The lesson organized by Fondazione MAIRE and MAIRE, dedicated to the students of TRED high school, the "four-year high school for ecological and digital transition" of Elis, was held remotely on March 19, 2025.

How much CO2 emissions are there in Italy? Which business sectors produce the most? And why is there so much talk about this CO2, is it really that bad? Actually, CO2 is not "bad," but the levels of its concentration that have accumulated over time in our atmosphere are. This is how our conversation with over 400 students from 20 institutes participating in TRED high school began, connected remotely from all over Italy, and continued for over an hour.

The frontal lesson focused on the world of waste, which today represents a valuable resource; it illustrated the 4 pillars – the 4 "R"s (Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Reduce) – on which the students were "tested" through an interactive quiz that saw them as protagonists. Their answers provided fertile ground to explain the waste conversion process, the world of "new" raw materials that can be generated through Nextchem's "waste to chemical" technology (MAIRE Group); for each type of waste, the students were shown which technology is applicable, which raw material can be created, and which final product can be made using the technologies of "MyReplast industries" and "MyRechemical" – from mechanical recycling to advanced recycling, up to waste gasification.

It was surprising to see so many raised hands at the end of the lesson and receive, in chat and video, many punctual questions. We hope to receive more questions, along with their workshops. The educational format included, in addition to an hour of frontal lesson (given by colleagues from the Foundation and a MAIRE engineer colleague, expert in these technologies), an additional hour of workshop to be held physically in the classroom, each class with its reference teacher and in its own location.

Young generations are the primary source of our inspiration; their vision and insights guide the implementation of our educational proposal, in the hope of reaching an increasingly large and varied audience of students, with the commitment to spread the culture of mitigation and combating the effects of climate change, as well as to train the "humanist engineers" of tomorrow.

Good luck to all the students!

"To achieve decarbonization goals, moving towards a circular economy is a key element. We hope and believe that sharing stories of innovation with the students, such as the "Waste to Chemical" technology that closes the loop even better by reusing the carbon and hydrogen from non-differentiable waste, can inspire and create fertile ground for building a more sustainable future."

Alessia Borgogna, business development waste to chemical analyst