Bringing SB Back to Bocconi

It is quite a drastic culture shock, transitioning from such a sustainable, "green-friendly" place like Santa Barbara to getting placed smack dab in the center of a bustling city such as Milan. It really is hard to watch someone throw their cigarette butts on the ground when there is a specific disposal for cigarettes right next to them, or witness lines in the grocery store the size of the Nile River and then watch Italians throw away food that could so easily be composted for their gardens, located on their apartment balcony.

One issue that I can no longer sit back and accept is the consumption of bottled water at Bocconi. Students will line up as though the vending machine is the front door of Wal-Mart on Black Friday just to get their daily dose of bottled water. Then, these same students will continue to throw their empty bottles in the trash, rather than placing them in the recycling baskets located on the ground floor of our student buildings. I have been here for 4 months now and have not once seen a nalgene, glass bottle, or any other type of reusable canteen. Oh and water fountains in class buildings are definitely non-existent.

Upon arriving at Bocconi, one of my friends, Mariana, asked a full-time student if it was okay to drink the tap water in Italy. The student quickly responded by saying that although the tap water was perfectly fine, “it’s not considered fashionable to refill your bottle.” As preposterous as this may sound, the mentality of most Italians is strongly fixated on the fact that drinking bottled water is considered to be chic, high-class, and the most “pure” option; however, when it comes to plastic bottles, the environmental costs strongly outweigh the industry’s monetary benefits. 

It may not seem like a big deal to most Bocconi students, however bottled water is an industry that continues to grow rapidly each year. Despite the fact that Italian consumers already have access to clean drinking water for free, Italy is the largest consumer of acqua minerale, drinking more than 3 billion gallons countrywide. According to researchers, between the years of 2001 and 2007, world consumption of bottled water has increased by 70%. 


It is time to educate Bocconi students of their personal environmental impact, and what better way to do that than pair a Santa Barbarian with an Australian, New Zealander, and two Brazilians. For our Sustainable Operations Management course, the five of us are taking charge and showing students the truth behind the bottled water industry. In addition to explaining the corruption behind each process of the supply chain: production, transportation and disposal - we are taking an interactive approach on the matter. During our presentation we are first planning to take the building trash cans into class, pouring out their contents into a clear bag and actually showing students how many recyclable bottles are being thrown away as "waste." After a good amount of information and of course a powerpoint presentation, we are then going to be getting crafty by re-using the water bottles as plant holders. This will allow students to get their hands dirty while learning how to utilize their resources. I will make sure to keep you all updated on how the assignment goes, we will be presenting this coming Monday. 


For now, I will leave you with a video that will be incorporated into our presentation. It is about a well-known Italian comedian, Luciana Littizzetto, documenting her journey through the congested streets in order to bring a glass of "pure" water home. The co-op commercial then culminates with her filling a glass from the tap with the simple message: drinking tap water pollutes less.