Hugging the Hymettus mountain with participatory composting activities
In Europe the 35% of household waste consists of food waste. Led by COMPOSTER with a number of collaborators & HugeHug aims to eliminate food waste, transforming it to high quality compost by activating a transmunicipal citizens-driven circular process from schools to municipalties. To complete the loop, the compost is used to provide a nature-based solution enriching the degraded soil of Hymettus Mountain area where 11 cities meet for restoring the beautiful ecosystem of the mountain forest.
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): COMPOSTER Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Nikolaos Last name of representative: Loudaros Gender: Male Nationality: Greece Function: Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Kimonos & Chiou str. Town: Agia Paraskevi Postal code: 15343 Country: Greece Direct Tel:+30 693 730 9960 E-mail:nloudarosart@gmail.com Website:https://composter.gr
In Greece and Europe 35-45% of household waste that may end up in the landfills or incinerators consists of organic (food) waste. The HugeHug project engages a wide and strong social network of eleven municipalities all around the Hymettus Mountain, activating their social core, starting with kids and educators to guardians/parents/families and municipal authorities, local entities, experts and volunteers in a common environmental action of restoring the forest’s soil and biodiversity that faces significant problem of degradation. The eleven municipalities cooperating in the project will do so by applying an effective and innovative composting method to produce quality compost in order to use it in the Hymettus ground and reforestations and other public green areas and in parallel to reduce their food waste impact. These will be done with the coordination and provision of expertise of the COMPOSTER company that has designed and create the only one in the country rotating composting model for on-site composting (aerobic fermentation). The model (awarded in GRBossible 2022 with the silver environmental award) recycles plastic, is reusable and environmental friendly and applies fully the principles of circular economy. The full unfolding of the HugeHug project will reach out to more than 100,000 citizens of eleven municipalities, educate 2,500 kids and 1,000 adults about circular economy and sustainability principles, and will reduce food waste by approx. 42-50 tn while will produce 25-30 tn compost of high quality in a year.
Food waste reduction/COMPOSTING
EDUCATION & Awareness for Environmental Sustainabity
Community ENGAGEMENT
Environmental SUSTAINABILITY
CIRCULAR economy
The overall purpose of the project is to strengthen and promote environmental sustainability and circular economy development in the participating municipalities, empowering and engaging the local communities in a concrete and meaningful way. In details:
1 - Develop replicable solution for an efficient, innovative, qualitative and inclusive composting of organic waste; This way we reduce food waste, and the quantity of municipal waste in general, produced by homes, kindergartens, schools and nursery centers. The eleven municipalities that participate are reducing their overall environmental footprint while in parallel the natural environment of the Hymettus mountain is restored in terms of soil quality (and quantity).
2 - Raising public awareness and educating about food waste, circular economy and nature-based solutions on environmental degradation. Following circular economy principles, we build knowledge, skills and behaviors of a wide range of groups, from children and educational staff to municipal services staff and the public, in general, on apply composting and recycling and on environmental sustainability at the local level, and taking transforming action as individuals and as communities for the ecological restoration of their nearby mountainous forest of Hymettus
1. Participatory nature restoring activities through composting: The project aims by design to apply inclusive and participatory approach that strengthens the social connections and positive emotions between and among: kids-educators-guardians/parents/families-municipal authorities-local entities and the social “fabric” in general, as they all do their part in a joint environmental initiative, focusing on the young children. The peri-urban forest and mountainous area of Hymettus urban mountain is facing significant problems of soil and biodiversity degradation due to a series of causes mainly repeated summer fires and mismanagement practices. The contribution of a diverse but interlinked group of citizens, from all ages, in restoring the area’s soil and vegetation will have a significant impact in their relationships and social cohesion. In addition, the younger pupils that participate in the composting activities are encourage to decorate and paint the composting unit of their nursery or primary school, while a design/drawing competition to imagine the Hymettus mountain forest a few years later is under preparation to boost the younger ones’ inspiration, ownership and stimulation.
