Project “City of Poreč – Parenzo – responsible and sustainable city”

Environmental protection issues, waste reduction, energy-saving, and conservation of natural resources are nowadays extremely important. Thinking about these topics and implementing activities to achieve these goals is encouraged in different ways through different projects. Including the City of Poreč – Parenzo in a commendable project such as Consumeless Plus and applying the Consumeless model and the ConsumelessMed label in the destination encourages responsible behavior of local stakeholders, tourists and businesses in the tourist destination.

City of Poreč – Parenzo successfully implemented the project “City of Poreč – Parenzo – a responsible and sustainable city”, which sought to reduce energy consumption and eliminate plastics from use in the city administration and 11 city institutions.

The project is aimed at 600 employees, from kindergarten and school teachers to employees of the city library, museums, the Public Open University, retirement home, etc.

The goal is to change the daily habits of employees by reducing the use of plastic and disposable packaging to reduce waste production, preserve the environment and encourage responsible behavior with savings and thinking about future generations, but also encourage other businesses to introduce “plastic-free” and other environmentally friendly solutions in their business.

Measures to eliminate the use of plastic are use of water in glass instead of plastic bottles, removal of water appliances, removal of plastic cups from use in coffee machines, introducing the use of glass cups and glass water jugs, throwing out the use of conventional ballpoint pens, the introduction of using eco-chemical cardboard pens. Also, employees got reusable canvas bags to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags.

Moreover, in order to save energy,  smart sockets or time switches were installed on two hundred appliances such as computers, photocopiers, coffee makers, and others. Furthermore, about two hundred thermometers were installed in all offices. Each institution received packages containing a glass jug and a set of 6 glasses, digital electricity limiters, room thermostats, and educational information brochures and stickers, while employees were given personal packages containing a glass water bottle with a capacity of half a litre, canvas bag, eco-ballpoint pens, eco-graphic pens with seeds, table calendar, fan, and educational-informative brochures and stickers.

It is interesting to point out that a very simple calculation can lead to the fact that not using the plastic cups for water appliances in the City Administration of Poreč-Parenzo and 11 city institutions can avoid throwing 156,000 plastic cups a year.