To make a collective composter, you have to form a group of people who carry out the project. A core of 2 or 3 motivated people can be enough to start the project.

Inform the inhabitants

To inform the inhabitants, a local communication to hold a public meeting can be used to enlarge the group around the collective composter.

To communicate, the media are multiple :

• a local radio or newspaper ;
• at the bakery or local shops ;
• in a socio-cultural center, associations, at the district town hall ;
• on public display...

Below is an example of communication provided.
You can also find the sources to adapt it to your needs.

Example

Sources

Here are the editable sources.

For people who master vector drawings (svg made on Inkscape).

A simplified format for word processing (made on Libre Office).

Meeting

To hold a meeting, you can contact the town hall, a socio-cultural center or an association to provide a place. You can also meet at a private home or even outside for a friendly time.

This moment is dedicated to presenting the usefulness of a collective composter (stated in « about »), as well as the useful steps for setting up of a collective composter (listed below).

Find the spot

The composter will be placed on a flat surface.

Liquid from the composted elements flows slightly, the earth can absorb this easily, unlike spaces such as tar, concrete or rock. In the case of a tarred, concrete or rocky area, care must be taken to ensure a sufficient supply of sawdust to regulate the juices, in particular at the bottom of the tank.

This can be in public gardens, at the side of a car park, but also anywhere there is an accessible flat surface.

A clearly visible spot limits the risk of damage.

Having a trash can nearby can be handy. Not only for deposits that do not comply with sorting instructions, but also to avoid « unwanted deposits » of waste that does not come from members of the collective.

It is then necessary to find the owner of the place, which can be the town hall.

Learn

If you already know how to use a collective composter (which is not the same as an individual one !), so much the better ;)

Otherwise, to acquire knowledge, contact a collective composting structure or a master composter near you for training.
A collective composting structure will certainly have very useful information to help bring the project to a town hall, for example !

We must be vigilant about the registration, commitment and participation of users. It is essential that people commit to the permanence in order to control the contributions and exchange with the population. For this, « site referent » training courses allow the transmission of information to the people involved locally.

Permissions

If you are requesting authorization from an institution for setting a collective composter, preparing your arguments well is important.

For this you can use :

• The environmental / social and economic argument (see « about ») ;
• The financial aspects, if you request installation grant (installation costs are discussed in « funding », but also the annual savings carried out discussed in « about ») ;
• Photos of a collective composter (exterior and interior) can give an idea of ​​the appearance (to avoid having a preconceived image, especially if there is a comparison with a less well-maintained individual composter) ;
• Feedback from collective composter structure ;
• Feedback from a master composter...