One of the DECOST project goals is develop a new Home and Community Composting system (H&CC systems) that will be used in the pilot initiatives and the construction of the necessary infrastructures at each pilot site.
Home and Community Composting system have been used for several years with different successful rates at different countries because of poor designs of composters (poor air transfer rates and high odor emissions) and poor management practices. To overcome these issues Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie (PTUK) will design an innovative Home and Community Composting system coupled to an IT tool (iWASTE) that will help/engage users to correctly use the system. The DECOST iWASTE tool, developed by PTUK, will be integrated in the Home and Community Composting system to control the overall performance of the process and it will be linked to a smartphone application. From one side, the DECOST iWASTE tool will serve as data collection systems to perform statistical reports increasing scientific and management knowledge. From another side, the tool will serve to engage citizen participation. Among many other things, the user-friendly app will report an “Environmental score” which will be calculated as a ratio of individual environmental performance vs to community environmental performance. The app will be specially targeted to children/families, aiming to think about waste management as a game/family experience encouraging active participation of civil society.