PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Amongst other kinds of waste, the EU Waste Framework Directive covers biodegradable garden and park waste; food and kitchen waste from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises; and waste from food processing plants.
Local authorities in the EU generate between 118 and 138 million tonnes of bio-waste each year, accounting for around 34% of all municipal waste. There is significant potential for such waste to be recycled into valuable products such as soil improvers and fertilisers, and to contribute to a more circular economy.
The Waste Framework Directive sets targets for local authorities to collect bio-waste separately, recycle it and prepare it for reuse: 55% by 2025, 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035. As a result, from the end of 2023 onwards, all EU Member States have been required to collect bio-waste separately or ensure recycling at source, meaning that, by 2027, compost derived from mixed municipal waste will no longer count towards statutory recycling targets.Despite these legal obligations, current collection systems differ widely across Europe, with significant variations both in recycling rates and the quality of the resulting compost and digestate.
The definition of a management framework for best practices in separate collection and recycling is crucial in order to realise the maximum potential of bio-waste and to support the circular economy roadmap proposed by the European Commission. Such a management framework should take into consideration local factors influencing bio-waste management including the range of urban density, structure and population.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE BIOBEST project aims to identify both the enabling conditions and the barriers faced by local authorities to optimise bio-waste separation and recycling. The project team will devise realistic practices and quality standards for bio-waste recycling, and will build on the growing network of municipalities to provide, enhance and disseminate existing knowledge and expertise.
RESULTS
The expected results of the LIFE BIOBEST project are:
- 3 sets of validated best practice guidelines for:
- separate collection
- governance and economic initiatives
- promotion of high-quality compost and digestate
- a briefing paper outlining policy and regulatory barriers to producing high-quality compost and digestate from bio-waste
- 2 decision-trees to guide local and regional authorities through the implementation of the proposed best practices
- a set of proposed EU quality standards for recycling bio-waste into high-quality compost and digestate
- a comprehensive EU guide and summary in 11 official EU languages (German (DE, AT and BE), English (UK and IE), Spanish, Danish, Finnish, French (FR and BE), Dutch (NL and BE), Greek, Italian, Portuguese and Swedish (SE and FI)).
As a result, the project expects:
- growth in EU-wide bio-waste separate collection rates of 20-30% from 71kg/person/year in 2017/18 to 90kg/person/year by the end of 2025
- increase in input purity of 5%
- reduction in sorting losses from 15% to 10%, leading to higher quality compost and digestate, and reduced soil contamination