My name is LETIZIA MARIA ROSARIA MASI, I am 58 years old and I am one of the local in-job trainees of SIRCLES project in Italy, implemented by Consorzio Italiano Compostatori.

Within the project, an awareness raising campaign has been developed, called "Green Label Campaign" which rewards institutions from the Ho.Re.Ca sector that comply with some simple, but necessary procedures in sorting the organic waste produced, so that the latter can be free of contaminants and the compost produced from them is of high quality.

After a first survey on almost 150 structures, on the habits regarding the management of their residues, some were invited to join the Green Label Campaign. The Campaign includes three monitoring procedures, designed to verify some of their peculiarities in the separation of organic waste and in the habitual use of compostable or non-compostable items, without neglecting that if we had encountered any critical issues, we would have been happy to provide information and support to simplify the collection and improve the information of kitchen workers.

Among the institutions contacted, thirty-five have joined this initiative by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. After a careful organization, monitoring began: on a monthly basis and without notice as logic dictates, we went to the facilities to view and photograph, the organic waste produced, making sure that there were no non-compostable materials or other contaminants and paying particular attention to the delivery bags that must be certified compostable, as well as the use of compostable disposable products or not, of washable tableware and items used for takeaway.

We have taken note of everything we have seen, and then communicated and sent analysis and photographic reportage.

I personally believe that of all the activities carried out during this project, this has been one of the most challenging but undoubtedly rewarding ones. The institutions have proved to be in the vast majority of cases, very helpful, as well as very aware of the importance of a proper separation of organic waste. Surely our work has brought more attention, improvements and knowledge.

I hope that in the near future there will be more and more initiatives, aimed at improving the attention to the environment and the recycling of our waste.

My personal experience in this project has been overall positive, initially I found myself uncomfortable in the work of communication and interviews with citizens, because I had never done anything like this, but I managed to put aside my shyness. Getting involved again, together with the many lessons in which I participated, have enriched my wealth of knowledge, giving me greater possibilities of job placement by widening the research audience.