The project was launched in the Porta Palazzo Market in November 2016 during the European Week for Waste Reduction and has been operating continuously since. In July 2020, based on the success in the Porta Palazzo Market, operations expanded to include four additional markets (Porpora, Cincinnati, Foroni and Borgo Vittoria), and in January 2021 the project expanded further to include a further two markets (Santa Rita and Onorato Vigliani). 

The RePoPP project has four specific objectives: 

1. raise awareness of food waste and promote a culture of waste reduction and circular economy in the food system.
    
2. reduce the amount of food waste generated by the largest open-air market in Europe, the Porta Palazzo market in Turin.
    
3. recover unsold foods and distribute them free of charge at the end of the market day in a dignified manner.
    
4. sort and collect as much organic waste as possible from the market in order to ensure it is sent to the appropriate composting plant, thereby closing the loop in the organic cycle.
    
5. provide valuable internship and civic engagement opportunities to asylum seekers who run the daily operations in the market.

The objectives of the project have been implemented through a sustained partnership between the City of Turin’s Office of Environmental Sustainability, the municipal multiutility provider Amiat Spa, a corporate sponsor Novamont Spa and Eco dalle Città, a local NGO, as well as numerous other community organizations which have facilitated with the implementation of the project.

After an extensive consultation period involving community and trade groups, municipal offices, corporate partners and local NGO’s, the municipal administration launched a pilot project in one of the most complex city contexts: Europe’s largest open-air market located in the centre of Turin. 

The project design gave Eco dalle Città a mandate to enlist a cohort of volunteers to establish a presence and build trust with local vendors over a period of weeks and months as they helped to promote the proper sorting of organic waste. The relationship between the volunteers and vendors developed to the point where vendors began to feel comfortable donating their unsold foods to the organization. The volunteers established an area where the collected food is organized in packages (using the original wholesale food crates already present in the market) designed to provide a balanced combination of nutritional produce, which is made available to anyone seeking food assistance. In this way the scavenging that used to take place has been greatly reduced and the quality of the food that people can access in a dignified manner has increased significantly. 

In 2020 a new partnership was established with the nearby and recently inaugurated food hub, the Mercato Centrale, which houses numerous food stalls and restaurants. In February 2020, on the occasion of the Italian national day to combat food waste, the Mercato Centrale agreed to host an event to raise awareness around food waste and the value of unsold foods by engaging a local chef to prepare a fresh, gourmet meal entirely from unsold foods recovered from the Porta Palazzo market. A cream of broccoli soup and fresh ratatouille was served in the square in front of the Mercato Centrale, adjacent to the Porta Palazzo market, using completely biodegradable materials provided by Novamont. 

Based on the success of this event the Mercato Centrale has made available an entire stall free of charge, complete with kitchen, walk-in refrigerators and sitting area where the RePoPP volunteers regularly prepare fresh foods, juices and smoothies to make available free of charge. This space, the Circular Economy Stall, is destined to become a laboratory to showcase new circular economy processes, such as the cultivation of fresh mushrooms from spent coffee grains from the coffeeshop within the Mercato Centrale. It is also a space for events, the distribution of food and circular economy themed books as well as initiatives to reduce the use of single-use plastics. Take away containers, 40.000 of which were provided by Novamont to the vendors in the Mercato Centrale, are 100% degradable and are branded with the City’s Zero Waste initiative. During special events the City also makes available 100% reusable and compostable cups as well as stainless steel water bottles, all branded with the zero waste initiative. 

Being the city’s central market, citizens from the entire metropolitan area converge on this market which is also one of the city’s biggest transit hubs. Therefore, citizens from across the city have been engaged in a long-running awareness raising campaign to reduce food waste, improve collection of organic matter and to valorise foods deemed left-over. The multi-faceted campaign began with developing a project logo and brand identity that was first applied to the biodegradable bags for organic waste, the vests and other accessories worn by project volunteers and operators, and the stand itself where food distribution occurs. The communication materials came to include tote bags that are distributed on specific occasions as well as the new electric compactors which are fully branded with the project communication materials. 

Video interviews, blog posts and other communication materials have also been developed to engage citizens. Specific events such as the preparation of fresh meals from recovered foods are also aimed towards increasing awareness of the project and how to combat food waste. All of these efforts reach vendors and both shoppers and passers-by at the biggest cultural crossroad in the city. 

The project is active every day of the week in Porta Palazzo, except Sundays when the market is closed, and two to four days a week in the additional markets. 

The RePoPP project was originally funded through a dual sponsorship by the municipal multiutility Amiat Spa and Novamont Spa, leaders in the manufacturing of biodegradable products. While the annual budget has varied since the beginning of the project, the annual operating budget for the Porta Palazzo Market as of 2020 is 55,000 euro. This budget is funded entirely by the municipal administration. 

Operations in the six additional markets are currently sponsored by Amiat and Novamont for an additional 90,000 euro and will be internalized into service contracts as Amiat re-bids for services in each of those markets between 2021 and 2022. 

