RRR-C Ecoskate stands for „Recycle, Replay, Reinvent the City – Ecoskate” and it’s an initiative developed in the neighbourhood of Santa Giulia in Milan, Italy, combining gathering of plastic to be recycled for the creation of skateboard boards and tools, skateboarding workshops and education to sustainable mobility through skateboards.
Objectives:
- To collect plastic caps from bottles and recycle them into useful sporting materials (skateboards and skate tools)
- To educate young people from the area of Santa Giulia in environmental awareness through direct workshops
- To support the use of sustainable mobility means for physical activity and reduction of environmental impact
Description:
The project is run by two skateboarders and entrepreneurs, Walter Macaluso and Federico Bianchino, which combine environmental sustainability and sport passion with the practical interaction with the urban areas of Milan.
It was initially financed by a call for tender called „La scuola dei Quartieri” in the city of Milan, and gave the chance to combine skateboarding and sustainability.
The project has a first phase (Recycle) to collect plastic bottles caps that will then be processed thanks to special machineries to create sustainable skateboard boards and skateboard tools (the ones used to fix, repair and tune the skateboards). In the second phase (Replay) the young citizens are educated to the use of skateboards, and in the final part (Reinvent the City) they are invited to project ways to enjoy the city with sustainable mobility thanks to the use of the skateboards they now have and can use.
Impact and Results:
The activity had the first impact to involve and motivate people to collect and destinate to recycling the plastic bottle caps, directly improving the environmental impact of the consumptions of the town.
Secondary it provided educational opportunities and tools to be more physically active to young people in the involved areas of Milan, and involved them in co-projecting the future of the area to be lived in sustainable ways.
Through the workshops, more people were invited and made capable of moving in more sustainable ways while making physical activities.
A last impact which is very important, from this project, the two main managers founded their own social enterprise called Eco-Skateboard, which is collecting plastic bottle caps and creating from them skateboard boards and tools that are an alternative to the usual materials.
Conclusions and Suggestions for Youth Workers:
The Ecoskate project is a very good way to involve young people in being more careful about their environmental impact and recycling choices, directly involving them in the creation of tools that then they can use and enjoy for sporting and leisure activities.
The education to sports such as skateboarding, cycling, scootering, rollerblades and such, can offer a fun way to educate young people to sustainable mobility.
Links for reference:
https://lampoonmagazine.com/article/2021/10/31/santa-giulia-nord-riciclo-plastica-eco-skate/
https://cmsr.org/news/una-nuova-collaborazione-con-ecoskate/
https://ecoskate.it/ecoskate-school-educazione-trasversale/
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