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EUROPEAN COMPOST NETWORK
ECN e.V.
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Network for Organic Resources and Biological Treatment
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ECN E-BULLETIN No. 11_2025
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World Soil Day 2025 I ECN Webinar I 5 December
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Celebrate World Soil Day with ECN
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ECN warmly invites experts, scientists, practitioners, farmers, organisations, and industry leaders to join this year’s World Soil Day (WSD) online event, raising awareness for sustainable soil management in cities.
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The FAO has set the 2025 WSD theme as “Healthy Soils for Healthy Cities”, highlighting the importance of good soil management practices to support resilient cities, biodiversity, and food security.
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Don't miss ECN’s event featuring experts from Sweden, Italy, and Belgium discussing the role of compost and digestate in urban soil health.
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Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) | Omnibus Package
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Adoption of the simplification package “Omnibus III” on agriculture
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The Council and the Parliament reached an agreement on 10 November on simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy. The new measures include the loosening of certain environmental conditions (GAECs). The changes should enter into force in January 2026.
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Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) | Post-2027 CAP
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Commissions' proposal on the CAP for 2028-2034
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The European Commission’s October 2025 proposal for the post-2027 CAP sets a stronger, more coherent path toward sustainability and resilience while simplifying obligations for farmers. A new farm stewardship system will replace current conditionality, introducing fewer, targeted requirements for soil health, water protection, biodiversity, and animal welfare—while allowing Member States greater flexibility to adapt rules to local conditions. Organic and small farms are largely exempt.
The proposal shifts further toward incentive-based environmental action through new Agri-Environmental and Climate Actions (AECA), merging eco-schemes and agri-environmental measures. These include more flexible annual or multi-annual commitments and transition payments of up to €200,000 to support the shift to sustainable systems such as regenerative or organic farming.
Investment support, advisory services, innovation, and cooperation remain central, helping farmers improve environmental performance and competitiveness. Together, these measures contribute to the CAP’s target of directing 43% of spending toward climate and environmental objectives.
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Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) | Rough estimate of soil protection in CAP Plans
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Assessing the 2023–2027 Strategic Plans’ Contribution to Soil Health
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This EU CAP Network report evaluates how CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs) from 13 Member States could improve soil health over 2023–2027. The study maps CAP interventions and good-agricultural-environmental practices (GAECs) to six soil indicators — including organic carbon, nitrogen, erosion, and water retention — and quantifies potential gains using JRC-derived coefficients. Key practices identified as most effective are cover crops, buffer strips, leaving crop residues, and mixed cropping. The analysis estimates annual increases in soil organic carbon (up to +1.59% in Romania) and nitrogen stocks (up to +4.81% in Romania), along with reduced erosion and leaching. The report underscores the policy’s strong environmental role and calls for better data and tailored coefficients in future evaluations.
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European Commission | Calendar of expected initiatives
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Initiatives to be presented by the end of the year
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The presentation of the updated Bioeconomy Strategy has been postponed until 25 November. Then, on 3 December, the Commission is planning to present its simplification package on environmental legislation as well as its plan “RESourceEU” on critical raw materials. The implementation package of the Clean Industrial Deal along with the Industrial Accelerator Act should be presented on 10 December, as well as the simplification package on food and feed safety. Finally, the Commission should present on 16 December the first part of its Biotech Act.
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KOS 2026 International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management
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Excessive phosphorus (P) fertilization has resulted in elevated soil P concentrations in some regions in the EU. Legacy soil P imposes a risk for soil functioning and may lead to P losses into the aquatic environment. We present a data & modelling framework to estimate how much and where P inputs in EU agricultural (cropland and grassland) soils can be optimized by 2050.
The dataset includes a) The distribution of nine P management strategies in EU agricultural land, b) Optimized P inputs in
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order to reach optimal P concentrations by 2050, and c) The increase in P inputs required when the aim is to reach at least 20 mg kg−1 of topsoil P-OLSEN concentrations by 2050.
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RAMIRAN 2025 Conference | 14 – 17 October 2025
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Managing organic resources in agriculture: opportunities and challenges
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The biannual conference was organised by Wageningen University in The Netherlands (Link to Programme). The conference core topics included agronomic value, GHG emissions, air quality, water quality, soil quality, integral analysis and policy and regulation.
