Aiming to be more sustainable – for the seventh consecutive year, the Giro d’Italia will ‘Ride Green’. According to the Grand Tour event organiser RCS Sport, it is… ‘the only stage race cycling event of global significance to have a low environmental impact among its core priorities.’
Ride Green, the sustainability project aimed at safeguarding the areas affected by the race through separate waste collection, was created in 2016. It aims to reduce the effects of the Corsa Rosa, through the management of the waste flows produced by the race, using a traceability system.
With the help of over 200 volunteers and numerous local companies, coordinated by the ERICA cooperative, the waste produced in the various race locations is collected in special ecological islands positioned at strategic points of each stage, and subsequently sent for recycling.
In this process, support comes from the municipalities hosting the race’s stage starts and finishes, which act as an intermediary for the promotion of the initiative.
In 2021 over 46,000kg of waste was collected, of which 85% was separated and sent for recycling.
Separate waste collection, recycling of materials, performance measurement and public awareness-raising are the primary objectives of the Ride Green Giro d’Italia project, which in recent years has been further added to by other initiatives.
In addition to separate waste collection, the Corsa Rosa green project operates on two other channels: education with BiciScuola and sustainable mobility with the Giro-E.
BiciScuola is an educational program conceived 21 years ago to bring young people closer to the world of cycling, and to the Giro itself. It’s an initiative that tackles issues such as the importance of environmental protection.
In 2021 the participation of 200 schools, 4,400 teachers and 60,000 children was registered while 1,900 students were awarded (+14.3% compared to the previous edition).
The Giro-E is the stage event with electrically assisted bicycles that takes amateur cyclists on the roads of the Corsa Rosa, on the same days as the race itself. The e-bike experience also promotes environmental sustainability as well as the use of electric bikes in everyday life.
www.giroditalia.it
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