MILAN – “Collect plastic, sow the future”. The 16 November saw the start of the fourth year of the touring educational project sponsored by Nestlé Vera, a brand within the Sanpellegrino Group that has always been environmentally friendly and actively participated in the social and economic life of the areas close to sources. Young Italians will be the ambassadors of the R-Generation. This year, the initiative will involve primary schools from Naples, Rome and, for the first time, will also land in Palermo.
A worthy project
Thanks to the project’s educational importance it has received backing from both the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of the Land and Sea and the respective local authorities, and will take advantage of the valuable cooperation of local municipal hygiene companies. Through this project, Nestlé Vera mineral water wants to demonstrate to Italian primary school children the significant importance of recycling in order to make them a part of the R-Generation, as well as to raise awareness about the proper handling of the separate collection of PET, teaching them to respect the environment from an early age. Packaging has an important role as it enables mineral water, which by law must be bottled at its point of origin, to arrive on consumers' tables as pure as it was at the source. PET is the perfect material for this as it’s light and safe, as well as environmentally friendly, as it is 100% recyclable.
The company’s commitment
“Following the success of the first few years of the initiative, we really are very excited to be able to launch this educational children’s competition once again, which this year covers Naples, Rome and Palermo,” said Stefano Agostini, President of the Sanpellegrino Group. “R-Generation is not just a competition between classes and schools, but a first step in teaching children to respect and protect the environment, starting with proper waste management. What we want to achieve is to highlight the importance that everyday actions can have for the environment that surrounds us as citizens. We also want to encourage people from a young age to recycle PET, which if properly collected can be turned into a real resource.”
2015-2016 Competition
The schools involved will compete within each city to win the title of “Most R-Generator school”. Between 16 November 2015 and 30 January 2016, pupils will be asked to put bottles and PET containers in the dedicated bins provided at participating schools. Local municipal hygiene companies - AMA Roma Spa in Rome, ASIA Napoli Spa in Naples and RAP in Palermo - will collect the bin bags regularly. The school in each city that fills the highest number of bags of PET, in relation to the number of students within the school itself, will be awarded the title of the “Most R-Generator School” within its own city and will win a gym set made out of RPET, which is recycled PET.
New features
This year the competition will not stop here, and is enhanced by important new features: in a dedicated section on the website www.rgeneration.it, each class may actually produce an R-Generator Class Diary to document the recycling-related activities completed, with images, photos and reflections. The class that creates the most creative, original and accurate diary between 16 November 2015 and 28 February 2016 will be awarded the title of “Most R-Generator Class” within their own establishment and will be rewarded with RPET backpacks and school accessories.This year the public-awareness campaign will also involve families. Between 16 November 2015 and 28 February 2016, the perfect “R-Generator Family” must take a creative and original photograph, accompanied by a short description or slogan that is representative of the PET recycling that happens at home, and then must upload it to a private area on the site www.rgeneration.it. With one winner for each city taking part, the winning photos will give each family the chance to get the class of their own child involved in an educational workshop about recycling, with industry experts.
by editorial staff
