Sustainable families: How they learn not to waste energy, water, and food (photos and video)

SUSTAINABLE FAMILIES

Sustainable families: what does it mean, in concrete terms? One thing is clear and strong: learn, in a simple, light and fun way, to change your lifestyle together. And then contaminate and broaden this change which concerns domestic consumption such as mobility sectors, caring for people as well as for things. All according to the philosophy of "Do Not Waste," our philosophy.

Sustainable families are spreading, from the bottom up, throughout Italy, as a very useful and radical phenomenon of change, often driven by associations or even a network of courageous local administrators. As in the case ofInnova 21 Agency, which brings together seven municipalities in Brianza, all committed to translating sustainability, with the project The Sustainable Family, In concrete, daily, and convenient practices, also shared on Facebook. For everyone.

HOW TO SAVE MONEY AS A FAMILY

The electricity and water bills gas reduced by a third. Local food shopping, with prices cut by up to 50 percent. Tap water, properly filtered, to replace bulky and expensive plastic bottles of mineral water. The car only when it is essential, replaced, especially for short routes, by public transport, From bicycle, or from a healthy walk. It takes very little, very little, to radically change your lifestyle and seize the Great Depression as an opportunity, and no longer see it as just a daily wound, a depressing impoverishment.

The mechanism of the project is very simple. The families, selected in the area by the InnovA21 Agency, participate in courses, held by teachers with expertise in various sectors, where all the useful information is provided and exchanged to reduce domestic energy consumption (electricity, gas and water), improve separate waste collection (which in this area is already around 60-70 percent), save on purchases, and modify local mobility.The effects of the change in lifestyle are then measured, through staged checks, by a group of researchers from the Bicocca University of Milan, and transferred to mayors and councilors to suggest possible measures for municipal administrations. The replacement of thewater mineral water with that supplied by the municipal company, for example, has been encouraged with the construction of some "water houses", open 24 hours a day. You arrive with your glass bottles, insert money into the self-service machine (five cents a liter, and you can also get sparkling water), and go home with a week's supply.

COLLABORATE TO SAVE

The virtuous cycle of change in the name of sustainability always has its starting point, its leverage, in the behaviors and independent decisions of the family. Thus, Andrea Maiocchi, a former Olivetti employee, and his wife Donatella, who supplements her husband's pension by selling household products to customers, discovered the benefits of a short supply chain for groceries. They buy fruit and vegetables in the shop a farm in BollateGrapes cost one euro per kilo, like lettuce that doesn't wilt after a day. In their apartment, Andrea and Donatella have learned to use the washing machine and dishwasher after seven in the evening, and with simple slippers they have eliminated the waste of standby mode that alone is worth more than 10 percent of the electricity billAs for cars, there are four in the Maiocchi household, including those of the two thirty-year-old sons, Simone and Lorenzo, who live with their parents, but one has already been put up for sale: everyone in the family plans to use the bike more often.

FAMILIES TOGETHER AGAINST WASTE

Nicola and Federica Musto, a young couple with a baby girl of a few months, are also considering giving up their car and are hoping for improved local train service, which takes them from Brianza to Milan in half an hour. However, they don't have the same efficient connections between the various municipalities in the area. Meanwhile, thanks to information from the local train network, Sustainable family, Nicola and Federica have installed the floors in their new house cork natural, which it costs half as much as parquet and is a thermal insulating material; they use washable diapers for little Anita; and they enjoy putting the products of thegarden which they share with their neighbors. Their goal is very ambitious: to cut their family budget expenses by at least thirty percent, focusing on energy consumption and the purchase of food and baby products. This spending adjustment, at a time when income and savings must be protected, is one of the strengths of sustainable families in Brianza. And it doesn't translate into a complete reduction in consumption, but rather into a reduction in waste, a shortening of the distribution chain, and increased demand for new products on the market and new opportunities for more innovative companies that pay more attention to the quality/price ratio. Tiziano Grassi, with his wife Veronica and their sixteen-year-old daughter, Camilla, is a self-employed professional and a member of the "people with a VAT number." Passionate about organic food and knowledgeable, primarily through information gathered online, of the eco-label and recycling industry, Tiziano has convinced his family to use the Gas circuit, a Solidarity Purchasing Group, to which he is a member, for a large part of their household expenses.With simple emails, the Grassis purchase a range of local products: from organic pasta to paper made from recycled materials, from vinegar-based detergents to underwear made from natural fibres.

ESSENTIAL TIPS FOR NOT WASTING WATER, GAS, AND ELECTRICITY

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