Moulins area (SICTOM Nord Allier), Allier, France

What was done

The SICTOM Nord Allier (waste authority, Allier, France) ran "Opération POUL'BELLE," a rigorously designed test-household study, from late 2013 to 2015. It recruited 20 test households from over 100 applicants, equipped each with a coop and two hens, and — crucially — weighed each household's actual residual waste bin (OMR, black bags) both before and after the hens arrived. This before/after design measures the real reduction in waste set out for collection, not just what is fed to the hens.

Timeline: launched 16 November 2013; coops distributed 31 January 2014; hens distributed 7 April 2014; assessment June 2014; one-year follow-up January 2015. Ten of the 20 coops were built by a local prison workshop.

Results (20 households, before vs. after)

• Residual waste before hens: 5.48 tonnes; after hens: 3.65 tonnes.
• Reduction: 1.83 tonnes across the 20 households — about 91.5 kg per household, or ~27.3 kg per person.
• Costed at the authority's 2014 treatment cost of €158.30 per tonne, that is roughly €290 saved across the 20 households (~€14.50 per household per year).
• Reported co-benefits: less garden waste too, hens effective against slugs, and an educational effect with children.

What a replicating commune should know

• Weigh the residual bin, not the feed. POUL'BELLE's before/after weighing of the actual black bag is the most credible method — it automatically nets out scraps the hens don't eat, which feed-side weighing misses.
• Put a euro value on it. Multiplying the measured tonnage by the local per-tonne treatment cost (here €158.30/t, 2014) converts the result into a budget argument leadership can act on.
• The realistic per-household figure is ~90 kg/year. POUL'BELLE's measured ~91.5 kg/household sits close to Colmar's conservative ~100 kg estimate and well below the optimistic "150 kg per hen" — plan with the lower number.
• Partner locally for coops. Ten of 20 coops were built by a prison workshop — a low-cost route that also gives the programme a social dimension.