Garda Green is Lake Garda’s ecological protocol that sprang from the commitment of the small and medium enterprises that see Lake Garda as a resource to be protected and who wish to make their contribution to the strategies designed by the institutional bodies to protect the environment. Thanks to the backing of prestigious companies on the Italian scene that have developed its themes and identified practical solutions, the Garda Green protocol was made to guarantee companies an effective and common guideline that avoids them useless and heavy investments.
The thematic areas that make up the Garda Green Ecological Protocol owned by the Garda Green Club corporate network are:
• Communication
• Garbage and separate collection
• Sustainable mobility
• Energy production and procurement
• Cleaning and water recovery
• Energy efficiency
Davide Fumaneri is Project Manager of the company effettoNIDO and director of the Garda Green network and project.
Active in the world of tourism since 1993 in various roles, first working for tour operators in South America and Europe and then opening a travel agency in Valpolicella. In the meantime, he has given substance to his passion for sustainability by opening Effetto Nido S.r.l. 10 years ago together with some partners. This Verona-based company was founded as a start-up for the promotion and implementation of smart home automation systems and is an expert in preliminary analyses of buildings. The company has grown by developing projects for the realisation of networks of companies proposing projects with a strong sustainable connotation. Among these projects, Garda Green is the company's flagship.
Technical document of the Garda Green environmental sustainability standard was drafted by effettoNIDO s.r.l. ( www.effettonido.it ) that keeps it constantly updated and supports the adhering SMEs in maintaining the standards required to obtain and maintain the Garda Green label.
EffettoNIDO is recognised by Innoveneto as an innovative company and has specific expertise in energy efficiency, reduction of the environmental impact of buildings, domotics and integration of systems
When we talk about tourism in an environment like that of Lake Garda we can only connect everything to the respect and protection of the territory itself. To this topic, to which the public opinion is particularly sensitive, was added the theme of Food Waste that has reached unacceptable levels and especially irrigating countries where food is lacking.
Goodmorning Paper is proposed to the market in 2015 by placing as a first reference these issues by offering a direct distribution service of eco-friendly or 100% recyclable dishes and containers (in particular in paper) and suitable for the protection of food in order to extend its life.
Erika Zambreri, together with the commercial organization of Goodmorning Paper, a company specializing in the distribution of materials, is the reference point for appropriate advice for each of the customers who also want to customize each proposal.
Advice on the network contract is delegated to lawyer Ilaria Maggi, a freelancer at the historic Verona law firm Dindo-Zorzi e Associati.
Graduated with a grade of 110 cum laude from the University of Trento - European and Transnational pathway, she spent the first part of her working career alternating between the O.N.U. office in Geneva and a well-known law firm in Trento, then moving to the Verona Bar Association, where she currently practices.
The use of green energy from certified renewable sources is a fundamental element to the Garda Green ecological protocol that sets out to minimize the environmental footprint of tourists, also by spreading electrical vehicles and the relative charging tools. In this area, Garda Green goes beyond the classic guarantee of origin, requiring its facilities to procure it from renewable sources that are certified by TÜV, a primary international certification body. Repower, a historic electricity company and key player in the electric mobility industry, is the company set in place to assess the provision of electricity at the Garda Green member facilities, and at the same time, it is the contact for all that concerns electric mobility.
Carlo Uccelli, Repower’s consultant in the Garda area, can perform an energy consumption assessment at the facilities adhering to the protocol as well as aid in and offer innovative solutions for introducing electric mobility into the business model of Garda Green’s members.
Mario Polverino, coordinating as a director in the sports, publishing and design sectors of major companies, has acquired thirty years of managerial experience.
In 2017 he joined IWM where he currently holds the role of Head Renting Department. Mario takes care of selecting and testing the products and services intended for companies and planning the strategies of products and services for companies with the top management, he directs the rental sector throughout the country, coordinates the commercial network and directly manages the large customers as a reality such as the Gada Green Club business network. In line with the objectives of IWM, the motto of "Plastic Free" fights personally and promotes awareness actions on the issue of environmental protection.
From an ecological point of view, the production of sustainable detergents must take place with renewable raw materials (for example, derivatives of plants). At the same time, they must be effective and have a fair price. Equally important are the social aspects, credibility, trust and transparency in the relationship between producer and consumer. These principles make a detergent environmentally sustainable.
Ress Multiservices is the reference point for those who deal with professional cleaning, quality assurance and innovation in respect of the environment, thanks to a careful evaluation and research of the suppliers with whom it collaborates and the products on the market.
It offers a wide range of "Green Care" products: a concrete choice for the environment that considers sustainability in professional cleaning; with EMAS certification, which represents the official recognition at European level of the achievement of excellent results.
The energy efficiency of buildings and systems functional to them is strategic to reducing the environmental footprint of tourism on Lake Garda, heat pumps, CHP plants, efficient boilers, high performance building envelopes, and modern and certified systems are inexorable to obtaining Garda Green certification.
Engineer Mauro Vinco of the Studio Piramide S.r.l. in Verona is in charge of this task, who has been appointed to monitor the facilities that have obtained the Garda Green mark and support those who have started the process of adhering, avoiding them investments or environmentally useless solutions.
In the hospitality sector, the swimming pool and the wellness facilities in general have long been an undisputed qualifying point of what is on offer to tourists. Nowadays, these offers do not always reflect the "state of the art" of the most advanced technologies nor the policies aimed at downsizing the carbon footprint in terms of reducing the use of chemical products, as well as cutting down electricity and water consumption. In a Green key, collaborations with researchers and microbiologists is essential in order to offer the most respectful approach to the environment and to the health of the guests that science can provide, in particular in the field of the new developments in filtration and water treatment technologies.
