ZERO · attrezzi condivisi

In February 2020 we opened the first lending points of ZERO, Palermo's first Library of Things. The idea is as simple as it is radical: most of what we buy gets used only a handful of times in its whole life. A drill, on average, runs for about fifteen minutes across its entire lifespan. The rest of the time it just sits there, taking up space, and eventually becomes waste — after having already cost resources to manufacture and ship in the first place.

ZERO proposes a shift in perspective we sum up in one line: what's mine becomes ours. With a €10 annual membership card, anyone can borrow, free of charge, one of the 260-plus items in our catalogue — DIY tools, camping gear, party equipment, gardening tools. This isn't a service handed down from above: lending points open up inside associations already active in the neighbourhood, which in turn become local reference points and gain visibility and new contacts in exchange for the space they offer.

The project has grown steadily to three locations across the city, initially supported by the Waldensian Church's Eight per Thousand fund and carried forward with two long-standing partners: Bibliofficina booq, lead applicant for funding and host of one of the lending points, and CEIPES, which co-manages the service with us.

The numbers, from 2020 to today, tell a concrete story of impact on the city: 664 recorded loans, over 200 active cardholders, an estimated €70,000 in community savings — based on an average avoided purchase cost of about €105 per loan — and nearly 11 tonnes of CO2 kept out of the atmosphere, equivalent to the annual work of a small urban forest.

But the number that matters most to us is harder to measure: every loan is an encounter. Someone walks into an association they might never have known, exchanges a few words with whoever hands them a tool, discovers a slice of the city they usually rush past. ZERO grew out of the same culture as our coworking — here too, sharing isn't just more sustainable. It's simply better.