The  first edition of the ECN NEWS in 2016 with our new corporate design is published. Our new logo was launched at the annual meeting in May, with the aim of complementing our ongoing policy and advocacy work.

The original ‘spider’s web’ logo has been in use ever since ECN was launched in 2002, and was looking somewhat tired and out-of-date. ECN’s board agreed that a newer, fresher look was required to help represent our ongoing activities: after much debate, our new logo was agreed.

The ‘leaf’ motif represents organic growth and networking – a reflection of differing opinions and points of view. The green colour symbolises the organic nature of our sector, reflecting all that is good about bio-waste, whilst the purple colour has been selected to represent innovation within the green economy. Together they provide a fresh and distinctive look for ECN. Our website and documents will be updated to incorporate the new logo before the end of the year.

The ECN NEWS No. 01/2016 can be downloaded here and reports about the following topics:

• EU Policy
• Publications
• News from ECN
• Country Reports
• Events

We hope you like it!

CIC (Italian Compost and Biogas Association) has published its Annual Report 2016 with the title:

"State of art composting and anaerobic digestion in Italy"

The brochure is available for download here.

On 2 June 2016 the European Parliament rapporteur for the EU Circular Economy Package, Simona Bonafè, published the draft report on the waste legislative proposal. 

As expected from Parliament’s reserved initial response to the Commission’s publication of the package and her specific comments about its lack of ambition, Ms Bonafè is proposing among others to increase the recycling target for municipal waste by 5% over the Commission’s suggested 65% by 2030; to separately collect wood, textiles and bio-waste in addition to paper, metals, plastics and glass, and not to allow these separately collected waste streams to be incinerated.

With regard to bio-waste Ms Bonafè is asking that ‘separate collection of bio-waste from municipal waste should be made obligatory and a recycling target should be laid down for bio-waste from municipal waste to attract infrastructure investments towards recycling facilities for bio-waste and to boost markets form compost and digestate’.

By setting concrete time lines, like the implementation of separate collection of bio-waste by 2020 and achieving a minimum recycling target for bio-waste from municipal waste of 65 % by 2025,  and including a definition for ‘organic recycling’,  Member States are guided to improve biological waste management in the next years.

ECN welcomes the draft report with the specific amendments for bio-waste. We will follow-up the discussion with the Members of the European Parliament in the next weeks. Until 23 June 2016 MEPs’ have time to give their comments.

Please find the ECN position paper: ‘Focus: closing the loop - a waste policy revision’ available for download here.

In respect to the Circular Economy package, ECN set up a fact sheet on job creation through biowaste.

Taking the amount of potential biowaste from municipal waste of 64 Mt into account, would create up to 50.000 direct jobs in the biowaste sector.

The factsheet is available for download here.

Focussing on the ‘Circular Economy and Organic Waste Management’, it is the tenth biennial conference on Organic Resources and Biological Waste Treatment, signalling 20 years of excellence in scientific research and professional networking.

The ORBIT2016 in Crete starts with a Welcome Drink on Tuesday night, 24 May at 19:00 in the Port of Chersonissos.

The final programme is available here.

For further information, please visit the website

www.orbit2016.gr

Global Organic Resources Congress, 3 - 4 of May 2016, Dublin, Ireland

From left to right: Henrik Lystad, Eric Liégeois (European Commission), Tony Breton (Novamont), Martin Eves (Chairman of Cré) and Massimo Centemero (CIC - Italian Composting and Biogas Association) Foto Copyright: Cré 2016, Nick Bradshaw

Held on the 3-4 May in Dublin, the Global Organic Resources Congress (GORC) brought together delegates from 23 different countries to discuss the latest developments, challenges and future circular bioeconomy opportunities for the organics recycling sector. It was organised by Cré and the European Compost Network, and was the fourth international conference of its kind held in Ireland.

Please watch the video message of Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development here:

Preview: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/preview.cfm?ref=I119169&videolang=EN

or download a HD MP4-file here:

http://defiris.ec.streamcloud.be/findmedia/09/119169/HD_I119169EN1W.mp4

The Composting Councils of Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom  have declared the first week of May to be annual International Composting Awareness Week (ICAW).

