Community composting and environmental education: an integrated vocational training experience within a circular economy framework
Keywords:
community composting, environmental education, circular economy, university outreach, situated learningAbstract
Waste management poses a critical challenge in socio-environmentally vulnerable contexts, where organic waste represents a significant share of the total. This paper presents a university extension experience aimed at implementing a community composting system as a pedagogical strategy for environmental education and the development of local capacities for decentralized waste management. The initiative was carried out in a vocational training institution through the integration of different trades within an interdisciplinary circular economy framework. Based on a specific territorial problem, participants were involved in the design, construction, and operation of the system, fostering the development of community-based multipliers. The process enabled the contextualized understanding of physicochemical transformations associated with organic matter decomposition. Results show the consolidation of an operational system and the generation of meaningful learning processes, reflected in technological appropriation and strengthened local capacities, systematized in a practical guide for replication.
ARK CAICYT: https://id.caicyt.gov.ar/ark:/s23449683/p41jd9l5b
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Copyright (c) 2026 Luis Ignacio Schneider, Cecilia De Piante Vicín
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