RECYCLING@HOME (LIFE 11 ENV/GR/000950)

Development and demonstration of an ecological, innovative system for in house waste recycling.
2011-2015
http://www.recyclingathome.eu

ENVIRECO Consulting participated as associated beneficiary being responsible for dissemination activities, an economic feasibility study and being involved in the implementation phase.

The structure of Recycling@Home proposal ensured its successful implementation, since there is an effective interaction between the actions and the activities of the project. More significantly, the Preparatory Actions (Action A) provided input with respect to the existing recyclable waste management and treatment methods, processes and technologies to all the subsequent actions of the project and facilitated the implementation of Action B.1 (design of a prototype, innovative household recycler for the separation and volume minimization of recyclable household waste at source) and C Actions for monitoring the project impact. The main output of Action B.1 (detailed drawings of the prototype home recycling system and of its components) were used as an input to the subsequent Action B.2, which is referred to the engineering, construction and installation of the innovative household recycler. Once the prototype home recycling system has been successfully constructed, installed and tested at the laboratory of the NTUA (outcome of Action B.2), Action B.3 took place. Action B.3 included the operation of the innovative household recycler for a certain period of time, the optimization and the assessment of the home recycler operation. Following, Action B.4 took place which included demonstration activities of the prototype home recycling system in selected households. In the context of this action, the separated recyclable waste from the participating households were temporarily stored in predefined gathering points (where bins shall be placed), before their collection and transport to the Material Recovery Facility.

The householders were provided with adequate information about the project’s benefits (environmental, economic and social) in order to reinforce their willingness to participate in the project. Also, specially organized training sessions were conducted in order to acquaint householders with sorting and treatment practices of the recyclable waste at home. The information campaign and the training sessions were important activities of the project since the education/information level of the public greatly influenced their willingness to participate in the program. The results of the demonstration action were evaluated in Action C.3. In order for the proposed project to have significant added value it is important to provide insight on how the prototype home recycling system can be implemented in a greater extent (in other municipalities of Greece and in other European countries). The aim of Activity B.4.4 was to provide certain suggestions regarding the steps that must be followed in order to implement the prototype home recycling system at full-scale (output of Activity B.4.4).