A Real-World Scenario of Citizens’ Motivation and Engagement in Urban Waste Management Through a Mobile Application and Smart City Technology

Abstract

Circular bioeconomy is a key socioeconomic model for advancing the United Nations Global Sustainability Goals and promoting environmental and resource sustainability. However, circular bioeconomy concepts are unknown to most people and politicians worldwide who still have a fragmented picture of sustainability. Common perception of waste needs a cultural shift from “disposable” to commodity. This can happen with effective communication, active citizens’ education, and awareness and engagement in core bioeconomy experiences and activities, like urban waste management and environmental sustainability. Citizen engagement methodologies are multiple. This paper proposes the combined use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), citizens’ hands-on project involvement, and a direct rewarding system. Similar European examples are displayed, while our key case study is the bitter orange waste problem in the metropolitan region of Attica in Greece, where approximately 40,000 tons of bitter oranges per year remain unmanageable and unexploited, causing serious problems. The Bitter Orange Project aims to educate citizens on bioeconomy and biomass value, hopefully changing the perception of urban waste through their rewarded engagement in fruit collection to produce high added value materials. This can be a versatile platform for urban waste management projects through citizen science regardless of the type of biomass. The project aims to engage all possible local society stakeholders to multiply awareness. The target of this paper is to highlight that environmental problems related to biomass misuse are closer than the average citizen experiences, and that active involvement of society through rewarding can help raise awareness.