2. Empower trans-community cooperation and exchange: The 11 municipalities cooperating in the project: form the “Hymettus Protection and Redevelopment Association-YPRA" and agreed and participate in the project since 2022 in order to reduce their environmental footprint and enhance the fragile soil parts of the Hymettus area, that “unites” them as well as to exchange as societies and reinforce creative “communities” (schools, nurseries, centers, houses, etc.) equipped and trained by the COMPOSTER on composting. HugeHug interweaves the principles of sustainability, aesthetics and inclusiveness allowing local societies to co-work in restoring the beautiful biodiversity and landscape of the Hymettus area having in the forefront the young children, their learning and actions.
Creating and spreading local circular economy hubs driven by citizens: The programme has developed a participatory methodology by its design allowing the active involvement of the local societies for separating at-the-source the organic waste (food and garden waste), making compost, and contributing in the restoring efforts of the Hemittus mountainous forest by the 11 municipalities that surround it. Focusing on community-led efforts, it offers the advantage of being highly engaging, easily replicable and adaptable to local contexts and needs. In each municipality, all nursery schools, kindergartens as well as selected primary schools are taking part in composting while more citizens will be encouraged to take an active part in the whole process. The local municipalities are committed to undertake the collection of compost produced by municipal buildings, schools and nurseries. Then on, in cooperation with associated experts and municipalities’ experts, together with the participation of the local youth, the produced compost is added to selected areas of Hymettus where they suffer the most from erosion and soil and biodiversity degradation.
In addition, the composting model used in the HugeHug has been designed to be inclusively used by the end-of users in terms of their age, affordability and space available. COMPOSTER has created a composting model easy to use, simple to operate and maintain inclusively and affordably way for all citizens, from small children to the elderly.
The 11 municipalities’ network engaged in solving an environmental challenge concerning the mountain that unities them; the empowerment of competences and development of awareness within the local societies -schools, families, local associations, municipal services and authorities - to address challenges such as food waste and waste prevention; all these are entry points to a collaborative inclusive system.
Citizens of all ages are key in the implementation of the HugeHug from its inception and design. Sorting and composting using the composter model was conceived as a flexible way to serve its purpose and offer adaptability to all 11 local societies that participate. The whole process aspires to have a strong engagement and ownership its main beneficiaries: children and families. More particularly, the people that are already and will be engaged in the project are the following:
- The children of the municipal nursery schools, kindergartens their educators, the staff and principals.
- Families, guardians and relatives of the school children.
- Students, teachers and other school staff of selected public and private kindergarten and primary schools of the engaged municipalities.
- Staff of local municipalities working in the departments of Environment, Green, Waste Management, Sustainability, etc.
- Other citizens that have or will participate in the project and are already do composting using the composter model.
The involvement of the aforementioned “types” of citizens will impact them in a way increased awareness and competences about circular economy, recycling of resources and composting and sustainable development principles, while it will enhance a sensitized committed network of the eleven local societies of YPRA Hymettus Mountain. Equally important impact is the anticipated strengthening of the social cohesion within and among the cooperating societies through their participation in a common-cause environmental challenge, focusing on the young children.
The HugeHug idea was conceived after 1,5 years of exchange, networking and liaising of COMPOSTER with representatives, on one hand of the 11 local municipalities: environmental experts, vice-mayors of waste management, experts, municipals’ consultants, etc. - and on the other, of volunteers: individual citizens and local environmental groups- of the YPRA Association in an effort and common vision to protect the Hemittus forest and restore to the extent possible, a part of its lost soil amount and vegetation, due to persistent erosion. In this way the key goals (as expressed already) and activities (as are presented in the Methodology paragraph) have been brainstormed, discussed and agreed amongst the aforementioned stakeholders. Of course COMPOSTER has early reached out to the educators and heads of the schools involved from the very beginning to identify the best ways of raising awareness and educating the children about recycling, composting and use of the composter model.
