Final report

The ECN Annual Report 2011 can be downloaded here.

European Compost Network ECN e.V.
Im Dohlenbruch 11
44795 Bochum (Germany)
T. ++49 (0) 234 438 9447
F. ++49 (0) 234 438 9448
Email: info@compostnetwork.info

The European Compost Network together with ISWA and in cooperation
with Lithuanian Ministry of Environment organised the 3rd Baltic Biowaste Conference with 150 participants.

The conference  took place on the 23./24. November 2011 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Further information here

Further the Commission intends to set up four technical working groups where all stakeholders are asked to nominate experts for the different working group issues.
The following four working groups will be implemented in 2012.

• WG1: Overall structure of the future proposal
• WG2: Nutrient content, Product composition and agronomic efficacy
• WG3: Contaminants, Hygiene and other Risks
• WG4: Labelling, Enforcement and Control

The detailed descriptions for setting up ad-hoc working groups in the context of the revision ot the Fertiliser Regulation (EG) No 2003/2003 can be downloaded here.

The Quality Manual is divided in three main parts:

• Part A “The European Quality Assurance Scheme” describes the general target and structure of the European Quality Assurance Scheme (ECN-QAS).
• Part B “Quality Assurance Organisations” of the ECN-QAS Quality Manual specifies the ECN requirements to be met by a national quality assurance organisation (NQAO) for composting plants, which are preconditions for the described recognition procedure of an organisation performing quality assurance according to the European Quality Assurance Scheme of ECN e.V..
• Part C “European Quality Assurance Scheme for Compost” of the ECN-QAS Quality Manual specifies requirements for the operational process management of composting, the selection of input materials and the compost quality. It includes specifications for sampling and testing. It also specifies requirements for product certification and declaration to ensure that the compost products are consistently fit for their intended uses. These essential elements have to be implemented into the quality assurance scheme of the national quality assurance organisation (NQAO).

Index of the ECN-QAS Quality Manual (ECN-QAS_QM_Index)

Presentation of the ECN-QAS Quality Manual

The ORBIT2012, organised by Cemagref and ECN, is scheduled for the 12^th to 15^th June 2012 in Rennes, France.

For abstract submission and registration please visit the website: www.orbit2012.fr

Latest revision 08/2011

ECN accepts no responsibility for the correctness and the up-to-dateness of the country data. In case of more details please contact the ECN Country Representatives. Please mention the ECN Country Report, date of revision and the author in your quotations. Further country information in English are available at the ECN Office info@compostnetwork.info

General

Municipalities have the responsibility for the household waste in Norway, whereas all other waste (ranging from schools, restaurants, shops and industry) remains the responsibility of the waste owner.

The source separation of biowaste started in Norwegian municipalities in the 1990s motivated by a landfill ban and a state tax on end disposal of waste. The landfill ban for easy degradable organic waste was communicated by the authorities in 1992, but a country wide ban was not effective until 2001. At 1. July 2009 a second and more comprehensive landfill ban was introduced, prohibiting the landfilling of degradable waste with TOC > 10 % or organic matter > 20 %. Transissional period is possible until the end of 2012 but requires contracts with incineration plants under construction.

A specific final disposal tax (landfilling and incineration) was introduced in 1999 and its amount is officially reflecting the socio-economic costs for final disposal . The tax started up at NOK 300 and is in 2010 NOK 463 for degradable waste landfilled under the “transissional criteria” and NOK 280 for other waste. These measures have motivated many of the municipalities to include biological waste treatment in their waste management plans.

The tax on incineration was changed 2004 from a tax on treated waste to a tax on real measured emissions (CO2, fine particles, heavy metals and organic pollutants) , on average the tax amounts to approximately NOK 100 per ton of treated waste. . The tax was abandoned from 1. October 2010 due to a substantial export of waste to Swedish waste incinerators where a similar tax was taken away from the same date.

Source separation

Source separation of biowaste was in 2010 introduced for 55 % of the population (2,7 mio) and about 172 000 tonnes, an average of 64 kg/source separating inhabitant, were collected. Oslo is also introducing source separation for all its 600 000 inhabitants planned to be completed within the end of 2012. Biowaste in Norway consists in most regions of 90 – 100 % kitchen waste, including kitchen waste of animal origin. Only 2 % of the population have a specific collection system for garden waste, among the rest many may deliver it at the local recycling station. In total 163 000 tonnes of garden waste from households was registered in 2010.