ICAW is a publicity and education initative to showcase compost production and demonstrate compost use.  This year’s theme, Compost—the Soil and Water Connection, was selected to highlight the importance of compost in clean, plentiful water and healthy soil.

Please watch the Video-messages from:

Australia
Ireland
America

on YouTube.

Website ICAW

European Compost Network,
Composting & Anaerobic Digestion Association of Ireland,
Australian Organics Recycling Association,
The Compost Council of Canada
and the US Composting Council
join in common voice during
International Compost Awareness Week 2016
to encourage the recycling of organic residuals and compost use
for improved soil health and climate change mitigation

Recycling organic residuals instead of throwing them in the garbage is the first step to capturing the full potential that these under-recognized resources can play to address a wide range of current global environmental issues. And on the occasion of International Compost Awareness Week 2016 (May 1 - 7), a global network of organizations, devoted to organics recycling and compost use, are combining their efforts to bring attention to the multiple benefits to be realized when organic residuals are viewed as resources rather than waste. read more....

ECN Position Paper on EU Circular Economy

The European Compost Network (ECN) welcomes the legislative proposals presented in the ‘Circular Economy Package’, released by the European Commission on 2 December 2015, as a key milestone for resource efficiency and the achievement of a truly circular economy in Europe.

ECN generally agrees with the ambitions set out in the proposal. In particular, we welcome Article 22, which emphasizes the need for separate collection and recycling of biowaste. Biowaste comprises of up to 50% of municipal solid waste (MSW) produced in Member States: separate collection and recycling of biowaste is crucial to meet the overall MSW recycling rates specified in Article 11(2).

The proposals for amendments to the Waste Framework and the Landfill Directives will in our view contribute to better sorting and recycling of biowaste. However, the following aspects should be considered carefully by co-legislators, in order to reap the full benefits of biowaste recycling:

• The limitations introduced in the provisions on the separate collection and recycling of biowaste should be removed, to ensure that the separate collection and recycling remains the rule.
• A specific recycling target of 65% by 2025 should be introduced for biowaste, along with a residual waste minimization target and appropriate incentives.
• A separate collection target should be introduced for biowaste from industries.
• Waste codes should be introduced for biowaste.
• A separate collection target should be introduced for biowaste from industries.
• Waste codes should be introduced for biowaste.

The corresponding document is available here.

In advance of the GORC 2016 conference (Dublin, Ireland) organised by Cré in partnership with the European Compost Network, the ECN Annual Meeting 2016 will take place. The meeting is scheduled on the 2 May from 15:00h to 18:00h and is located in the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Dublin Airport.

On the 4 May in the same location, the Joint Task Group meeting on Quality Assurance, Growing Media and Fertiliser, takes place from 09:00h-12:30h.

Deadline for Registration: 22 April 2016.

GORC 2016 (3-4 May 2016)

GORC will bring together stakeholders to discuss the latest commercial and technical developments, challenges and future circular bioeconomy opportunities in the biological treatment of organic resources and the sustainable use of its products. The GORC programme boasts high profile speakers and highly topical presentations with ample Q&A sessions and networking opportunities.
The latest speaker confirmed is Eric Liégeois of DG GROW, European Commission who will speak on the recently published draft EU Fertiliser Regulations.

The full programme is available here.

EU COMMISSION / MWE / EUROCITIES

On January 29, Municipal Waste Europe together with EUROCITIES and the European Commission organised the conference "Separate Waste Collection in the Context of a Circular Economy in Europe". After a general part on Circular Economy policy with speakers from the EU Commission (Kestutis Sadauskas, Director Green Economy Directorate, DG ENV, and Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for the Environment and Fisheries) the Commission study ‘Assessment of separate collection schemes in the 28 capitals of the EU’ was presented. Examples for separate collection in small, medium and large towns were given in the next part, followed by an interesting debate on implementation of separate collection.

As part of the conference a brochure was presented with the key results of the benchmarking study on the separate waste collection systems in small cities and towns across Europe. The brochure includes infographics, piecharts and tables depicting the statistical data collected from members participating in the study.

The brochure can be downloaded here.