Food waste while currently identified as one of the key challenges in European (see EU Green Deal, EU Farm to Fork Strategy, EU Circular Economy Action Plan) and international policy (SDG 12.3) it is not addressed properly yet. HugeHug project applies a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach due to the nature of the challenges that addresses, as presented in the following, together with the related fields of knowledge applied in its design and starting implementiation:
(a) Reduction of food waste through the production of qualitative compost with the innovative designed new compost model: the COMPOSTER team (Mechanics/ Technology background) in collaboration with associated experts, having a background in Environmental Engineering have co-designed and pilot tested the “composter” model for 2 years before entering it in the project. The innovation and technology qualities of the composter model are analytically described in the INNOVATION paragraph.
(b) Proper management of the produced compost: the COMPOSTER leader together with the experts and consultants in Waste Management of the cooperating Municipalities participated in a working dialogue and consultations in order to co-create the approach to follow in the management of the produced compost by the schools.
(c) Increasing knowledge and competences of children and adults in composting and circular economy and sustainability: COMPOSTER team cooperates from the design phase with experts in Education for Sustainability (formal and non-formal educators) in developing the hands-on and learner-centered awareness raising activities that are taking place in the schools about composting, circular economy and sustainability.
(d) Restoring dried or poor in soil areas of the forest Hemittus Mountain with the compost produced by the nursery schools of the eleven municipalities involved: this activity is designed jointly by COMPOSTER together with Municipalities' experts in Environmental Sciences.
The innovation of the project lies upon three different types of innovation: (A) ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION: the “composter” model is the first of its kind to be produced in Greece, in full compliance with the principles of circular economy. It reuses two HDPE plastic barrels as the composting champers; it is estimated that by reusing them, approx. 5,12 Kg of CO2 are avoided. It’s a durable construction with a long-life span. No unnecessary materials such as chemical paints nor packaging material (for transport) are used. The polyethylene residues resulting from the are sent out to a local company that recycles HDPE in 3D printing. Zero electricity is needed for its use since it operates manually. No plastic bags are needed for collecting the organic waste, in contrary to the organic waste collecting system in “brown bins” in Greece that implies the use of plastic bags! The produced compost has proved to be odorless and of high quality as a soil fertilizer. (B) Methodology Innovation: HugeHug embraces the wide citizens participation approach, starting from Nursery Schools and Kindergartens, to Primary ones, Families and then on to local associations and local authorities of eleven (11) different cities, all joined to a common cause: the elimination of food waste and the restoration of the forest’s soil of Hymettus. (C) Educational innovation: The educational intervention that is taking place to nursery schools is one of its kind (no other similar is applied so far locally) to raise awareness about composting and circular economy is inclusive, learner-centered, experiential and built on education for environmental sustainability.
The results of HugeHug are totally transferrable and replicable to other municipalities and societies sensitized in the issue of food waste and pollution as well as in natural ecosystems where soil improvement is needed, like the Pentelis Mountain nearby municipalities, in Attica region, too. The project is showcasing a strategic partnership activating multiple stakeholders, from local authorities to schools and families, and from public administration to local environmental associations, experts and volunteers. The know-how gained could be even scaled up to a wider e.g. national scale to reduce food waste and use the compost for improving soil quality in degraded areas. In addition, the educators collaborated so far with COMPOSTER have given very positive feedback about bringing composter model and its activities into classrooms and schools. They have co-developed learning materials and visuals to organize further workshops for kids, after the COMPOSTER’s intervention, for proper composting and also further learning on applications of circular economy in children, family and school’s everyday life.
