Gers department (Trigone), France

What was done

The syndicat mixte Trigone (waste authority for the Gers department, France) ran an experimental hen scheme to valorise biowaste, as part of an ADEME-backed waste-prevention programme it had run since 2009, targeting a 7% cut in landfilled waste.

Around 80 Gers households applied to become test households, each to receive two hens plus a starter kit. Trigone explicitly described the experiment as unusual in being run at department scale specifically to collect statistical data — noting that other French communes and intercommunalities had run similar but smaller operations. Following demand, Trigone also inaugurated its first collective coop in March 2014, and reported a steady flow of requests for advice on setting up coops.

What a replicating authority should know

• Design for statistics, and at scale. Trigone's stated aim was a department-scale experiment to produce real data — a deliberate, evidence-first approach worth emulating over a token gesture.
• Sign a convention with each test household. Trigone required a signed agreement committing each household to a set of principles — a clear, enforceable basis for the test cohort.
• Have a replacement plan for hen deaths. Trigone's operating advice explicitly included arranging replacement birds when a hen dies — a practical detail many programmes overlook.
• Build a durable local supplier network. Trigone advised surrounding the operation with local partners — hen suppliers, feed, accessories, coops — to create a lasting network rather than a one-off procurement.
• Demand spills into collective coops. Interest from the individual scheme led Trigone to set up a collective coop and field many advice requests — a sign that individual and collective models often grow together.

Honest reading

Outcome recorded as success as a department-scale experiment that was implemented and generated wider interest; the consulted source describes the design and operating advice rather than a final measured tonnage, so the diversion outcome is not quantified here.