Big events go green: Milan Expo 2015

“Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” is the main theme of Milan Expo 2015 which means that  the biggest event of the year is focused on sustainability.  In line with this principle, the Milan Expo on-site waste management strategy is aimed to:

• minimize use of resources
• maximize re-use, re-cycling, and re-purposing
• minimize production of waste to be sent to land-fill

The recycling system used on the Expo Milano 2015 site is the same as the door-to-door separate-collection system currently operating in the City of Milan which is showing the best results in terms of recycling rates in Europe.  Waste collection is organized in five different fractions:

• paper and cardboard
• glass
• plastic and metal packaging
• organic, to include food scraps, as well as compostable and biodegradable glasses, dishes, and cutlery
• unsorted waste

Expo Milano 2015 estimates an overall waste production of 17,000 tons during the six-month event, with over 132 tons on the busiest days and 75 tons on the other days and the goal is to achieve 70% of recycling of the waste produced during the 6 months of event, with no primary waste disposed of in landfills.

A number of measures and provisions have been adopted to make sustainability as an integral part of the event and an essential feature of participation, such as:

• Reduction of packaging to prevent waste generation, to maximize re- use and to reach the target set for separate collection;
• Preferential use of draught provision for water and soft drinks;
• Both in case of waiter and self-service catering, the provision of water in jugs or with returnable glass bottles;
• The use of washable - rather than disposable – tableware. If disposable tableware is used, then it must be of biodegradable and compostable material meeting standard EN 13432, so that after being used they can be sent to composting or anaerobic digestion facilities together with food scraps and recycled into organic fertilizer
• Unconsumed hot meals will be given to a non-profit organisation for free, to reduce the food wastage.

To support this goal a project called Bio4Expo has been launched in order to help Milan Expo exhibitors to access the best Italian bioplastic foodservice, such as: cutlery, coffee-spoons and coffee cups, cups for hot and cold drinks, ice-cream cups and spoons, single serving finger food, plates and bowls, wrapping paper, and bread and sandwich bags, alle made of renewable materials, and fully biodegradable and compostable according to EN13432, thus recyclable in composting and anaerobic digestion facilities together with food waste.

• agricultural mulch film
• agriculture
• biodegradable
• biodegradable mulch film
• bioeconomy
• bioplastics
• biorefinery
• coffee capsule
• compostable
• compostable bags
• EN13432
• European Union
• marine biodegradation
• marine pollution
• Mater-Bi
• Milan Expo 2015
• Novamoont
• organic waste
• Oxodegradable
• plastic bags
• recycling
• shopping bags
• thistle
• waste collection
• zero waste