KARMA in Calabria

Some of the highlights from Calabrese soil from these two days - not to mention the pleasant climate, beautiful coastline and views, exquisite cuisine, olive and citrus trees, ....

It makes us hopeful, for example, that the Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria (UniRC) is training upcoming generations of architects with lifecycle thinking in circular architectural design in the programme. Students are also involved in heritage restoration. Architect and counselor at the municipality, Luigi Scaramozzino led us around the old town of his beloved Gerace - city of 100 churches - and demonstrated some of the old and new circular techniques applied to restore the remaining churches to their former glory. E.g. the Annunziella church and the cathedral, one of the largest in Calabria. Impressed by so much beauty.

In Siderno, we visited Ecosistem, a contemporary waste treatment and recycling company that should be no less than Flemish.
Siderno is also home to the family-run business Eco-ambiente, which collects demolition waste and processes it into secondary raw material for road filling or foundations.

What we certainly will remember is the drive, pride and passion with which these professors, managers and project leaders present their work! And rightly so! Behaviour change to reduce material use and waste streams takes some time, a next step for this region is to experiment with waste prevention initiatives.

Thanks to partners Eurokom and Reggio Calabria for this great program and hospitality!