In addition to the operational partner, Eco dalle Città, and the project management role of the municipal administration, two sponsors have played a primary role in the development and implementation of the project. The municipal multiutility company, Amiat, has sponsored the initial pilot phase of the project in the Porta Palazzo Market and subsequent pilot phases in the additional markets. Further, Amiat has coordinated sub-contracting entities responsible for waste removal and cleaning services to ensure successful integration with existing management practices and modified service-contracts appropriately to make room for the project, for instance by substituting the original diesel-operated waste compactors present on site with state-of-the-art electric compactors which have reduced noise and emissions. In addition, Amiat has closely monitored implementation tracking quantities of waste collected and sorted in the markets in order to measure success. Weekly data has provided an extremely accurate gauge for the past four and a half years. 

The other major project partner is a private firm, Novamont Spa, which, through the firm’s Strategic Sustainability Projects Office, has helped the City develop and launch the project. In the initial pilot phases Novamont provided each vendor in the Porta Palazzo Market with a convenient tool for properly collecting and sorting organic waste, a rolling stand upon which to place a 100% biodegradable bag dedicated for the collection of organic matter. This stand occupied very little space, which is a big plus in the Porta Palazzo Market where stalls are tightly packed and is very easy to manoeuvre, making it a simple option for properly sorting organic matter. 

Novamont also provided each vendor with a year’s supply of compostable bags specifically branded with the project logo. Finally, Novamont has sponsored the communication and promotion efforts that have raised the visibility of the project significantly. 

The association of Porta Palazzo Market vendors has also been a key partner in implementation, acting as a valuable intermediary between Eco dalle Città and individual vendors in the initial stages of the project. 

The RePoPP project has been immensely successful on several fronts. The project has increased waste sorting and collection in the Porta Palazzo Market from a meagre 45% at inception to 89% in the first semester of 2021. This has translated into over 450 tons of edible foods being gathered and distributed free of charge, reaching over 3,000 people every month. 

Currently, about 800 kilograms of unsold food is collected and distributed daily among the seven markets where the RePoPP project is operational. 

Since the project’s inception, 56 asylum seekers have participated by volunteering and two long-term employment contracts and many internship opportunities have been created through the project, offering volunteers an accredited civic-engagement experience to bolster asylum claims. 

The project has expanded to include an additional 6 municipal markets and has acquired a kitchen space inside the nearby food court in order to prepare fresh meals free of charge with excess foods. 

Numerous challenges have emerged throughout the implementation of the project and these have been addressed through continual monitoring, evaluation and adjustment.

 The primary challenge emerged early on and related to gaining buy-in from the vendors at the Porta Palazzo Market with regards to both the adjustment of waste sorting and colleting processes as well as the donation of unsold foods at the end of the day. The specific characteristics of the market mean that spaces are very cramped and difficult to manoeuvre and waste collection areas require vendors to transport waste to dedicated areas moving through very densely trafficked corridors. In addition, long market hours and very quick turnaround times between market closure, waste collection and clean up and prepping for the next market day meant that most vendors had adopted a practice of dumping waste in one place, making it very difficult to then properly sort as organic matter was intermingled with plastic crates and cardboard boxes. 

Another challenge that emerged early on related to the role that project volunteers play in helping to ensure proper waste sorting, which at times has led to some overlap with the operations of the sub-contracting firm responsible for waste removal and cleanup. Such overlap has at certain points created difficulties in distinguishing where the role of project volunteers ends and those of the service company begin. Through consultation and negotiation these difficulties have been resolved and the roles have become complementary. 

Other operational challenges that emerged included how to accommodate electric compactors in the market area and to adjust operations in the pandemic phase, all of which have been worked out due to the consistent collaboration between project partners through a high-level project steering committee and constant community engagement. 

Developing practices to make the process more efficient and sustainable took numerous months of engaging with vendors, raising awareness of the market waste regulation code, developing a supplementary regime of new fines to incentivize proper sorting practices and so forth. This also required multiple municipal resolutions revisiting the market regulation code. 

At the same time gaining buy-in with regards to the donation of unsold foods also required the development of trust between individual vendors and project volunteers. Initial fears that the distribution of unsold foods free of charge would interfere or compete with sales were overcome by adjusting the hours of operation of the distribution activities such that they occur well after market operations and in an area that does not complicate the daily breakdown, cleanup and prepping operations. Trust was developed over time by listening closely to concerns, working with the market vendors association, and coming to agreement on the solutions. 

Throughout the four-year experience the municipal administration has monitored implementation and activated various municipal departments to enable operations such as granting public-space permits for the market stalls, engaging the local police to enhance communication of the municipal waste code among market vendors, coordinating with the municipal multiutility company to integrate the project into service contracts for the various markets and the promotion of the project, which is being replicated in a number of other Italian cities. 

On the Eurocities YouTube channel: Link

On MDPI: Link

On IDEAS: Link