Environment, measurement and awareness at the heart of the “One Day or Day One” project

With the meeting held on 9 June, the final activity of the 2025-2026 school year of “One Day or Day One” came to a close. This sustainability programme also involved first-year students from the four-year Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautics and Telecommunications programme at Istituto Malignani.

Around fifty students took part in a morning session dedicated to sustainability, environmental care and the understanding of the impacts generated by everyday behaviours. The initiative involved the technical Sustainability team of Gesteco and LOD, the Dynamic Olfactometry Laboratory, bringing to a close the collaboration activities developed throughout the school year.

“One Day or Day One” is a training programme designed by Gesteco to guide students through a concrete reflection on the environmental impacts linked to daily habits. Its aim is to foster greater awareness of how individual choices can contribute to reducing environmental impacts.

The Gesteco methodology was recognised in 2023 by AiFOS, the Italian Association of Trainers and Safety Operators, for its awareness-raising activities aimed at supporting the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda Goals.

Through multimedia materials, digital tools and physical supports designed to encourage active participation, students were involved in a guided discussion on everyday habits that affect the environment and the consumption of natural resources.

During the session, Marianna Blasutig and Mattea Kuftich, from Gesteco’s Sustainability team, calculated the group’s ecological footprint based on the answers provided by the students to specific questions about their practices and behaviours.

Based on the data collected, the group’s Overshoot Day was identified: the day from which the resources consumed exceed those the planet is able to regenerate within the same timeframe. This is a useful indicator for making the concept of “environmental debt” and its implications, including for future generations, easier to understand.

During the morning, Marco Pontello and Nicola Ziraldo, specialist technicians from LOD, the Dynamic Olfactometry Laboratory, introduced a number of insights related to the analysis and measurement of odours, a specific area of environmental investigations applied to the monitoring of odour emissions.

The presentation of the Odour Wheel attracted particular interest among participants. This tool is used to classify and standardise different types of odours. Through an interactive activity connected to its use, students tested their olfactory skills by trying to recognise the odours present in the markers used as reference samples and associating them with the categories represented on the wheel.

With an approach based on active participation, the meeting allowed students to engage in a practical and stimulating way with the topic of odour emissions, understanding how odour perception can be analysed, classified and measured through specific technical methodologies.

The day represented an opportunity to strengthen the dialogue between school and business, bringing into the classroom skills, tools and applied case studies related to sustainability and environmental investigations.