The presentations from all speakers are available for download here.

ECN Job Vacancy

We are looking for a consultant or self-employed contractor, based in Brussels, to support ECN’s European policy work to foster separate collection of biowaste in the European Circular Economy for Europe.

The European Compost Network (www.compostnetwork.info) is the leading European membership organisation promoting sustainable recycling practices in composting, anaerobic digestion and other biological treatment processes of organic resources.

ECN wishes to establish a permanent presence in Brussels, such as to strengthen its advocacy activities at European institutions. To lead this, ECN is looking for an EU policy officer on a part time basis.

The full job advertisement is available here.

If you are interested, please send an application including your CV to info@compostnetwork.info.

Deadline for applications is 12 February 2016.

Response by First Vice-President

On 18 January 2016, the European Compost Network ECN received the response by Europe’s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans on its letter to strengthen separate collection of biowaste in the new proposed Circular Economy Package.

The First Vice-President Timmermans outlined in his letter that with the proposal to amend Article 22 of the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC Member States have to ensure separate collection of biowaste, where technically, environmentally and economically practicable, biowaste will contribute to achieve a more circular economy in Europe. Besides this, the Commission has announced to provide common EU standards for organic fertilisers from compost and digestate to facilitate the use of biowaste in the EU by revising the EU regulation on fertilisers. The European Compost Network will follow up the discussion with the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament in the next month.

The response of the First Vice-President is available here.

EU Commission - DG ENV

The European Commission has assigned BiPRO GmbH to elaborate in cooperation with the Copenhagen Research Institute (CRI) the implementation of separate collection schemes in EU Member States with focus on EU capital cities, as of 2015 Member States are obliged to separately collect paper, glass, metal and plastic with a view to foster high quality recycling of these materials.

Now, the study ‘Assessment of separate collection schemes in the 28 capitals of the EU’ has been published, and is available for download here:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/studies/index.htm

• Final report

Besides the final report, 28 country and 28 capital factsheets including more detailed information on country / capital level can be accessed here:

• Annex 1 - National factsheets
• Annex 2 - Capital factsheets

The study on separate collection in capital cities will be presented at the conference ‘Separate collection in the Context of a Circular Economy in Europe’ organised by Municipal Waste Europe, EUROCITIES and the European Commission on Friday 29 January 2016 in Brussels. The progamme is available here.

Global Organic Resources Congress
3 - 4 of May 2016, Dublin, Ireland

more information

EU Policy

A year has passed since the European Commission’s first vice president, Frans Timmermans, called a halt to the Commission’s Roadmap to a Circular Economy; a decision that caught many in the waste industry by surprise. The new package, published on 2 December, sets out a revised and ‘more ambitious’ proposal, including the provision for the separate collection of biowaste.

The new Circular Economy Package is claimed to ‘boost competitiveness, create jobs and generate sustainable growth’. Revisions to the Waste Framework Directive, Landfill, Packaging and Batteries Directives have been proposed, which collectively will increase recycling and reduce waste sent to landfill.

New targets

Overall the package sets out new targets for recycling and landfilling waste, including:

• A common EU target for recycling municipal waste of 65% by 2030;.
• A common EU target for recycling packaging waste of 75% by 2030;.
• Material-specific targets for different packaging materials; and.
• A binding landfill reducon target of 10% by 2030.

These are accompanied by measures to simplify and harmonise definitions and calculation methods, as well as creating incentives through Horizon 2020 and structural funds.

Separate Bio-Waste Collections

For many years ECN has lobbied for the inclusion of bio-waste targets in the revised package, so it is with some relief that Arcle 22 in the Waste Framework Direcve will be revised to specify that: 'Member States shall ensure the separate collecon of biowaste where technically, environmentally and economically praccable and appropriate to ensure the relevant quality standards for compost and to aain the targets set out in’ the municipal waste recycling targets. Despite falling short of seng specific biowaste recycling targets, ECN’s Stefanie Siebert notes that: ‘This is a significant step forward for Europe. The requirement placed on all Member States to collect biowaste separately for both composting and anaerobic digestion will mean that even more organic carbon and plant nutrients will be recycled and put back onto Europe’s soils’. ECN’s Quality Assurance Scheme is set to play a major role in ensuring the recycling of quality compost and digestate to soils.

