EUROPEAN COMPOST NETWORK
ECN e.V.

Network for Organic Resources and Biological Treatment

ECN E-BULLETIN No. 8_2025

29 August 2025

CORE E-Magazine No. 2 I Interreg Europe

ECN publishes E-Magazine No. 2 for EU Project “Composting in Rural Environments”

As the CORE project reaches its halfway milestone, we are pleased to announce the release of our second e-magazine. This edition provides readers with a comprehensive update on recent activities, ongoing progress, and the exciting steps our partners are taking to shape the future of composting and biowaste management.
Over the past year, the project has hosted two major international events—its 4th and 5th thematic seminars—bringing together experts, practitioners, and stakeholders from across Europe. These gatherings not only highlighted innovative approaches but also strengthened international collaboration around sustainable composting solutions.
In addition to these events, the magazine highlights the impressive achievements of our project partners.

Two pilot actions, in particular, are moving from vision to reality

Municipality of Söderhamn (Sweden): Implementing and testing small-scale composting sites for garden and neighbourhood waste, supporting local communities in closing the loop.
Autonomous Province of Bolzano (Italy): Constructing a new composting plant in South Tyrol to transform digestate from anaerobic digestion into high-quality, marketable compost products.

Click here to read the entire magazine. Further information about the good practices submitted by the 8 project partners, news and events can be accessed on the CORE website. Please follow #COREinterreg on X and access our videos on our YouTube channel.

European Commission | Public consultation | 10 September 2025

Simplification of administrative burdens in environmental legislation

The Commission opened a call for evidence on the content of the future omnibus package on environment. This omnibus package should be presented by the Commission at the end of the year and should amend environmental legislations with a view to reduce administrative burden and streamline administrative requirements related to the environment in the areas of circular economy, industrial emissions and waste management. The types of measures that could be adopted include rationalising and streamlining reporting/notification obligations, removing double requirements to report, promoting further digitalisation, and addressing challenges related to permit procedures.
The consultation is open until 10 September.

European Commission | Public consultation | 11 September 2025

EU Strategy to boost global climate and energy transition

The Commission opened a consultation on an initiative to set out the EU’s global climate and energy strategy for 2025-2029. It outlines the means to step up EU green diplomacy and for engaging more with non-EU countries on external aspects of EU policies.
The consultation is open until 11 September.

European Commission I Public consultation I 22 September 2025

Carbon removals and carbon farming – methodologies for certifying permanent carbon removals

This initiative establishes methodologies to certify carbon removal activities in which CO2 captured from the atmosphere is permanently stored. These activities are related to:

direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS)
biogenic carbon capture and storage (BioCCS)
biochar production.

The methodologies set requirements to ensure that activities comply with the quality criteria set out in Articles 4 to 7 of Regulation 2024/3012 and provide the elements set out in Annex I to this Regulation.
The public consultation is open until 22 September 2025.

European Commission | Public consultation | 31 October 2025

Green-listing certain waste for the purposes of shipments to recovery between Member States

The Commission consults on the extension of the scope of green-listed waste under the Waste Shipment Regulation. This initiative complements the objectives of the future Circular Economy Act and will consider certain waste as green-listed and may also introduce contamination thresholds so that other types of waste can be green-listed.
The consultation is open until 31 October.

European Commission | Public consultation | 6 November 2025

Circular Economy Act

The Commission opened a call for evidence and a public consultation on the future Circular Economy Act which should be presented by the Commission by the end of 2026. This Act is expected to enhance the EU’s economic security and competitiveness, while promoting more sustainable production, circular economy business models and decarbonisation. It should facilitate the free movement of circular products, secondary raw materials and waste, increase the supply of high-quality recycled materials and stimulate demand for these materials in the EU. This Act should take the form of a Regulation and should include the revision of the Waste Framework Directive and the Landfill Directive.
The consultation is open until 6 November.

European Commission | Net-Zero Industry Act

Publication of delegated act identifying the components used for the net-zero technologies

The Commission published on 28 July a delegated regulation identifying sub-categories within net-zero technologies and the list of specific components used for those technologies. Anaerobic digesters are listed as components that are primarily used for sustainable biogas and biomethane technologies in sustainable biogas and biomethane plants.
You can find the delegated regulation and its annex here.

