Bergamo is reducing its environmental impact, starting with plastic. The city council has approved the motion "Application of plastic-free strategies and reduction of single-use plastics", by which it commits to limiting the use of plastic bottles and single-use plastic at all facilities under municipal jurisdiction and at local fairs and city events.

"I'm truly pleased that Bergamo's city council has approved the motion to become a plastic-free municipality. We want to set a good example for our fellow citizens, starting by renegotiating the supply contracts for our services. We have begun producing bags for institutional use in paper only and using tap water in the city council chamber – Bergamo's tap water, incidentally, is well known for its quality. We are now pressing ahead with plastic-free tenders for summer food and drink areas in the city," Bergamo mayor Giorgio Gori explained to LifeGate.

The City of a Thousand is not alone: Milan too, in February, launched the "Milano Plastic Free" project covering two city neighbourhoods – Isola and Niguarda – with around two hundred businesses potentially involved in the first trial phase: 54 restaurants, bars and food-service establishments, and 147 local shops. Anyone who wishes to, however, is free to take up the challenge and go plastic-free.

Italy second in the EU for plastic production

According to data gathered in Legambiente's report on plastic consumption, the European Union consumes approximately sixty million tonnes of plastic annually (2016 figure), of which 40 per cent is associated with the packaging sector. From 2021, the sale of single-use plastic items will be banned across Europe, including cutlery, cotton buds, plates, straws, drink stirrers and balloon sticks.

Italy is the second-largest European producer of plastic; each year between 6 and 7 million tonnes of plastic are placed on the market. Of these, 40 per cent are used to produce packaging: in 2017, 2,271,000 tonnes of packaging were placed on the market, of which 43.5 per cent was recycled, 40 per cent incinerated and the remainder sent to landfill or dispersed into the environment. Despite an increase in the recycling rate of +5 per cent compared with 2014, the tonnes of unrecycled packaging remained substantially unchanged between 2014 (1,292 million tonnes) and 2017 (1,284). The main solution to addressing the problem must involve a drastic reduction in the use of plastic, the redesign of packaging and single-use items with an eye to durability and reuse, even before recycling.

Plastic bottles banned from municipal offices and associated companies

The measure, approved unanimously by Bergamo's city council, provides for the elimination of single-use plastic bottles from all municipal premises and their associated offices, including public conference rooms and civic centres, and the introduction of glass bottles with a returnable deposit system. In parallel, single-use plastic cups at coffee and drinks vending machines are also to be replaced with paper cups. The decision also applies to all premises and buildings of companies and bodies in which the Municipality of Bergamo holds a stake or exercises control.

"We care deeply about this and will work in this direction to progressively bring the use of plastic by the Municipality and its employees down to zero. I believe this is a responsible choice, for which I thank the city council, and it goes in the direction that the Fridays for Future young people are asking of us: simple but very meaningful gestures that can truly change and improve the world we live in," Gori emphasised.

Plastic-free fairs and festivals

A municipal ordinance will ban the use of non-compostable plastic at all events, fairs and festivals organised within the city. In particular, plates, cups and cutlery must be made from biodegradable and compostable materials of plant origin, such as Mater-Bi, cellulose or polylactate (PLA), and must bear the European EN 13432 certification. Guidelines are also set out for tablecloths and napkins, which must be made from recycled paper or be fully compostable.

Information campaigns to reduce plastic use

The Municipality of Bergamo will also launch an information campaign in schools of all levels within the municipal area to encourage students and their families to reduce plastic use. The administration has already worked with parents' groups at schools to roll out an information campaign on climate change on the occasion of the Fridays for Future event last 15 March.

According to the 2019 results of the LifeGate National Observatory on Sustainable Lifestyles, 97 per cent of Italians consider it essential to reduce the use of plastic through awareness campaigns and targeted legislation; indeed, the majority have welcomed the European Union's decision to ban single-use items from 2021. Many local authorities have chosen to get ahead of the ban, among them Milan, which was recognised by LifeGate PlasticLess.