Transition from urban sanitation to new management of organic matter – TANGO

Moving from a linear urban metabolism to a circular resource economy is a major challenge for urban systems. The food-excretion system is no exception to this reality. The organic matter and nutrients from our food is found in biowaste and excreta and is little recovered, even though it is needed for agriculture. Sorting these materials at source increases the recovery rate compared to action at the end of the process chain. Source separation, on site treatment and recovery of organic waste is thus a relevant management solution, but it is only economically justified if these operations are properly organised, financially supported, socially accepted, recognised for their environmental benefits and do not generate nuisances. The TANGO project aims to remove the following socio-technical barriers with the following actions:
• A lack of global simulations of material and energy flows on the scale of an urban territory to evaluate the relevance of management scenarios. Tools for modelling prospective management scenarios will be developed and tested in the Toulouse area.
• Collection methods that generate nuisances and impose high and expensive collection frequencies. Two pre-treatments for the local management of organic matter will be compared after developing a qualification method.
• A lack of analysis of the brakes and levers to increase the diffusion of new practices by users and professionals. Through an analysis of current projects, TANGO will therefore focus on the dynamics of dissemination in the territories of the practice and the construction of channels and policies.
• Multiple actors will be brought together and made to work together to bring out concrete cases. Animation tools will be developed and used in the framework of the TANGO project.