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Steffen Walk, ECN’s Scientific Officer, presented the results of the LIFE BIOBEST project.
The next edition of the conference will be held in Torino, Italy, in 2027.
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Catalonia celebrates 25 years of door-to-door waste collection | 28 October 2025
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The Spanish region celebrated the anniversary with an event with local stakeholders
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The event was organized by Asociación de Municipios Catalanes para la recogida selectiva Puerta en Puerta (Link) bringing together pioneers of local door-to-door and stakeholders from the sector. 25 years ago in 2000, the first systems were implemented in the municipalities of Tiana, Tona, Riudecanyes and Mancomunitat la Plana.
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Today, 339 of the 947 Catalan municipalities have implemented, in whole or in part, a door-to-door selective collection system with constant increase in numbers. Other municipalities still rely mainly on bring systems with street containers.
ECN’s Scientific Officer, Steffen Walk, was invited to present on best practices in biowaste collection in densely populated areas.
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European Mission Soil Week Wrap-Up 2025
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Finance & Landscape Take Center Stage
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The 3rd European Mission Soil Week, held on 5–6 November 2025 at Aarhus University (Denmark), closed on a high note, emphasizing financial innovation and landscape perspectives in soil health.
Day 1 spotlighted new business and investment models to scale up soil health, bringing together policymakers, investors, researchers, farmers, and land managers. On Day 2, the discussion shifted to how healthy soils fit into multifunctional landscapes, with Denmark presented as a leading example, thanks to its tripartite agreement on land use blending climate, biodiversity, and agriculture goals.
A major milestone coincided with the event: the provisional agreement on the EU Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, underlining a turning point for soil protection across Europe. Throughout the week, participants echoed a powerful message: meaningful soil policy must be rooted in listening to the land — combining data and digital tools with local knowledge.
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ECN-QAS I CIC QAS Certification I 17 November 2025
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Successful renewal of CIC’s conformity assessment
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For the third time, the quality Assurance scheme of the Italian Composting and Biogas Association (CIC) has successfully passed the conformity assessment according to the European Quality Assurance Scheme for Compost and Digestate (ECN-QAS).
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The audit of the Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS) took place in Treviglio on 24 September. The ECN Quality Manager, Stefanie Siebert, audited the CIC QAS against the requirements of EN 17065 for certification bodies, products, processes and services.
The audit was accompanied by the Managing Director of the German Quality Assurance Organisation for Compost, David Wilken. In addition to the documentation, the ECN-QAS audit included an audit of a composting plant at the Azienda Agricola Allevi in Ferrera Erbognone.
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Jenny Campagnol (CIC, Project Manager), Leonardo Di Virgilio (CIC, Quality Manager), David Wilken (BGK, Managing Director), NN of Azienda Agricola Allevi, Alberto Confalonieri (CIC, Coordinator of the Technical Committee), Gianluca Longu (CIC, Quality Manager), NN of Azienda Agricola Allevi
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About CIC and Biowaste Management in Italy
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The Italian Composting and Biogas Association - CIC unites public and private compost producers, local authorities and others involved in compost production, like machinery and equipment constructors, growing media producers, research bodies, etc. CIC is the only Italian Association working to promote the separate collection of biowaste with the aim of producing high quality compost into biological treatment plants. The 3 main areas of expertise are:
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- Waste-Audits to assess the quality of food-waste
- “Compostable CIC” Label, a certifications scheme on biodegradable materials according to the EN:13432:202
- “CIC Quality Label” for compost, to verify and asses the quality of the compost produced by the associated plants.
CIC has achieved ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification of a quality management system for two of its core activities. Specifically, a quality management system has been established for the waste audits to assess the quality of food waste carried out at composting facilities, as well as for the CIC Quality Compost Label itself.
In 2023 there were 275 composting plants and 88 AD facilities designed to recycle bio-waste and other organic waste in Italy. The industrial sector has reached a total treatment capacity of about 12,3 Mtons, sufficient to recycle all organic waste separately collected in Italy.
The number of composting (only) facilities in the last 10 years is apparently declining, due to the rise of AD & Composting facilities. The number of AD & Composting plants constantly increased in the last decade; in there are 74 AD-plants in 2023 (65 AD-plants in 2019) have been realized with a total authorized capacity of 7,3 million tons/y and a total treatment capacity of 5,3 million tons/y; most plats integrate AD with (post) composting of digestate.
