Eco Donkeys in Italy

ECO FRIENDLY DONKEY SCHEMES (Article supplied by the Donkey Sanctuary in Andalucia, Spain)

We were especially pleased when we recently received an invitation from, Mario Cicero, the Mayor of Castelbuono, a medium sized rural town in Sicily, to visit and inspect his plans to make his town the most environmental friendly in Europe, and as part of his plan involved DONKEYS, wild horses (donkeys really) could not stop us visiting him !

In a very short time, Mayor Cicero has propelled his town into being listed among the top 11 in Italy for environmental quality by the Lega Ambiente, or Environmental League.

In Castelbuono the donkeys represent a part of the big project that is called “Save the world” and by 2007, Mario Cicero, has realised his ideas to replace four waste trucks with six donkeys, especially in the old part of Castelbuono. In replacing the rubbish trucks with donkeys, Mayor Cicero also took into account that the residents wanted more rubbish collections, and the Mayor says as it has turned out, the donkeys are far more quicker and efficient at removing the regular waste and as a result, in 2007 the waste collection has increased from 140.239 kg to 2.468.147 kg and more importantly, there was an increase of about 20 per cent to 829.956 kg of separated waste.

The donkeys don’t work more than five hours a day, and carry about 100 kg of waste for one route and their equipment consists of two containers, one for mixed and the other one for organic waste.
Moreover, there are many other positive aspects due to this project, not least being the fact that the residents of Castelbuno now feel they have a satisfactory and reliable waste collection and re-cycling system in place that can be built and expanded upon.

In 2008, the town now has a total of 10 donkeys, all stabled in the local agricultural school attached to the town, and they are used as part of is unique eco friendly method of rubbish collection, and other ancillary parts of his overall new town plan to show just how eco friendly a town can be.

Six days a week, donkeys and their handlers set off around the town to collect the rubbish, although the first port of call is a quick coffee before starting work, and the donkeys wait patiently for their handlers to return.

Of course the donkeys can't collect the same amount of daily waste as large rubbish trucks can do in one trip, so the Mayor has installed large bins in easily acessable locations, locked so that only the donkey teams can use them, and has replaced his monster rubbish trucks with smaller ( eco friendly) ones that collect the waste from the collection points.

The Mayor says it is not about costs but about saving the environment, but as mayor Cicero says, “big collection trucks cost a lot of money to buy and run, but I can have 12 donkeys working for the same running costs of one truck, and the donkeys do not pollute the air of our town, and make collection quiet and more accesable to our residents. He added and as our donkeys are a happy family, they produce new babies, so we will never need to buy a monster truck, or a donkey, again ! “
There is a daily collection of recyclable waste, with the vegetables and bread being put into the towns' compositing scheme, and it was amazing to see elderly ladies hanging out of their windows waiting for “their donkey” to arrive, and lowering their bags down on string to be collected by the team – One elderly resident said,” I just love it, I don't even have to struggle down the stairs and down to the rubbish bins with my bags any more, and I can sleep easier at night, and yes I can really say I am very pleased to see the back of those large noisy and smelly big trucks blocking off streets whilst they collected rubbish and not winding their way through our town belching black polluting hot air, especially in the summer.”

Mayor Cicero is not finished yet and explains, “we have a list of babies and children who are allergic to cows milk but can use donkeys milk, our donkeys breed and can be used to raise more money for the town and I will never have to buy a monster smelly truck truck again,” and with a twinkle in his eye adds “ Many town all over Europe need and welcome tourists, and we compete against each other, but how many other towns and villages have our donkeys !”!

In view of the experiences of Mayor Cicero in Sicilly and his efforts to make his town the most eco friendly town in Europe, we would be delighted if Nerja or any other local town or village would like to start the scheme as we would be happy to help provide the donkeys and stable and care for the animals during the trial scheme.