Across the various editions of the sustainable lifestyle survey conducted by LifeGate, one figure keeps recurring: the overwhelming majority of Italians firmly believe it is necessary to use less plastic. The people of Turin agree, with a crushing 94 per cent in favour. In practice, what is the right approach to tackling this environmental emergency, especially in the middle of a pandemic that forces us to wear masks and gloves? We put the question to Silvio Greco, a Calabrian marine biologist with an impressive CV: an expert in the sea and food, a lecturer at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, a research director at the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra), and director of the Rome and Calabria branches of the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station.

On 3 July the European directive on single-use plastics comes into force, yet a great deal of plastic remains in our daily lives. How can we do without it?
We shouldn't be afraid of plastic, but we must remember that plastic – like the Moplen invented by Giulio Natta – was created to be a material that lasts hundreds of years. The short circuit, the oxymoron, was the throwaway culture. We need to keep using plastic, but preferably the plastic we already have rather than producing new plastic we can no longer manage. What we have must last indefinitely and, when it stops being a lamp or a chair, it must become something else. We must not only separate our waste but also reuse and recycle. That is the way forward. We must abandon the throwaway culture, which serves no one.

Just as widespread awareness of the damage caused by plastic had begun to take hold, we were all forced to use personal protective equipment that contains it. What is a possible way out?
Since we cannot do without it and, by all appearances, we will need it in the future too, I believe the main route forward is to make PPE from a single material: polyethylene, polypropylene, but just one material, so that it can then go to recycling. Let's not hide behind the idea that it's infected, because that's not true. Millions of us are vaccinated, so the mask is manageable. So let's make masks from a single material, sort them for collection (not in general waste but in the plastics stream) and reuse them. The French have managed it.

silvio greco — Silvio Greco at the Turin Sustainable Observatory © Luigi Zanni / LifeGate

On 8 July the international day of the Mediterranean Sea is celebrated. What is the impact of plastic on "our" sea?
It's a tragedy. The Mediterranean doesn't have the plastic islands found in the Pacific and Atlantic, but it still suffers dramatically from this problem. The latest figure from the Marine Strategy, managed in Italy by Ispra and the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection, speaks of 177,000 floating plastic fragments per square kilometre. But the real problem is that plastic no longer just stays on the seabed – it is now inside organisms too.

Your work focuses mainly on fishing. What are the most urgent problems to address in the Mediterranean?
First and foremost, we must pass the Salva mare bill. We have been pushing this measure for years – it is still before the Senate – and it simply allows fishermen to bring ashore the waste they catch in their trawl nets. It could have been done with a simple administrative act; the decision was made to pass a law instead: fine, let's pass it! That way, the trawl fisherman brings not only fish to shore but also plastic, and deposits it at a port eco-centre so that it can be reused.

Forty-seven per cent of people in Turin say they are willing to buy local and made-in-Italy products, and 38 per cent to buy organic products, even if they cost more. What practical advice would you give to these citizens who are particularly mindful of what they put on their plate?
This is the right path, but it requires political intervention to help and support consumers who make sustainable choices. Even people earning 800 or 1,000 euros a month have the right to decide what to put on their plate, how to dress, what to buy. The state must step in. We need to educate citizens to be sustainable, but at the same time we must also support them.

The University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo is approaching its twentieth year. How has it been received by students and local businesses?
As well as directing the Rome and Calabria branches of the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, I have had the privilege of teaching free of charge at the University of Pollenzo for 14 years. The very fact that even today one of my former students is here as a restaurateur shows how far we have come. We have graduated a great many people from all over the world. Carlo Petrini, when he created the Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences from nothing, had a great idea – as with all his ideas, I must say.

osservatorio torino sostenibile — The launch of the first Turin Sustainable Observatory took place at Green Pea, Italy's first green retail park © Luigi Zanni / LifeGate

The Turin Sustainable Observatory makes its debut

On Wednesday 30 June 2021 at Green Pea, the first Turin Sustainable Observatory was presented, produced by LifeGate in collaboration with the research institute Eumetra MR. A representative sample of 604 citizens was given a survey monitoring awareness of sustainability across its various dimensions, attitudes towards it, and, finally, concrete behaviours. The data for Turin are very positive, in line with the national average; the very youngest members of Generation Z are particularly attentive and proactive.

Download the full research

The event, also streamed live on LifeGate.it, opened with introductory remarks from Enea Roveda, CEO of LifeGate, Oscar Farinetti, founder of Eataly and Green Pea, Alberto Cirio, President of the Piedmont Region, and Alberto Sacco, Councillor for Commerce and Tourism. The data were commented on by Simona Roveda, Editorial and Communications Director of LifeGate, and Renato Mannheimer, pollster at Eumetra MR. The discussion was enriched by contributions from Annalisa Stupenengo, Chief Executive Officer of Fpt Industrial, Carlo Mannu, business development & institutional affairs at Bosch Italia, and Silvio Greco, director of the sustainability and circular economy laboratory at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo.

Silvio Greco, biologist and lecturer: “We must save the Mediterranean from plastic”