Launching a pilot site
The aim of a pilot is not to process everything. It is to prove that the circuit works — on a reasonable scale, with figures.
The first decision asked
That every local authority responsible for waste management studies, within twelve months, the feasibility of at least one TRIFAB pilot site, then decides what comes next on the basis of measured results.
Start small
A limited surface, a few families of materials, identified storage, a workshop equipped step by step, opening hours and internal rules, a small but trained team, local partnerships, and a simple measurement of results.
Twelve months, three phases
| Phase | Period | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Experimentation | Months 0–3 | Study of the site and flows, accepted materials, safety, partners, budget, sorting protocol, training. |
| Pilot | Months 3–12 | Gradual opening, first workshops, partnerships with associations and schools, measurement of volumes and costs. |
| Deployment | After 12 months | Review and decision, improvements, new materials, duplication, territorial network. |
A six-stage roadmap
- Decision in principle — obtain agreement to study the system: manifesto, summary note, motion, presentation to elected officials, map of local actors.
- Territorial diagnosis — tonnages and flows, recycling centres, buildings, existing streams, reuse actors, fablabs, schools, craftspeople, needs, constraints, current costs.
- Feasibility study — site plan, accepted materials, equipment, staff, governance, budgets, timetable, funding, indicators.
- Pilot installation — safety, simplicity, quality of sorting and storage, support for users.
- Evaluation — objectives and results, costs, volumes, uses, incidents, improvements.
- Deployment — continuation, more materials, new workshops, duplication, network.
Questions to settle before deciding
| Topic | Questions |
|---|---|
| Flows | Which materials arrive? Which share seems reusable? Which stay in existing streams? |
| Infrastructure | Which building, what surface, what storage, which machines, what safety measures? |
| Users | Who, under what conditions, with which opening hours and what support? |
| Economics | Cost of the pilot and annual cost, funding, revenue per pillar, comparable current costs? |
| Governance | Who leads the project, recruits, is accountable for the site, maintains the machines? |
| Evaluation | Which indicators, collected by whom, how often, for whom? |
Measuring results
A pilot is assessed on simple, verifiable and comparable indicators, published every year in a public dashboard. The first year serves as the baseline.
Matter
Tonnes directed to reuse, objects repaired and reused, materials transformed, remainder sent to treatment.
Activity
Users, professionals, partner associations and schools, workshops, projects, repairs.
Economics
Operating cost, cost per tonne reused, revenue per pillar, funding, jobs, avoided costs.
Territory
Participating municipalities, partners, companies, educational projects, user satisfaction.
Beyond tonnes, measure the life of the system: the number of active links (partners that both give and receive), the share of material coming from companies, event participants and the new users they bring, objects dropped off in the month after an event, projects carried out together, know-how documented and passed on.
A TRIFAB succeeds when people come for something other than dropping things off: to learn, repair, compete, meet.
Points of vigilance
- Present the project as an optimisation of an existing competence, not as one more expense.
- Always back proposals with concrete figures.
- Start with a pilot site of reasonable size.
- Promise no economic gain before the local study.
- Do not treat all waste as reusable; define accepted materials precisely.
- Clearly separate dangerous or regulated flows; organise and control storage.
- Settle liability for objects repaired, transformed or put back into circulation.
- Keep governance simple; involve field staff from the design stage.
- Identify possible funding — without depending on it for day-to-day operation.
- Measure from day one; avoid isolated equipment; size according to real needs.
The full method is developed in our pillar article: How to launch a TRIFAB pilot: a 12-month roadmap →
Bring TRIFAB to your territory
The first step costs nothing: ask your local authority to study, within twelve months, the feasibility of one pilot site — then decide on measured results.