About the Network

The Network is a collaboration of partners, promoting sustainable practices in composting, anaerobic digestion and other treatment procedures for organic residues across Europe. It aims to address the needs of both practical operators and decision makers.

Clean Sources

Residual Waste

Source separation of organic residues from households and gardens is a success story of most European countries, thereby helping to meet recycling and climate change targets and market requirements.

Various separate collection systems (by bins or bags) have shown their effectiveness when it comes to quality and costs.

Best practices in
the treatment of the organic residues by composting for anaerobic digestion combined with quality management systems, help to
meet standards and fulfil market needs.

High quality composts and digestates find markets and close the organic loop successfully.

Despite all source
separation efforts, the residual waste stream still contains degradable organic residues.

Mechanical-biological treatment MBT is devised to increase the caloriifc value
of materials suitable for energy recovery and reduces fermentabilty
of residues to be
landfilled.

After the stabilisation step, the residuals are suitable for landfilling in line with the EU Landfill Directive.

Our working fields

Data collection and European surveys
Contributions to developments in the EU
Concepts meeting EU legislation
High quality, cost effective source separation
Best practices in treatment procedures
Standards and quality monitoring
Compost application and marketing
Research and technology news
Environmental effects

General structure of ECN

The ECN is a branch of the ORBIT Association e.V. (www.orbit-online.net), a not-for-profit organisation that pro-motes the scientific development of environmental biotechnology worldwide.

Membership of the ECN encompasses organic waste experts, treatment plants and biowaste organisations working for, or with, the sustainable recovery of biomass. Members stem from almost all European and Candidate Countries.

The ECN is managed by a Board of Country Representatives, who are either experts or rep-resentatives of national biowaste organisations in their respective country. Each representative is responsible for providing the ECN Network with relevant information about the national biowaste management.

A number of working groups have been established to address specific issues and topics. These are managed by the Board of the ECN.

Membership is available to all persons, companies and organisations interested in promoting the sustainable management and recycling of biological wastes.

All members gain access to the ORBIT and ECN web sites, the ECN working groups, and the electronic forum, as well as the ECN Newsletter about biowaste developments across Europe.

ECN Country Representatives

Collection of information and contact management into each of the European countries are based on the work of the national Country Representatives which are acknowledged experts or delegates of nationwide active biowaste/compost organisations with a maximum of two persons per country.

Austria KEB - Compost - Consulting & Development
Mr. Florian Amlinger (CV)
Austria KGVÖ - Austrian Compost Quality Association
Mr. Horst Müller (CV)
Belgium VLACO - Flemish Compost Organisation
Ms Elke Vandaele
Czech Republic CZ BIOM - Czech Biomass Association
Mr. Jan Habart (CV)
Denmark Solum Group
Mr. Morten Brøgger (CV)
Finland FSWA Finnish Solid Waste Association
JLY - Jätelaitosyhdistys
Mr. Markku Salo (CV)
France ADEME - French Agency for Environment and Energy
Ms Isabelle Feix
France RITTMO
Dr. Laure Metzger (CV)
Germany German Compost Quality Assurance Organisation
Dr. Bertram Kehres
Germany ORBIT e.V./Bauhaus University Weimar
Professor Dr. Werner Bidlingmaier (CV)
Greece Harokopio University
Dr. Katia Lasaridi (CV)
Greece Compost Hellas
Ms Caterina Xenopoulou
Hungary Hungarian Compost Quality Assurance Association
Dr. Laszlo Alexa
Hungary University of Gödöllö
Professor György Füleky (CV)
Ireland Cré Teo - The Composting Association of Ireland
Dr. Munoo Prasad (CV) / Mr. Percy Foster (CV)
Ireland EPA - Environmental Protection Agency Regional
Mr. Kealan Reynolds
Italy Integrated Wast Management Research Group - Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
Mr. Enzo Favoino (CV)
Lithuania VSA Holding
Mr. Vidas Andrikis
Luxembourg Iglux s.a.r.l.
Mr. Klaus Gröll
Luxembourg Admin d. L`Environment
Ms J. Mathieu
Netherlands Dutch Waste Management Association
Mr. John van Haeff (CV)
Netherlands BVOR - Association of Dutch Greenwaste Composting Plants
Dr. Paul J. M. Sessink (CV)
Norway Avfall Norge
Mr. Henrik Lystad
Poland Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation
Dr. Grzegorz Siebielec (CV)
Portugal Environmental Engineering Department - New University of Lisbon
Professor Ana Silveira (CV)
Slovakia Agricultural University Slovakia
Dr. Peter Kovacik
Slovenia University of Ljubljana
Dr. Ivan Gobec
Spain Agencia de Residus de Catalunya
Mr. Francesc Giró i Fontanals
Sweden Avfall Sverige - Waste Management Sweden
Ms Hanna Helmström (CV)
Switzerland Environment and Compost Consulting
Dr. Konrad Schleiss
United Kingdom TCA - The Composting Association
Dr. Jane Gilbert

ECN Working Groups

The sustainable management of biowastes relies upon efficient source separation, effective processing standards carried out by well educated plant operators, robust quality monitoring, high quality composts and safe compost application. The EU Commission has embraced these concepts in its draft working documents for a possible EU Biowaste legislation. With these in mind, the ECN has established several working groups for:

WG1: EU Affairs
ECN looks for a common European strategy through creative, scientifically sound, technically aware assistance for the Biowaste Directive. This includes the target to establish high quality composts as a product on the EU market.

WG2: Standards and quality monitoring
ECN will give assistance to the necessary European standards for analysis and sample taking (e.g. CEN), in addition for standards for biowaste based products and for common structures for quality assurance systems which allow a future EU harmonisation.

WG3: Compost Marketing and Application
This working group deals with the whole range of compost marketing in practice, like marketing tools and campaigns, product specifications, information about compost application, sales promotion, sales organisation und Public Relation material.

WG4: Good practise in biological waste treatment plants incl. separate collection
In order to find sustainable and flexible solutions for the treatment of the organic waste the main treatement technologies composting, anaerobic digestion and mechanical bological treatment have to be taken in consideration.
Therefore two task forces were installed within the WG4:

Task Group AD: Good practice in anaerobic digestion plants
Task Group MBT: Good practice in mechanical-biological waste treatment plants

Experiences show that the operation in biowaste plants is carried out from best to worst. A unique high production standard and management of environmental side effects (e.g. odours) requires detailed information for plant operators.

WG5: Support of the Development in Eastern + Mediteranean Countries
Assist the Mediterranean and Acceding Countries to treat biowastes according to forthcoming EU regulations and common standards.