We are building more sustainable communities with a small but dedicated team. In this rubric, we give each member of our team the chance to introduce themselves to you. This week, it is Sara's turn.
Although you can find short introductions of our team members on the “About us” page, we thought it was about time for you to get to know us a bit better. Last time, Gabriele told you all about his life. This week, Sara will take you along on her journey at Byewaste, sharing her vision on sustainability and our company.
Hi there! Who are you? Tell us something about yourself!
HI! I’m Sara, I’m 28 and I’m currently living in Florence, Italy. I moved here after my degree in Mathematics to work for a big company, on the IT side, but after a few years of work, I decided to go back to school to give my career a more sustainable imprint.
In my free time, I like to stay outside, doing sports like biking, outdoor climbing, and trekking. The more dangerous it is, the more I like it!
I also have a big nerd side; I like to relax by reading books or on Netflix, watching movies, stand-up comedians, or documentaries. Animals are one of my passions too. Every week I keep at least one afternoon free to go to a shelter close to home, to help and keep the dogs living there some company.
What do you do at Byewaste?
I’m currently doing an internship in Byewaste to write down a thesis for a Master course in Management of the environment. I have a technical background, so what I’m trying to do here is to combine the two sides of my studies, by creating an algorithm to improve the company’s logistics performances, reducing cost and environmental impact.
How did you end up at Byewaste?
When the time to decide where to do my thesis internship had come, I was in Lisbon for another job opportunity. I knew that I wanted to find a place where I could actually do something valuable for the environment and the society, with an interesting project for my thesis. So, one day I was looking at a list of the best startups looking for people to hire in Lisbon, and the name of Byewaste popped out in an old job advertisement. It was love at first sight! I was very impressed by the mission and the idea behind Byewaste and I felt that this could be the right place for me. After a friendly interview with Tommaso and Riccardo, we found the match with the perfect project to work on together.
Why did you want to work for the company?
Because I think that it’s important to work for something you’re passionate about. I’m passionate about recycling and I want to do my part in making our ecological footprints the smallest possible. I still haven’t met the people working for Byewaste in person since I just started, but I feel that we all share this principle, which is something that makes me already like all of them.
What do you like most about your job?
The thing that I like most is that I’m able to work together with people that share the same values as me, and I also like that I can apply my skills to build something that is actually useful for the people around me.
And what do you like least about it?
Well, I don’t have things I don’t like actually; maybe something I don’t love all the time is that working remotely can make you feel a little far from the project and the people, but it’s just a feeling, because with nowadays instruments we can reach each other whenever it’s needed.
Why do you think that people should start recycling and reusing more?
Because we already have enough stuff and trash in this world. We don’t need to produce more and more things we don’t need; it takes too much energy and resources. This also increases the problem of how to handle tons and tons of trash; there’s no winner in this process but consumerism. Recycling is the only choice that makes sense.
What is the nicest item that you have ever thrifted?
It’s a very good jacket I found while I was in Lisbon a few months ago. I was feeling very uncomfortable because after a very hot February, March turned to be much cooler and windy, and I no longer had my winter jacket with me. So I decided to go to a second hand shop, and I found this cool jacket that seemed to be a good item. With that jacket the wind didn’t bother me anymore and I was so surprised to discover that it was also waterproof once that I got caught by a rainstorm. All this for only 6 euros!
When would you have especially benefited from a service like Byewaste yourself?
I guess that the time you realise you need to recycle the stuff you don’t use anymore is when you move out. It would have been very useful to have a service like Byewaste all the 100 times I moved out!
How are you contributing to a more sustainable future in your personal life?
In the last few years I became more conscious but I still have the feeling that I don’t do enough to contribute. I started using the bike to move around instead of the car; I hate using the car also for long distance travels, everytime I can take a train or another public transport I use that instead. Also, I changed my strategy in buying groceries, so now I prefer to buy small amounts of everything to avoid trashing food. Meat just once/twice per week and refilling glass bottles with public water instead of buying plastic once. Small things, but everyday I try to improve to do my part.
Which sustainable habit would you like to apply in your daily life?
I would love to be able to go everywhere with my bike or public transportation; I would immediately sell my car. I love the idea that instead of using resources and producing pollution by moving with cars, in the future maybe we’ll be able to use all the energy produced by bikers going around to gain clean energy, with some kind of platforms on the streets; I remember that this had already been done somewhere. It would be a dream!
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