Raising citizen awareness and fostering new forms of consumer behavior are among the priority actions of the transitional process towards circular economy. According to the social transition models, schools act as catalysts for the urban environment and therefore are able to maximize the impact of the ecological transition. Starting from these assumptions, a School Living Lab was developed by ENEA over the course of three school years, borrowing and adapting the Living Lab methodology. The project took place at the “Pitagora” Institute of Higher Education in the city of Policoro in the province of Matera (Basilicata, Italy). The activity was part of the broader ES-PA Project, Activity 3.2.3 “Integrated Territorial Projects for sustainable economic development”, focused on the improvement of multilevel governance practices, the involvement of local stakeholders for the promotion and development of the circular economy approach. The School Living Lab was organized in three steps: during the first year experts from ENEA trained and rose the awareness of the school community on sustainability and circular economy; during the second year the students ran an analysis of their needs and consumption habits and co-designed a circular economy project; finally, the third year was dedicated to the implementation of the project and to the following data analysis. The Living Lab included a nudge practice aimed at encouraging correct behavior in waste sorting and collection of recyclable plastic (bottle caps). The Living Lab also triggered a virtuous process of change by involving other local stakeholders, who collaborated independently to implement the practices. The project was concluded with the delivery of collected material to an Apulian recycling company, which transforms plastics into a secondary raw material for the production of streetlamps, thus closing the cycle of the polyethylene supply chain and proving the replicability of the School Living Lab experience. © (2023), (Procedia Environmental Science). All rights reserved.

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