Interest in composting: 37% of respondents were interested

In order to understand what the citizen thinks about composting, the LIFE PAYT project carried out a survey in the PAYT system intervention area which is being implemented in the neighborhood of Forca-Vouga, in Aveiro.

Only two out of 76 respondents use organic waste to compost. One of them is Rui Jorge Sousa, who has been composting in his backyard for seven years. He reports that growing fruits and vegetables has become a habit, and does not consider an effort to compost and then see the good results in strawberries and lettuce. “It is enough to deposit the organic waste in the composter, from time to time to stir and after degrading, introduce the compost in the garden”, explains Rui.

The coordinators of the LIFE PAYT project believe that the number of residents who compost in the neighborhood could increase with awareness campaigns. In one of the questions in the survey, a hypothetical scenario was created in which the composters were distributed free of charge. In this case, 37% of the respondents were interested in composting if they were given composters, thus valuing organic waste.