Announcements

World Soil Day Celebration I 5 December 2025

‘Healthy Soils for Healthy Cities’

ECN will once again be active on ‘World Soil Day’—for the 5th year in a row—and will be celebrating soil and how our common work serves to the benefit of soil health. For this year’s ‘World Soil Day’, ECN will be organising a webinar under our ‘Save Organics in Soil’ initiative, which will cover the topic of ‘Healthy Soils for Healthy Cities’. The webinar will be open to the public, and an announcement on the programme will come at a later date. We hope to see you there.

Soil Health Institute’s 10th Anniversary I 3-4 December 2025

Call for participation on soil health and regenerative agriculture

The Soil Health Institute, a global non-profit with a mission of safeguarding and enhancing the vitality and productivity of soils through scientific research and advancement, is celebrating its 10th Anniversary on December 3 – 4, 2025. In the free virtual event, thought leaders will be collaborating together to shape the future of the soil health movement. Along with the numerous topics that will be covered, the Soil Health Institute has announced a call for abstracts on soil health and regenerative agriculture for their virtual poster session which will be presented during the anniversary meeting. Registration is now open.

Events

CORE I 9-11 September 2025

6th Thematic Seminar in Söderhamn, Sweden

The next thematic seminar for our Interreg Project CORE is coming up soon – and this time, we’re heading to Söderhamn, Sweden! The focus of this seminar will be on local solutions and governance tools to improve biowaste quality and management. Project partners will present good practices under the following topics:

Improving Biowaste Quality: Tools, Methods, Communication and Local Solutions
Framework Conditions for Small-Scale and Home Composting
Governing Waste Disposal and Tariff Structures for Biowaste Management

Curious about how different regions in Europe are working to improve biowaste systems through local initiatives, smart governance, and citizen engagement? Follow the project here and discover new approaches to biowaste collection, composting, and policy design.

FertiCovery project | 9 September 2025

Online workshop – Advancing nutrient recovery and bio-based fertilisers: Overview and selection of value chains

The consortium of the FertiCovery project is organising an online workshop where participants will explore promising technologies for producing biofertilisers from secondary raw materials. This interactive session will bring together stakeholders to share experiences, validate key case studies, and shape the future of bio-based fertilisers.

Registration and agenda here.

IPT 2025 I 18 September 2025

The world's largest Demonstration Show for Composting and Biomass Processing

The Austrian Compost and Biogas Association invites you to the 9th International Practitioners' Day for Composting and Biomass on 18 September 2025 at Winkler Erdbau GmbH in Hartberg (Styria).

Here, innovations will be presented, trends set and visions discussed. Renowned specialist exhibitors from the compost sector will be there! Over 700 visitors are expected.

A fixed part of the Practitioners' Day is the compost quality competition with the awarding of the Austria-wide KompOskar – Who produces the best compost in Austria?

The event is a ‘green event’ and also part of the ‘Gschei't feiern’ initiative.

Be there and register here. For more information, visit www.kompost-biogas.info.

European Commission | 5-6 November 2025

European Mission Soil Week

The 3rd edition of the European Mission Soil Week will take place in Aarhus, Denmark on 5 and 6 November 2025. This event is co-organised by the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Commission under the title “Leading the transition towards healthy soils: finance and landscape perspectives”.

You can find more information here.

Compost Council of Canada I 4-6 November 2025

Organics Recycling Conference in Ottawa

Hosted by the Compost Council of Canada, this landmark conference brings together industry leaders, innovators and advocates to delve into the latest in:

Organics recycling infrastructure and technology
Policy directions and research breakthroughs
Soil health and compost markets
Residential and IC&I(Industrial, Commercial & Institutional) Sector Program Advances

The conference offers presentations, tours, networking and exhibits.
Registrations are open now! For more information visit the website here.

S.O.S Save Organics in Soil

This international initiative S.O.S. SOIL – Save Organics in Soil, led by the European Compost Network (ECN) and the Italian Composting and Biogas Association (CIC), aims to highlight the importance of soil organic matter to encourage policy makers to develop instruments to move Europe towards implementing sustainable, climate proof soil management practices.

Sign the manifesto 'Save Organigs in Soil' here.