Video games that educate to respect the environment

It is the data updated to 2020 collected by ISPRA that reveal to us that the percentage of national separate waste collection is growing, passing from just under 10 million to 18.5 million tons. However, the objectives of the European Union set with the Circular economy legislative package there is still a long way to go since we want to reach 55% recycling of urban waste by 2025 and even 65% in 2035: even more so, it is of fundamental importance to sensitize the population on the issue.

For this reason, the Hera Group, leader in environmental services, has launched the ECOgames: the first series of video games developed for educate young and old to do separate collection. Accessible free of charge via browser, the games are temporarily active only in some Italian municipalities where the Group provides its services including Bologna, Modena, Cesena, Rimini, Pesaro and Urbino.

«For several years now we have been carrying out initiatives to involve customers to inform them on how to separate waste. In fact, in addition to quantity, what really matters in separate collection is the quality avoid introducing non-compliant material inside the bins, because this generates processing waste during the recovery and recycling processes, reducing the total amount of waste that can be used. There gamification, and in this case the video game, is the perfect tool for improve the level of participation and awareness of citizens with respect to their fundamental role in separate collection. Learning by playing this is what we do since we were children: it is the simplest and most fun way to know and internalize the rules underlying the correct separation of waste. If you add to this also the engagement linked to a prize competition, here you get a mix of tools for increase customer interest and motivation»Explains the Hera group team.

Thanks to the style in pixel-art and to the game modes that refer to the best-selling titles in the videogame sector, users will have to try their hand at fun games that test the ability and speed in theassociate any refusal with its correct conferment. By doing so, players’ knowledge of separate waste collection is tested, while taking care to ensure a fun and immediate experience: «Currently there are three different games available. Memory Ambientale, where the player once found the correct pair of waste must choose the exact container. Ecological Labyrinth, similar to the classic Pac-Man, in which you play as one of the containers – plastic, paper, glass, organic or unsorted – and you will have to collect the correct waste. And finally, Falling waste, which commits us to drag the various waste falling from the top into the exact container. For each game are available at maximum 60 seconds and at the end, instead, there is a quiz that allows the user to get a bonus time by learning something more about separate waste collection “concludes the programmer Samuele Sciacca which, together with the pixel artist Manolo Saviantoni, created the ECOgames.

All that remains is to try them by registering on the dedicated page: but only if we are resident in one of the regions supported by the platform! In fact, for each of the provinces there is a ranking that divides the players into four different categories – Apprentices, Get informed, Aware ed Experts – based on the score achieved. From the backpack with a recycled cotton shopper to the sunflower plant: whoever reaches the first position will be able to win a prize green up for grabs.