Active

Growing connections: community garden and composting

Project duration: January 2025 – October 2025

The objective of the project is to foster active citizenship in the ecological transition by engaging citizens, both locals from Agrigento and migrants, especially the residents of the Vallicaldi neighborhood. A community garden and composting initiative, transforming a degraded area into a green hub promoted by the association Local Impact, in collaboration with Rifiuti Zero Sicilia. The area will be cleaned, secured, and developed as a space for experimenting with sustainable practices like horticulture, composting, waste reduction, and resource conservation. The initiative emphasises the link between environmental preservation and quality of life, while strengthening connections between people and nature.

*MARCH 2025 UPDATE*

Local Impact together with volunteers and residents, collected and removed abandoned waste in the Vallicaldi neighborhood, cleared and cleaned its flower beds. It was also a celebration of music, dialogue, and sharing, where we gave voice to ideas and perspectives for the future of Vallicaldi.
In the coming months, this corner of the neighborhood will host a community compost bin and a garden, a space designed to foster collaboration, environmental education, and the creation of strong bonds among residents. We want this project to grow with the community, becoming a reference point for everyone who believes in the power of cooperation and the beauty of a neighborhood that is being reborn.

**MAY 2025 UPDATE**

We’ve worked and achieved a lot in the last weeks: the road that runs alongside our flower bed is now paved, lit and cleaner. The space that will house the community compost bin and the garden has been cleansed and filled with gravel. Plus, we have deepened ties with those who live Vallicaldi and establish the Neighborhood Committee, a platform to interact proactively and effectively with the city’s municipal government.

***NOVEMBER 2025 UPDATE***

This brings to a close the story of our pilot project in the Vallicaldi neighborhood in Agrigento, but the journey that Local Impact has begun together with Sicily Environment Fund and Rifiuti Zero Sicilia does not end here.
Over these past months, we have seen how a simple gesture, transforming organic waste into a resource, can become an opportunity to build community, share knowledge, and develop new grassroots practices of circular economy.
To make these experiences increasingly accessible and widespread, we have prepared a report for the Agrigento City Council, containing concrete proposals to facilitate and support community composting initiatives and participatory management of green spaces, first and foremost the approval of the municipal composting regulation, as indicated by the Sicilian Region.
Help us spread the word: share it with your local administration and with anyone interested in trying out this approach.

Let’s keep cultivating connections, together.

Download the full report