This provision is also accompanied by a change in the definition of biowaste, to increase its scope to include ‘waste with similar biodegradability properties that is comparable in nature, composition and quantity’. This is in addition to the existing definition which covers ‘biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises, comparable waste from food processing plants’.

Reducing food waste

Revisions to the Waste Framework Directive also requires Member States to halve food waste by 2030, in line with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable   Development.   In   aims to ‘prevent food waste in primary production, in processing and manufacturing, in retail and other distribution of food, in restaurants and food services as well as in households’. In addition, ‘Member States should establish specific food waste prevention measures and should measure progress in food waste reduction’.

Impact

It is unclear, at present, how these changes will affect potential quantities of bio-waste available for collection. Coupled with proposed revisions to the Fertiliser Regulation (see Fertilisers Regulation Update) which are expected to be finalised in 2016, the new package seems likely to boost quality composting and anaerobic digestion across the EU. ECN will provide further analysis and updates in the New Year.

The Circular Economy Package, including briefing notes and draft Directives, can be accessed: here

EU Commission News

The EU Fertilisers Regulation has been under review for a number of years, with seemingly little progress. The publication in late October ofa ‘Roadmap’, signals the EU Commission’s desire to finalize changes during 2016.

The Roadmap sets out the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) plans for revising the Fertilisers Regulation (EC) No. 2003/2003. It is stated that the initiative will extend the scope to include secondary and organic resources and to facilitate the cross-border market for all fertiliser materials and secondary raw materials. These include:

• Compost and digestate (based on the technical proposal for end-of waste criteria for compost and digestate published in the JRC report in 2014);
• Biomass ash;
• Struvite; and
• Biochar.

These changes are in keeping with the Commission’s Circular Economy Package, noting that: ‘The Fertilisers Regulation revision aims at establishing a regulatory framework enabling production of fertilisers from recovered biowastes and other secondary raw materials. This would boost domestic sourcing of plant nutrients which are essential for a sustainable European agriculture, including the critical raw material phosphorus.’

Optional Harmonisation

At a meeting held on 27 November, the Commission discussed these revised proposals, although text of the revised Regulation was not made available. The Commission suggested following an ‘optional harmonisation’ approach, where producers of fertilisers may choose to follow the requirements of the Regulation and market their products as ‘EU Fertilisers’, or continue to market their products under national rules. In practice, this means that the two systems may operate in parallel. Notably only waste materials where end-of-waste criteria have   been established will be eligible as input materials.

The structure (architecture) of the revised proposals presented at the meeting indicated that different ‘component material categories’ (i.e. input materials) will be subjected to different safety requirements. For compost and waste-derived digestate, the input materials, processing methods and product quality will be subject to end-of-waste criteria based on the final proposals made by the JRC in 2014. Digestate derived from non-waste crops will be subjected to internal producer control through self-certification.

New Proposal in 2016

The text of the revised Regulation is currently with the Commission’s legal services. It is anticipated that there will be a further stakeholder consultation in 2016 before the final legislative proposal is sent to the Parliament and Council.

The Roadmap can be accessed: here

ISWA Task Force Project

The value of carbon in compost and digestate is largely ignored, according to a recent report published by the International Solid Waste Association in November. The report, authored by ECN co-founder Dr Jane Gilbert, was one in a series of publications addressing resource management and the circular economy.

The project was carried out by the ISWA Task Force on Resource Management, who investigated the flows and consumption of secondary raw materials as part of a circular economy. In total, six reports have been published, each accompanied by a short video of the author describing their work. The package was officially launched at a seminar in Brussels on 3 November at the offices of the European Economic and Social Committee.

Report 4 focusses specifically on Carbon, Nutrients and Soil. It provides an overview of the potential quantities of organic wastes produced by OECD countries every year, then makes estimates of how much nitrogen and carbon they contain. It describes how they can be extracted, modified or transformed through biorefining/ biotechnology processes into a range of different products, including high value bio-based speciality chemicals, commodity chemicals and lower value compost/digestate.