IsolaVerde Piscine can boast over 35 years of experience in this field because it has created environmentally friendly tourist facilities in the Garda area, as well as in tourist areas in Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Panama, Kenya, etc. This experienced company that is specialized in ecology also collaborates with Garda Green to provide all the specific solutions that can reduce the need for aggressive water and environmental treatment, by minimizing water consumption, packaging, transport and the quantity of synthetic chemicals used in the facilities.
Thanks to his important, twenty-year experience in the international hotel industry, Arrigo Bussinello has been a partner and the business manager of IsolaVerde Piscine since 2010. His competence and professionalism has made him a decisive person at national technical round-tables, both in Assopiscine (The Italian Manufacturers' Association Piscine) and in Wepool, the first national business network in the sector. He is the consultant at the SME and he is also in charge of the development of the protocol on behalf of Garda Green.
In order to maintain their performance over time, every good habit or technical solution must be monitored and constantly compared with other solutions adopted to identify which yield the best performance. All the Garda Green facilities and all services offered by the corporate network are equipped with a control device and an application at the reception for collection and monitoring of data.
Eng. Claudio Girlanda, founder of Girtech s.r.l. has the job of developing the Garda Green sensor system and reception App with the objective of building and managing a major database with all the elements that characterize the consumption and the green facilities reserved for tourists, but also the reservations and tourist flux data in order to always have the environmental footprint data of the facilities adhering to the Garda Green ecological protocol.
The vast area of action of the Garda Green protocol, to date, has been identified in the Garda territories of the Veneto, Lombardy and Trentino A. A. regions.
For Veneto with the territories coinciding with the thematic tourism system (STT) Lake Garda, i.e. in the municipalities of: Affi, Bardolino, Brentino Belluno, Brenzone sul Garda, Caprino Veronese, Castelnuovo del Garda, Cavaion Veronese, Costermano, Ferrara di Monte Baldo, Garda, Lazise, Malcesine Pastrengo, Peschiera del Garda, Rivoli Veronese, San Zeno di Montagna, Torri del Benaco, Valeggio sul Mincio.
For Lombardy with the municipalities belonging to the Consorzio Lago di Garda Lombardia: Desenzano, Gardone Riviera, Gargnano, Limone, Lonato, Manerba, Magasa, Moniga, Padenghe, Polpenazze, Pozzolengo, Puegnago, Salò, San Felice, Sirmione, Soiano, Tignale, Toscolano Maderno Tremosine and Valvestino;
For Trentino Alto Adige with the municipalities of the Trentino Riviera: Riva del Garda, Torbole sul Garda and Nago, Arco, Tenno, Dro and Drena.
The corporate network is expanding to the Trentino-Alto Adige and Brescia shores of Lake Garda. In fact, its mission is to increase the number of Garda Green companies so that the collective commitment can significantly impact the protection of Lake Garda’s ecosystem.
Who can join
Companies and businesses, either in individual or associated form with a vocation for tourist hospitality, restaurant service, tourism services in general, and production of individual food and wine products, including cultural enterprises that, in serving their customers, place particular emphasis on limiting their environmental impact on Lake Garda may adhere to the Garda Green Protocol.
This includes these businesses:
• Hotel facilities in general
• Restaurants in general
• Production companies of typical local products
• Public subjects
• Public or private bodies
• Public or private associations
The Garda Green ecological protocol was defined after a major collection and processing of data. The criteria that contradistinguish it are:
• General criteria
• Required criteria
• Optional criteria
General Criteria
By general criteria we mean all those elements that are inherent to a business compliant with regulations and include:
1. Legal requirements for the service provided
2. Legal requirements for the building permits
3. Requirements for system regularity
4. Legal requirements for safety and prevention
5. Legal requirements for any landscape integrations
6. APE – energy performance certificate
7. Water energy gas samples monitoring system
8. Separate garbage collection
Required Criteria
By required criteria we mean all those elements required by specific current laws in the area of energy savings and efficiency whose parameters have been re-elaborated taking into account the extremely particular climate of Lake Garda and surrounding areas. The Garda Green ecological protocol therefore includes technical solutions that cost much less for the same amount of pollution produced compared to those needed to follow the guidelines of national and European regulations that instead take into account much less localized geoclimates and 365 days rather than the 200-210 days of operation of the tourism activities on Lake Garda. The required criteria include macro areas of intervention: electricity, thermal energy, building envelope, temperature regulation, lighting, air-conditioning, system maintenance, garbage, sustainable mobility, communication, soaps and detergents, and restaurant service.
Optional Criteria
By optional criteria we mean a series of elements that are given a score that it is up to the hotel keeper to work on until totaling at least 37 points out of 174 possible. This rationale springs from the fact that the holder knows his facility and the dynamics of management, his own, of his employees, and his clientele. The objective is still to intervene extensively, avoiding useless investments. Having earned 37 optional points, SMEs can display the Garda Green Hospitality / Camping / Restaurant / Farm logo on their company brochures and company website, but will not be considered members of the Garda Green Club network, which instead requires earning 74 points out of 174. The 37 optional points are enough to communicate a concrete ecological commitment to one’s own clientele, but not enough to intercept new strongly ecologically oriented client segments around which instead the Garda Green Club communication, marketing, and tourism offering plan is centered.