A cost-benefit analysis study on community composting in Bordeaux Metropole, France

In the Metropole of Bordeaux, France, a third of all residual waste is food waste, which is sent for incineration. To improve the situation, Bordeaux Metropole has decided to scale up its community composting programme within the outer-ring area of the metropole. 

The environmental benefits of decentralised composting over incineration of food waste are clear and widely understood. Yet the Metropole wanted to better understand the economic case for establishing community composting. Authored by Lumec ltd, this paper presents a cost-benefit analysis study looking at a continuation of the status quo versus 400 community composting sites being used by 65% of target households.

The results of the study show that, overall, community composting is economically preferable to incineration. Despite the diversion scenario having a higher overall cost than the status quo, the system still results in a net economic benefit over the 5-year timeframe, yielding cost savings for the metropole compared to 2.4m EUR in costs under the status quo.

Full study and executive summary available in English and French.