Recognising the importance of soils and the continued loss of soil organic matter, the report stresses the need for the value of organic carbon in compost and digestate to be quantified. At present, only about 30% of the fertilizing potential in compost/digestate is realised in sales, whilst the benefits of carbon and the improvements they can make to soil are largely ignored.

The report concludes that in order to realise the untapped potential benefits of organic wastes in OECD countries, separate collection schemes need to be extended and contaminant removal improved. Organic waste processing to manufacture valuable bio-based products will require an improvement in skills and technical competencies,   coupled   with   effactive communications.

Copies of the reports can be accessed: here

The ECN Presentation on the Role of Biowaste in the Emerging Circular Economy can be downloaded: here

BSAG/EBA/ECN/ESPP Joint Statement

On 23 November representatives of the European Compost Network (ECN), the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG), the European Biogas Association (EBA) and the European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP) met the Vice-President of the European Commission for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Mr Jyrki Katainen, to raise the importance of bio-nutrients and organic carbon recycling for a circular economy in Europe.

Bio-nutrients and organic carbon recycling is a core aspect in a circular economy with benefits for the environment and opportunities for innovation and job creation. The stakeholders stressed that a European Circular Economy Action Plan is crucial, and that an integrated European policy framework is essential to facilitate sustainable bio-nutrient and organic carbon recycling. As a follow-up action the four organisations signed a joint statement, which was sent to the Vice-President and to the Members of the European Parliament.

The BSAG-EBA-ECN-ESSP joint statement can be downloaded here.

ECN letter to EU Commission

Expecting the publication of the new Circular Economy Action Plan and the new proposal for the revision on waste legislation in December 2015 the European Compost Network took the chance to underline the importance of a new and more ambitious proposal for the biowaste sector by sending an open letter to the Vice-Presidents and Commissioners.

Based on the ECN position statement the letter is focussing on the resource potential of biowaste and the relevance of setting up a comprehensive product-waste policy in Europe. Legal drivers like the obligation to introduce separate collection of biowaste in all Member States and setting up European end-of-waste criteria for compost and digestate are needed for the development of a sustainable waste management Europe and achieving a Circular Economy in Europe. Besides the beneficial effects on resource management, the management of biowaste will have as well positive effects on job creation. With the expansion of separate collection and management of biowaste more than 30.000 jobs could be created, mainly locally, in Europe.

The ECN Letter to the Vice- Presidents and the Commissioners can be downloaded here.

Announcement

ECN’s next ORBIT conference will be held in Heraklion, Crete on 25th to 28th May 2016. Focussing on the ‘Circular Economy and Organic Waste Management’, it is the tenth biennial conference on Organic Resources and Biological Waste Treatment, signalling 20 years of excellence in scientific research and professional networking.

ORBIT 2016 will be organised by Harokopio University of Athens (Prof. Dr. Katia Lasaridi), the Technological Educational Institute of Crete (Associate Prof. Dr. Thrassyvoulos Manios) and ECN.
The Conference will run parallel oral and poster sessions, with sessions including:

Composting and anaerobic digestion technologies and processes;

• Food waste prevention;
• Bio-based economy and the biorefinery concept;
• MBT: technologies and products;
• Energy recovery from biomass / biofuels;
• EU policies and strategies for sustainable organic resources and waste management – the challenge of circular economy; and
• Climate change, LCA and decision support tools.

Deadline for Early Registration is 29 February 2016.
Further information and registration here.

On 22 October 2015, the EU Commission has published the roadmap on the revision of the EU Fertilisers Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003. With this initiative, the Commission aims to create a level playing field for all fertiliser materials and to facilitate the cross-border market for fertilisers from secondary raw materials.

Following up the revision of the EU Fertilisers Regulation is a concrete step forward towards a Circular economy. This initiative will boost investment in production and uptake of effective, safe, innovative fertilisers produced from organic and secondary materials in line with the circular economy model by transforming waste into nutrients for crops. The more efficient recourse of secondary raw materials can offer significant environmental benefits, reduces dependency on import of critical raw materials outside of the EU, as well as an increased variety of high quality fertilising products.

