In 2016 the Municipality of Cesano Boscone decided to join the esosport run project, and initiated a process of collecting and recycling old, discarded sports shoes.
Collection in the area was made possible through the installation of special, easily recognisable esosport run ESObox containers, placed in strategic and highly frequented points of the city such as the City Library, the City Hall in Via Vespucci, the Bruno Cereda sports centre and all the primary and secondary schools in the city.
The collection project has been efficiently supported in recent years by the local council, in collaboration with esosport, including through educational initiatives aimed at explaining to the people of the city the importance of a gesture that is so simple and yet so vital to the environment – that of allocating old shoes to a just cause rather than throwing them away.
Through the GOGREEN – Onlus Association ESO donated to the Cesano Boscone council the material for the construction of a “Betty’s Garden” playground, in memory of Elisabetta Salvioni Meletiou, with safety surfacing made from the recycled shoes.
The inauguration of the new playground, a real example of local circular economy, was held on Saturday June 2, 2018, Italy’s Republic Day, as part of the events planned by the Municipality of Cesano Boscone to celebrate the opening of the new green area covering around 10,500 m², I Giardini della Costituzione.
“It is our council’s wish that this project may be a message to the children, that we can care for the environment through small gestures”, says the Mayor of Cesano Boscone, Simone Negri. “How many pairs of shoes do children go through as they are growing up? Shoes are waste in all respects, clear examples of the attitude which for too long we have had towards consumption. In this case, worn-out shoes are given back to the child in the form of the safety surfacing of playgrounds. Children then see how their shoes can be returned to them directly in a form they can benefit from. Besides this, the playground was actually designed by the pupils of a school. And this is a great added value”.
“Our collaboration with the Municipality of Cesano Boscone”, says Nicolas Meletiou, “dates back to 2016 when the Council joined our esosport run project dedicated to the collection and recycling of old sports shoes, and put it into effect in the area, actively involving the local people in the importance of environmental sustainability.
Combining our efforts with the collection of old shoes, we initiated together with the local Council an awareness campaign on the subject of sustainability and respect for the environment with the children of the primary schools in the school year 2015/2016: our thanks to all the pupils who so enthusiastically and cheerfully took part in the competition “Un altro giro di gomma (“Another lap for rubber)“. “Betty’s Garden” features safety surfacing made with a secondary raw material (rubber granules) obtained from processing and recycling sports shoes. This is not just a new playground for the local people of Cesano Boscone, in fact, but also a tangible example of circular economy benefitting the community”.
The pupils of the Cesana Boscone schools participated actively in the competition, both by adding a generous quantity of old sports shoes to the esosport run ESOboxes installed at the schools and by contributing with their designs for the playground.
The winners of the “Betty’s Garden” design competition were the children of class 5ªD of the Dante Alighieri Primary School for the school year 2015/2016, who were invited to attend the inauguration on Saturday June 2.
Taking part in the “I Giardini della Costituzione” event were:
The council architect Roberto Biffi, who had the task of implementing the solutions that were most appreciated by the local people for the area of ??the historic centre and “I Giardini della Costituzione”. “Betty’s Garden” also bears the recognizable mark of the architect Biffi, who made the safety surfacing even more appealing with a choice of colours that creates continuity between the playground and the axis joining the historic centre to the Sacra Famiglia.
The orchestra of the Alessandrini Secondary School, directed by Maestro Giuseppe Mesiano, and the choir of the fourth and fifth classes of the Bramante Primary School, directed by Prof. Mariateresa Amenduni.
The President Emeritus of the ANPI, Carlo Smuraglia.
Lieutenant Pietro Scarpitta, who served as Commander of the Carabinieri station of Cesano Boscone from March 3, 1982 to May 17, 2018 and who, in the course of the ceremony, was awarded honorary citizenship “for his great sense of duty and loyalty towards the State and its institutions and his constant support of the Cesano Boscone community; for the extraordinary dedication and great sense of duty with which he practised his profession, acting with conscious steadfastness and exceptional motivation in the service of the people of Cesano Boscone, showing in every circumstance a spirit of sacrifice and a highly professional approach”.
The choir of the pupils of the fourth and fifth classes of the Da Vinci Primary Schools, accompanied by Prof. Andrea Rotoli.