The METHODOLOGY that is co-developed with the identified stakeholders (see previous paragraphs) and is followed is briefly presented below:
ACTION 1. Needs Assessment report: per municipality. Inquiry’s Questions: (1i) The exact size of the schools/public buildings to participate (1ii) Amount of organic waste produced (1iii) The planning of the needed composting equipment (1iv) Spatial study of the placement of the composting unit for each building in all municipalities ACTIVITIES: (1a) Communication with municipalities staff and experts through meetings, etc. (1b) Questionnaire (1c) Cooperation Agreement between COMPOSTER and YPRA
ACTION 2. Education & training. Initiatives: (i) The nursey and kindergarten schools’ staff: directors, educators, supportive staff, cleaning staff etc.) together with municipal authorities’ staff (engaged in the programme) are going to be trained on the issues of the circular economy, sustainable waste management, composting and practice, etc. ACTIVITIES: (2a) Seminars/Webinars, informative meetings (2b) Sharing of informative material (online/printed)
ACTION 3. Construction & Installation of the composter models (of 2X240L) in the identified municipal buildings (schools, etc.)
ACTION 4. Application of composting & Collection of the produced compost. The compost that will be produced will be collected by the trained employees of the municipalities in collaboration with COMPOSTER. The municipalities will organize the transfer of compost to places to be used as a soil improver: in Hymettus Mountain Forest and green areas.
ACTION 5. Educational interventions in the participating nursery schools, kindergartens and primary schools with hands-on experiential activities engaging the kids in active learning on composting and sustainability.
ACTION 6. Raising local public awareness. Through open events, social media campaigns, flyers
ACTION 7. Provision of technical support to the municipalities by COMPOSTER throughout the process.
At the European and global level an efficient and sustainable economy in terms of properly managing and conserving natural resources and biodiversity is being sought. This is even more evident when it comes to municipal solid waste management, recycling and food waste. Food loss and waste is a global problem. In Europe the 35% of household waste consists of food waste, while in Greece this percentage is estimated bigger. The impact of food waste is not only financial, but also environmental: it leads to wasteful use of fertilizers and pesticides, to more fuel for food transportation, more rotting food in dumping areas creating more greenhouse gases (GHS). Food lost and waste generate 8-10% GHG globally while reducing our food waste is a brilliant way to transform our climate impact (UNEP, 2021). In addition, by properly managing organic waste and making compost as proposed in HugeHug not only food waste and associated GHG is reduced but also the linked to dumbing sites problems of soil and water pollution. It is estimated that the reduction of the landfill burden by the participating municipalities will be approx. of 500 - 600 Kg of solid waste per year by each nursery school participating in the programme and 46tn of waste avoided /year in total. Last but not least, the use of the produced high quality compost as a soil improver to degraded parts of the Hymettus mountain but also in public green spaces, contributes overall in the restoration of nature and ecosystems and the of soil, that is a non-renewable resource sustaining 95% of life on our planet. Some 300-360 Kg of compost will be produced per year by each school and about 28 tn/year by all (84) nursery schools.
The scope of the progress in the implementation of the HugeHug Project is in its early steps but concrete and important steps. As presented analytically in the paragraph about the METHODOLOGY/APPROACH, the Action 1 “Needs Assessment” has been completed by COMPOSTER in cooperation with the local authorities of the municipalities of Hymettus Association. This means that: (i) An agreement has been accomplished between the COMPOSTER and the “Hymettus Protection and Redevelopment Association (YPRA) regarding the needs per municipality, and (ii) One report presenting the needs assessment is completed
In the year that follows the present application the steps envisaged (development plan) together with their numeric outputs are the following (where M: month) :
M1-M4: Information & training of the schools’ and the municipal authorities’ staff engaged in the programme (1,000 persons trained): seminars/webinars, meetings, informative material
M2-M5: Construction & Installation of the “composter” models in the identified municipal buildings
M2-… Application of composting & Provision of technical support by COMPOSTER throughout the process. Reduction of organic waste produced by approx. 42-50 tn and production of approx. 25-30 tn of compost (in 11 minicipalities)
M6-M12 Educational interventions in the schools (2,500 children engaged).
M5-M12 Raising local public awareness (>100.000 citizens): open events, social media campaign, flyers, etc.
