MOUNTAINPLAST: A New Italian Plastic Footprint with a Focus on Mountain Activities

Antonella Senese (), Massimo Pecci, Roberto Ambrosini and Guglielmina Adele Diolaiuti
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Antonella Senese: Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
Massimo Pecci: Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Dipartimento per gli Affari Regionali e le Autonomie (DARA), Via della Stamperia, 8, 00187 Roma, Italy
Roberto Ambrosini: Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
Guglielmina Adele Diolaiuti: Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: The plastic footprint is defined as a science-based tool for quantifying the amount of plastic (in kg) one contributes to the world’s plastic waste (from plastic wraps to anything containing plastics, such as clothes). Making consumers aware of their total plastic footprint and of how it is divided among their various daily life activities can promote concrete eco-sustainable actions aimed at reducing it and consequently plastic consumption. To this aim, we developed a free online plastic footprint calculator for making users aware of how much plastic they introduce into the environment through individual consumption, from food to clothing or leisure. In this tool, we also considered the consumption of plastics during mountain activities as it leads to the production of specific plastic waste. We tested the beta version of this tool on a small sample of users, including students, living in the mountains. Our results show that the sector with the greatest impact is food consumption (72.8%, mainly due to plastic drink bottles), followed by mountain activities (17.4%), a sector that was investigated in more detail (i.e., with more questions) than food consumption. Considering only mountain activities, synthetic fleeces are the most widely used and incorrectly managed items (34.7%), followed by shoes for mountain running or hiking (20.8%). We hope this tool will contribute to more aware use and management of plastic items during mountain activities and daily life and help reduce the distribution of plastics into the environment.

Keywords: plastic footprint; mountains; environmental management; environmental awareness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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