The latest Annual report of CIC in Italian can be accessed here.
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European Commission Consultations
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Deadline: 05 December 2025
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Revision of the environmental and climate delegated acts in relation to EU Taxonomy
The Commission is consulting stakeholders on the future revision of the EU taxonomy environmental and climate delegated acts. The aim of the revision is to update and simplify the technical screening criteria according to which an activity can be considered as “green” regarding EU climate and environmental goals. This initiative is part of the simplification process, as certain criteria have proven difficult to apply in practice and give rise to inconsistencies. The revision should be adopted in Q2 2026.
The ECN took part in the Reality Check workshop organised by the Commission and related to water and waste activities, and will provide feedback to the Commission as part of its targeted consultation. The Commission also opened two public calls for evidence until 5 December (here and here).
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Deadline: 04 February 2026
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Improve the functioning of the market for Fertilising Products
The performance of the Market Surveillance Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 is to be evaluated, as required under Article 42(1). The Regulation aims to improve the functioning of the single market by improving compliance with EU product harmonisation legislation. A parallel impact assessment will explore improvement options and their possible impacts, including ways to simplify the rules and reduce administrative burden for a possible revision.
Please provide feedback to the public consultation by 04 February 2025.
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Deadline: 13 January 2026
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Advanced Materials Act
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The Commission opened a public consultation for an Advanced Materials Act which will put forward measures to achieve open strategic autonomy on advanced materials. The aim is to help reducing dependencies on critical resources and boost EU competitiveness. Advanced materials include bio-based materials with enhanced circularity capacity and coming from either emerging or mature technologies. The consultation is opened until 13 January.
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Deadline: 26 January 2026
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Public procurement
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The Commission opened a call for evidence and public consultation until 26 January with the aim to revise the public procurement Directives. The revision should enable preference to be given to European products in public procurement, and modernise and simplify procurement rules, while making public procurement a tool for strategic investment. With this initiative, the Commission intends to encourage environmentally sustainable procurement practices, contributing to reduced carbon emissions and resource use, aligning the legislation with EU environmental goals. It should also be aligned with other EU strategic goals (social and innovation). The impact assessment that will be carried out should include an evaluation of the implementation of the Green Public Procurement across the EU.
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Announcements
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Registration I Carbon Farming Summit
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CARBON FARMING SUMMIT 2026
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The registration for the 3rd edition of the Carbon Farming Summit is now open. The summit is taking place from 17–19 March 2026 at the Padova Congress Centre in Padua, Italy.
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Fachverband Biogas I Webinar series I 4 December 2025 I 10 am CET
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Digestate for Healthy Soils
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The biogas industry is going through a period of change and development. International cooperation for the implementation of biogas plants has become increasingly important in recent years. Industrial-scale biogas technology offers a wealth of opportunities to provide renewable energy (electricity, heat, fuel) and fertilizer. In addition, various revenue streams can make the operation profitable.
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However, knowledge about the advantages, possibilities and opportunities of biogas is still not very widespread. To change this the Fachverband Biogas Service GmbH will offer an international webinar series in English in winter 2025/2026. These international webinars are aimed at beginners who want to familiarize themselves with the basics of biogas technology, as well as experienced professionals who want to refresh their knowledge on various biogas-related topics.
The webinar series kicks off with the “International Webinar: Digestate for healthy soils”, which is being held in connection with the “World Soil Day” and highlights the opportunities and possibilities offered by using digestate.
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- Each webinar takes 120 minutes and there is enough time to answer questions from the audience.
- The event is conducted with Zoom and can easily be integrated into your work environment, no matter where you are.
- Participation fee starts at € 119.00 inclusive VAT.
- Every participant receives a validated participant certificate and the documents of the event.
- There will be enough time to answer questions after the presentations.
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S.O.S Save Organics in Soil
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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.
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Sign the manifesto 'Save Organigs in Soil' here.
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ECN-QAS Trade Mark No 011007168
Trade mark for certified quality assurance
organisations, compost and digestate products
according to ECN-QAS
Website: www.ecn-qas.eu
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