3 May 2022
The presence of bees will make it possible to monitor air quality and facilitate the fundamental activity of pollination
Two beehives have been placed recently in the area of Turin’s waste-to-energy plant managed by TRM, a company of the Iren Group: the presence of the bees will make it possible to carry out the biomonitoring of the environmental matrices of the area.
In particular, approximately 120,000 bees have been placed in the hives, which are able to pollinate about 60 million flowers every day in the area surrounding the plant; providing an estimated production of about 20 kg of honey per year.
Similarly to what has been done in the first experiment carried out in Iren Energia’s Torino Nord cogeneration plant, a monitoring of the air quality and of the different environmental matrices will be carried out through a constant observation of the bees’ behaviour, their health and their honey production capacity.
The operators of Apicolturaurbana.it, a partner of the initiative, will periodically access the hives to verify the behaviour of the community and record any behavioural variations: in particular, the analyses will be carried out on samples of honey, bees, beeswax and bee pollen collected at different times of the year. Bees are in fact considered the sentinels of the environment, because from the analysis of their well-being we can deduce the state of health of the ecosystem in which they live.
The increasingly massive use of insecticides, herbicides and pesticides and the erosion of biological diversity caused by industrial agriculture are putting a strain on the survival of bees and all pollinators that are the basis of the delicate balance of the Earth’s ecosystem.
Urban beekeeping plays, for this reason, a leading role and can constitute an added value in business choices: in fact, some plants and production sites have become safe places for bees, far from the chemical pollution linked to industrial agriculture and providing a particularly diversified range of nectar sources. In this context, the collaboration between beekeepers and companies such as TRM Gruppo Iren plays a fundamental role insofar as they can provide protected and safe places, thus contributing to supporting these very important insects.
The beehives will also become a stop in the path of educational visits for students and local stakeholders that TRM is carrying out, thanks to the direct involvement of Eduiren, with the aim of sensitising the younger generations on the importance of maintaining biodiversity and having respect for the environment, and how it is possible to do business in a sustainable way, one that is respectful of nature.