ROME—The Giro d’Italia, in collaboration with non-competitive running organization, La Corsa Rosa, will celebrate its second consecutive year of its successful environmental initiative, ‘Ride Green’, when the annual cycling competition gets underway on May 5 form Alghero.

 Ride Green is the project of RCS Sport dedicated to environmental protection and sustainability established in 2016. It aims to promote the use of separate waste bins and recycling during the 21 stages of the competition.

 Last year Ride Green managed to sort nearly 57,000 kilograms of waste during the tour, of which, 84 percent was recycled.

 Director General of RCS Sport, Paolo Bellino, explained that the initiative is an extremely important part of the event.

 “An increasingly more sustainable tour is one of our objectives for the next few years,” said Bellino, “and that is connected to projects of social responsibility such as the ones we are driving towards, like BiciScuola and La Caravona Sociale, which promote concepts such as fair play, respect for the environment and street awareness.”

 Over 200 passionate volunteers have been involved with the project, all hoping to continue the waste sorting system and change the way the competition runs for the better.

 The waste sorting system is divided into five types of waste: organic, cardboard, plastic and metals, glass, and finally then the remaining leftover waste.

 In addition to simply recycling the waste the initiative aims to raise the awareness of the spectators against littering.

 “The Giro d’Italia and Ride Green are opportunities to widely spread the important message of the value of waste sorting and recycling, even where these practices are behind,” added Bellino.

 The Giro d’Italia will get underway on May 5 in Alghero before finishing in Milan on May 28.

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