The Decentralized Community Composting approach is starting to be a common system to manage biowaste in some Mediterranean towns and cities, with some remarkable ongoing examples. However, there is still a lack of information to achieve a solid base of knowledge about all the potential challenges and impacts associated to these systems. Examples like the ENI CBC Med project DECOST, wich is pushing across the Mediterranean to adapt the reality of small towns and their waste management systems in a permanent way, are also crucial to fill some knowledge gaps. 

The paper was published in Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050; CODEN: SUSTDE), an international, cross-disciplinary, scholarly, peer-reviewed and open access journal of environmental, cultural, economic, and social sustainability of human beings: it shows that Italy is among the top biowaste-generating countries in Europe, with a well-structured waste management framework and an elevated number of centralized composting facilities, but not equally distributed throughout the country. In recent years, many local communities has showed interest in decentralized composting options, specially in central and southern regions, where the lack of centralized facilities can be supported by decentralized solutions. This publication aims to be useful by using Italy as a model, especially for Mediterranean countries that intend to build new decentralized composting programs adapted to their realities. 

Basilicata Region, which will host one of the DECOST pilot activities, is one of the italian regions that could be clearly favored by implementing decentralized waste treatment facilities. The development of local solutions to urban waste management strategies will help to achieve better results in line with the circular economy.

Find the paper in open access here:

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/8/3319/htm