Good practice:

Domestic composting pilot programme

Biowaste represents the largest single component of municipal waste. Hence, domestic composting is becoming an important measure to achieve the diversion of organic waste from landfill disposal and contribute to an environmental sustainability, offering a route towards a more circular economy. Therefore, the National and Regional Waste Management Plan foresees the promotion of domestic composting.
The solid waste management association of “Environmental Development Agency of Western Thessaly” (P.A DY.TH. S.A.) launched in 2016 a pilot programme for the promotion of domestic composting in the municipalities of Regional Unit of Trikala and Karditsa.
PADYTH’s implementation of domestic composting started the quantitative designing of the pilot programme in accordance to the regional targets and distributed 51 composting bins in schools and 649 in selected households. In recognition of the need to engage the public to increase the effectiveness of the practice, PADYTH organized a series of information and dissemination activities in cooperation with the municipalities. The training and active support of users on segregation and composting procedures was carried out on a biweekly basis. The monitoring phase included data collection of households and schools and door-to-door surveys to evaluate their engagement and record the results.
Stakeholders: the 9 Municipalities of the R.U. of Karditsa and Trikala and the 51 schools. Beneficiaries: 649 households and 51 schools

PADYTH in cooperation with 9 municipalities and schools.
4 people providing guidelines to citizens for household composting during the training and monitoring phase throughout the duration of the pilot activity.
Budget: 134.146€ (own funding)

51 domestic composting bins in schools.
649 domestic composting bins at households.
The survey findings of the monitoring phase of the domestic composting pilot programme revealed the participant’s satisfaction of the design parameters of the practice (training frequency, bin volume, etc.), the high user environmental awareness and the wide diffusion of school and neighborhood word-of-mouth.
This pilot action was adopted by the MA of ROP of Thessaly in 74/2019 Call for Proposals.

Domestic composting is an effective and simple method of solid waste management in households and institutions. The template of this pilot practice in Western Thessaly can be implemented in a larger scale. This pilot action further enhancing the notion that the monitoring phase can determine the success of any composting programme, since it assesses results and can address design failures. Moreover, awareness raising activities and training are crucial for the engagement of local population and their commitment to the successful implementation of the action.
The pilot programme of domestic composting proved the importance of cooperation of local authorities and schools for the active participation of citizens in reducing organic wastes and their valorization, contributing to environmental sustainability and environmental awareness.