SYBERT is a waste management company located in Besançon in France. They are undertaking various initiatives to overcome the challenges of community and urban composting, and have established over 230 community compost points throughout Besançon, including the examples below.
As of 2015, 11 composting sheds were installed in very dense areas, with 10 of them in operation. 5 380 households have access to them, representing about 10 450 people. Among these, 24 % participate in their operation. There are 3 sheds in the city centre, 3 in the Chaprais district, 2 in Planois and 2 in Palente centred around dense social collective housing. These sheds are open two to three times per week at convenient times (including Wednesdays and Saturdays) for local residents to bring food (excluding meat, fish and dairy to avoid rat infestations) and green waste. Volunteers from the local community manage the stations during opening times to ensure the correct waste is fed to the closed-shed composters, and also to turn the compost. Wood chips are added to ensure structure and aerobic conditions, and waste is composted over six months, and compost used for local community areas and by residents.
As of June 2015, 251 collective composting facilities within the apartment buildings were in service. These facilities are managed by two volunteers each and are open all the time, with a 40 % use rate. It is a challenge to find volunteers, who need to be trained for a few days on compost management, and guided for the first year. In total, 8 901 households (about 22 000 inhabitants) have access to composting facilities within the apartment buildings. Since 2012, 740 tonnes of organic waste have been diverted from residual waste incineration through these facilities.
One automatic rotating drum composter is in service at a large apartment block, serving over 2 000 households. This is opened three times per week to receive waste, including meat, fish and dairy products, along with wood pellets for structure/aeration. Leachate enters the sewer. Compost is generated over four weeks, leaving the composter only after it has achieved a temperature of 50 °C, followed by three to four weeks maturation in outdoor boxes.