Home composting
Many municipalities allow their citizens to compost their own organic waste in home composters. In return for not having to collect the waste, the municipality normally grants the household a reduction in the waste collection fee and/or a reduced price for certified compost bins and other subsidies. The Nordic Ecolabelling has set up criteria for compost bins (see below). According to the national statistics about 1 % of the population home compost their kitchen waste in Norway.

Centralised biological treatment
According to national statistics 62 centralised biological plants treated 455 000 tonnes of organic waste (including sewage slugde treated off site and amendment) in 2008. Composting is still the predominating technology, only 62 000 tonnes were treated in anaerobic digestion plants . Among the aerobic treatment plants, the majority of the plants are small plants operating in open facilities, using turned windrows or static piles. Approximately 10 plants have closed, in vessel technology. The largest plant, situated outside Stavanger, has a design treatment capacity of 28 000 t/a.

Biogas
All new plans for biological treatment involve anaerobic treatment and the production of biogas. The biogas was until recently mostly utilised in gas engines to produce electricity and power. Recently the use of upgraded biogas as vehicle fuel has become very popular. Today there are filling sites for biogas in Oslo, Stavanger and Fredrikstad in addition to those with natural gas.

Use of compost and digestate
According to a survey 40 % of the produced compost was used in private gardens (2000). The green sector including earth production, parks and construction, represented a rising trend with 33 % of the produced compost. Only 17 % was used in agriculture with organic farming representing 4 %. Despite the old data the present picture is believed to be somewhat similar. The reason for the low utilization in agriculture is believed to be a combination of little demand for soil improvers in several regions in Norway and high developed compost product development aimed at the green sector.

The biogas plants until recently have produced a compost from the digestate. Recently several initiatives aims at distributing the digestate undewatered directly to the farmers. This requires a logistical system that pays the surrounding farmers for the storage of liquid digestate until the time for spreading. First results are promising in regards to farmer satisfaction.

2. Legal framework for the organic waste stream and the compost production

Regulations concerning organic fertiliseres and soil improvers etc.
Compost, sewage sludge, digestate and manure is since 2003 regulated together in a regulation for organic fertilizers. The regulation is basically product oriented and all products must be registered before they can be traded. Demands are set up for a quality assurance system to ensure the compliance with the regulations. Product quality demands are set up for heavy metals and other toxic substances, hygienic parameters, impurities etc.
This regulation is now under revision.

Table 1. Quality classes and user restrictions

3. Contacts and source of information

Avfall Norge – Waste Management Norway

Mr. Henrik Lystad
Nedre Vollgt. 3
N-0158 Oslo, Norway

Tel.: +47/24 14 66 00
Fax.: +47/24 14 66 01

E-mail: henrik.lystad@avfallnorge.no
Internet: www.avfallnorge.no

Statistics Norway (Statistisk Sentralbyrå)

www.ssb.no

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet)

Felles postmottak
Postboks 383
N-2381 Brumunddal

Tel +47/ 23 21 68 00
Fax +47/ 23 21 68 01

E-mail: postmottak@mattilsynet.no
Internet: www.mattilsynet.no

The Climate and Pollution Agency (Klif), former SFT

P.O. Box 8100 dep.
N-0032 Oslo

Tel.: +47/22 57 34 00
Fax.: +47/22 67 67 06

E-mail: postmottak@klif.no
Internet: www.klif.no

Nordic Swan Label (Nordic Ecolabelling)

Internet: www.ecolabel.no

Criteria for homecomposters ( http://www.svanen.nu/DocEng/019e.PDF )

Lovdata

Current Norwegian legislation can be downloaded from Lovdata:

www.lovdata.no

The ECN Annual Meeting 2012 will take place during the ORBIT2012 in Rennes. The Annual meeting will be scheduled from 16:00 h to 19:00 h on the 12 June 2012.

We would like to celebrate the 10 year jubilee of the European Compost Network ECN with a dinner in the evening of the 12 June 2012.

Further the ECN workshop on “From Waste to Product – Sustainable Management of Organic Resources in Europe” will be held on the 13 June 2012 during the 8^th International Conference ORBIT2012 in Rennes.

Further information on the Annual meeting 2012 will be send out at the beginning of 2012.