: cleaning up the planet from waste.

Taking care of the environment is a simple gesture that can generate a great change – explains Stefano Ciafani, national president of Legambiente – every action, even small, inspires others, strengthens the sense of community and spreads a culture of respect and responsibility. With Puliamo the world we put together knowledge with the action, through the Citizen Science to monitor waste dispersed in the environment and voluntary initiatives to collect them.

The appeal also finds echo in the institutions: the vice -president of the Chamber Sergio Costa has relaunched on social media the message that “everyone can and must do their part”, transforming the initiative into a real national appeal.

A weekend of mobilization

The program of this weekend is very rich. From the beaches of Salerno, where environmental cleaning is intertwined with a reflection on peace and climatic justice, to the innovative plogging sessions on the coast of the trabocchi in Abruzzo led by athlete Ivana Di Martino. Milan, Genoa, power and dozens of other cities will see their parks, paths and degraded areas transform into active citizenship construction sites.

The complete calendar is consulted on the weapon we clean the world and offers anyone the opportunity to transform concern for the environment into a concrete gesture. Because if it is true that every square meter of our parks suffocates under four waste, it is equally true that every citizen can help free it from this weight and return to it the beauty it deserves.

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