"Printed on ecological paper by Tipolitografia La Reggiana, Reggio Emilia, January 2005." "muta...menti" (translator's note: the title is a play on words. In Italian, "mutamenti" means "changes, alterations," but if you separate the two parts, it means "changes minds" and thus, by extension, "changes or alters ways of thinking.") "REMIDA A message of optimism: It is with great pleasure that I greet this first REMIDA publication, REMIDA DAY. Many exciting events and experiences have characterized the wonderful REMIDA project thus far, not even eight years from its inception. I have given my personal and passionate support to the project since the beginning in 1996, when the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and AGAC [the local water, gas, and waste management company] came together to promote the idea that waste materials can be resources and that their use can be reinvented. The results have extended beyond all expectations. The energies that have coalesced around this project and the creativity it has stimulated have been incredible, as often happens with projects initiated in the infanttoddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia. But here there is something more: the encounter with "waste" materials, with a company that "treats" these materials, and with the businesses that are participating in increasing numbers to keep the supply coming --- because deep down, we people of Reggio Emilia do not like to waste, to throw things away. There are now 170 companies that contribute their discard materials: paper, metal, cord, leather, fabrics, upholstery, food containers, bottles, and so on, materials that are carefully inspected and selected by the Friends of Reggio Children Association, then transported to the REMIDA headquarters by AGAC. At REMIDA the objects are received, displayed, and offered in a sort of emporium or warehouse of wonders, to which I, myself, accompany visitors to our city....." [by Antonella Spaggiari, Mayor of Reggio Emilia from 1991 to June 2004] - from Amzon