The Problem

We want to bring light to an age-old and put-aside issue, the Italian land pollution. Italian countryside is used as landfill, where tons of waste are dumped illegally and often burnt. It is a scenario that 2hands has seen to intensify year after year and now it is characterising a real local environmental emergency.
Among the most typical waste we find domestic appliances, building materials, furniture, but also more frequently bags of general waste, glass, plastics and asbestos. The phenomena is found mainly nearby neighbouring areas and city outskirts. The waste is damped along countryside roads, along riverbanks and escarpements.

It is about waste extremely dangerous for ecosystems and human health. Social collateral effects are decrease in tourism, such as rural and cyclo-tourism, and increase in public costs to monitor and clean up
areas..

Damages to human health

Next to illegal landfills of dangerous type of waste there has been found a small increase of risk of congenital malformations and a more consistent increase in the risk of low weight in new-born babies. Moreover, it must be considered also the elevated probability of getting cancer..

Luigi Bisanti, presidente dell’Associazione italiana di epidemiologia

On the other side, the burning of waste releases dioxins (carcinogenic molecular compounds) in the air potentially impacting the frequency of some type of cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to boost up people awareness aiming at repressing such unsustainable behaviours that are harmful for the others and own health and also are subject of crime..

2hands 2021 effort

In 2021, 2hands Organization has removed from land 13.512Kg of waste thanks to the 42 clean ups events organised by its 10 headquarters which were able to involve more than 1000 volunteers.

2022 – Mission

In 2022 with the Mission Land Saviors we want to increase our positive impact on the environment, focusing on the Italian inland. The goal is to remove 20.000Kg of waste through 40 clean ups. To reach so, we will need to increase the quantity of waste removed per event. 2map, a 2hands project of mapping illegal dumpings, will help achieve our goal through citizens reports. We plan to establish national days for the protection of the Italian inland, the Land Saviors Day, where we will aim to involve more than 2000 volunteers and 30 voluntary organizations. Lastly, we plan to plant 500 trees through our green-up initiatives.