The European Compost Network will follow up the discussion in the EU Fertilisers Working Group. The next meeting is scheduled for 27 November 2015.

The roadmap on the revision of the EU Fertilisers Regulation can be downloaded here.

At the Scottish Resources Conference (8 Oct. 2015) the EC’s Director of Green Economy, Kęsţutis Sadauskas had announced that the European Commission’s (EC) Circular Economy Package will be released on 2 December.

The Commission will put emphasis on separate collection for improving markets for secondary materials by increasing the quality of paper, plastic, glass and metal. Based on the outcome of the public consultation, he underlined that there is a need to act on food waste as well.
The EU Commission is still under pressure since the European Parliament has published its resolution in July asking for providing a ’new proposal on waste legislation’ until the end of 2015.

Download EP Report on resource efficiency here.
Download ECN position statement on EU Circular Economy here.

On 21 October 2015, A.I.C.A., together with ACR+, the European Environmental Bureau and Zero Waste Europe, organised a conference entitled “Circular Economy: European Priority – No time to waste!” at the European Parliament, in Brussels. Supported by several political groups of the European Parliament and co-hosted by MEPs Dario Tamburrano (EFD), Renata Briano (S&D), Benedek Jávor (Greens – EFA) this conference expressed again that the expectations of stakeholders and the European Parliament towards a 'new and more ambitious proposal' on Circular Economy are very high.

Karolina D’Cunha, deputy head of the Unit A1 ‘Eco-innovation and Circular Economy’ of the EU Commission, presented the results of the public consultation on circular economy. The high number of participants (more than 1500 responses) in this consultation showed the relevance of this strategy.

EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella, as invited speaker for closing the conference, highlighted that all stakeholders are in favour of a ’more circular economic model’ for Europe. Stakeholders asked for actions on electronic devices, food, packaging, and for the construction and demolition sector. Furthermore the Commission should consider plastics, critical raw materials and bio-nutrients in the new proposal. The Commissioner underlined that increasing recycling is important for competitiveness and that the revised waste proposal will keep ‘a high level of ambition and will be better adapted to the real-world situation’. Finally he stressed that the Commission is working hard on reinforcing circular economy with the aim to adopt the new strategy by the end of this year.

The speech of EU Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella is available here.
The results of the public consultation on Circular economy are available here.

21 participants from Norway to Greece and a participant from Costa Rica followed the invitation of Italian Composting and Biogas Association (CIC) and the European Compost Network (ECN) to participate in the two days excursion on presenting separate collection and implementing food waste management in Milan and their surroundings.

The Study Tour group at CIC’s technical offices in Milan, Italy

Organised by the Italian Composting and Biogas Association (CIC) the study tour was focussed on the effective implementation of separate collection of food waste in the city of Milan. After the introduction of the household food waste collection system 2012, Milan is today the city with the highest capture rates in food waste collection in Europe. On average 95 kg of food waste are collected per inhabitant and year from door-to-door by using biodegradable plastic bags and bins. In total 130.000 tonnes per year of food waste are delivered to an anaerobic digestion plant with a post-composting step for the production of energy from biogas and high quality compost, QAS certified by CIC. The study

Visiting separate collection of food waste in Milan

tour was accompanied by several side visits as visiting the research centre of Novamont in Novara, which is one of the leading producers on biodegradable plastic bags in Europe, and the AD/composting site ‘Montello’ in Bergamo, one of Italy’s jumbo-plant with a treatment capacity of 300.000 tonnes per year. The second day took place in the headquarter of CEM Ambiente, the intercommunal organisation of 49 municipalities in the region of Lombardia. CEM Ambiente is responsible for managing municipal solid waste of 460.000 people since 15 years reaching 70% separate collection of MSW. Presentations were given by CIC’s technical team on how waste collection schemes for food-waste are implemented efficiently and successfully in different municipalities, which costs are related to the systems and how the quality of input materials can be improved by waste analyses. The participants of the Tour actively participated in the exchange of views and technical details with the Italian experts.The third day took place at EXPO 2015, the Universal Exhibition in Milan, where more than 140 countries show the best of their technology focusing on the topic “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”.

Further information available on the CIC website.