Plastic-free for the future!

Individual behaviour and personal choices to do the right thing in terms of recycling and the fight against waste can have a significant impact on the environment, particularly if they are sustained over time. This belief was the starting point which prompted Terna’s decision to completely discontinue the use of plastic bottles and cups in its offices. The move was a staunchly held objective for the electricity grid operator, and was relaunched during the recent presentation of its 2019-2023 Strategic Plan in Milan, which was itself a completely "plastic free” event.

The numbers are not insignificant: at the head office in Viale Galbani in Rome alone, 125,000 water bottles and 125,000 plastic cups have been replaced with water dispensers and stainless steel thermal bottles personalised with each employee's initials. The savings made in this way have been calculated to be 4 tonnes of waste per year, the equivalent of the release of approximately 13,500 kg of CO₂ into the atmosphere.

Day-to-day habits are changing. In the canteen, bar and vending machines of the electricity transmission grid operator’s Rome headquarters, new dispensers of tap water and mineral water, both hot and cold, have replaced polluting bottles and cups. The convenience of the disposable system is gradually giving way to a new practice: a few extra steps must be taken to drink from and wash the thermal bottles in the name of the circular economy, the model based on the reduce-reuse-recycle principle. All employees have thus been called upon to contribute to the development of a more sustainable way of life.