Organizing the composting sector in the PACA region [France]

Operational Themes - Local Policy and Land Use

Technical card

Location: Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region
Dates: 2008 - in progress
Technical partners: Orgaterre, Ecotechnologie
Financial partners: Environment and Energy Management Agency, regional office (ADEME PACA), Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Regional Council

Description of action

Driven by the need to find waste treatment solutions, the many projects aimed at biological recycling of household waste in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur suggest that there is potential for substantial development of regional compost production. This implies strengthening and enhancing a coherent, high-quality system.

To meet the challenge, ADEME PACA and the Regional Council asked GERES to co-ordinate a regional initiative. The aim is to carry out concrete activities, in conjunction with all stakeholders, with a view to establishing a high-quality composting sector.

The first year of this three-year programme was devoted to preparatory work to determine the most appropriate activities to be implemented at local level:

• feed back of the results of previous studies on compost quality and outlets (conducted by GERES, Orgaterre and Echotechnologie) to all stakeholders in the sector in PACA.
• a desk study and collation of existing knowledge and experimentation on the use of compost in the Mediterranean region, conducted by Orgaterre;
• a survey to ascertain stakeholders' expectations in the PACA region, carried out by Ecotechnologie;
• an analysis of various similar approaches to promote the composting sector in Europe, conducted by GERES ;
• a technical meeting to feed back the information built up, an information/training session on controlling compost quality and a meeting to share experience on the topic of marketing compost.