Sustainable Development Festival – Ri-usi@mo

A widespread festival dedicated to sustainability

The Sustainable Development Festival is a major national event promoted every May by ASviS (Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development) to spread the culture of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 goals. Throughout Italy, for an entire month, conferences, exhibitions, book presentations, screenings, and community initiatives multiply. In Caltanissetta, in the heart of Sicily, the festival takes on a very concrete form thanks to the Ri-usi@mo project.

Ri-usi@mo: the circular community of Caltanissetta

Ri-usi@mo is an urban circular community experiment conceived and promoted by uno@uno together with the Italian Red Cross – Caltanissetta Committee and the Municipality of Caltanissetta. The idea is simple yet powerful: give a new life to small, functional household appliances that lie unused in homes—toasters, blenders, coffee machines, fans, clock radios, tablets—by making them available to families who cannot afford to buy them new.

Collection takes place directly in local schools, where bins used for the sister project Ri-giochi@mo, dedicated to toys, are already active. The collected items follow a precise chain: selection, transfer to the municipal Reuse Center, testing, and finally redistribution to the most vulnerable individuals through the Red Cross's widespread network.

Schools as protagonists

Students are the true protagonists of this educational journey, which directly involves families as well. Ecoplast bins are installed in schools across the Nisseno area, with the logistical support of Poste Italiane. The project has progressively expanded to other municipalities in the province, including Marianopoli, Villalba, and Vallelunga Pratameno, broadening the network of participating schools.

Sustainability and solidarity hand in hand

More than just a waste collection operation, Ri-usi@mo aims to sow a new idea of community: reusing means reducing waste while simultaneously helping those in need. The festival thus becomes an opportunity for collective reflection on the value of objects, relationships, and the environment, in a province—Caltanissetta—that makes local solidarity a living tradition.