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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. 7_2024
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Waste Workshop I 14 June 2024
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OVAM Waste Workshop
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On June 14th , the Belgian Presidency/the Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM) organized a two-day high-level workshop to discuss major challenges and potential solutions related to the current Wate Framework Directive (WFD).
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Topics included the end-of-waste status, the waste hierarchy, prevention, and the role of incineration in a circular economy, separate collection of biowaste, among others. The workshop comes in due time before a potential evaluation of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) by 2026 and it was seen as a starting point on what should be reflected in a “future-proof WFD” in the second half of the year.
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The breakout session on ’biowaste – learning on experiences’ focussed on best practices to implement separate collection and to manage biowaste. Francesc Giró i Fontanals from the Waste Agency of Catalonia presented the successful model to increase taxes for landfilling and incineration of residual waste and investing in biowaste separate collection and management in Catalonia. Mike Stinavage and Gemma Nohales from ENT, as Project leader of the LIFE BIOBEST project, presented the policy brief including the regulatory barriers for bio-waste separate collection and treatment.
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Key message on biowaste for EU Commission
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4.4 BIOWASTE COLLECTION Work is needed to close the gaps in the regulatory framework. Best practices should be translated into or promoted in EU legislation. Furthermore, besides the existing obligation for biowaste collection, to enable proper biowaste management, policy measures need to include biowaste targets for separate collection, for the quality of biowaste collected and for the quantity of biowaste in residual waste.
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As an outcome of the two-day workshop key messages were given to the EU Commission, which can be accessed in detail in the summary report ‘A Futureproof Waste Framework Directive’.
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All presentations and the summary report are available on the OVAM website here.
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LIFE BIOBEST Project | Guidelines released
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The project consortium has published four guidelines on efficient bio-waste management.
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These guidelines take into account the best available regulations, technologies and management practices.
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Member States of the European Union are now required to separately collect and treat bio-waste since the beginning of 2024. However, we still see countries and regions falling behind in implementing efficient management concepts, especially for kitchen waste, as shown by low capture rates.
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The guidelines have been prepared with the intention of providing support to local authorities and waste managers who may be at the beginning of their journey in the management of bio-waste, which represents a significant portion of municipal solid waste.
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However, they may also prove beneficial for those seeking to innovate and enhance their bio-waste management practices with the aim of increasing recycling rates.
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The guidelines can be found, following the links:
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European Commission I IED amendment
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Best Available Techniques for large-scale agro-industrial facilities amended to the Industry Emission Directive
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The Directive (EU) 2024/1785 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 April 2024 amending Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on industrial emissions, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on, 15 July 2024. The Directive will enter into force 20 days after its publication.
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In the European Green Deal, the Commission announced a revision of Union measures to address pollution from large industrial installations, including a review of the sectoral scope of the legislation and how to make it fully consistent with climate, energy and circular economy policies. In addition, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the Circular Economy Action Plan and the Farm to Fork Strategy also call for the improvement of resource efficiency and reuse while reducing pollutant emissions at source, including sources not currently within the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU. Addressing pollution from certain agro-industrial activities, while promoting sustainable agricultural practices that have multiple co-benefits for the environmental and climate objectives of the European Green Deal, requires their inclusion within the scope of that Directive.
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The European Commission published a whole range of resources aimed at supporting stakeholders to reduce food waste at the household level. The different tools and reports are the result of the European Consumer Food Waste Forum, a three-year collaborative effort by the European Parliament, DG Health and Food Safety (SANTE), the Joint Research Centre and various practitioners.
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News from EUSO/ESDAC Newsletter No 167 (July 2024)
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4th EUSO Stakeholder Forum
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The EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) convenes its 4th Stakeholder Forum, an annual event which purpose is to actively engage and exchange with the soil community, from policy makers and scientists to local actors, civil society representatives and citizens. The 4th EUSO Stakeholders Forum takes place on 21-23 October and will be online.
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The Stakeholders Forum of 2024 will focus on five main topics:
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(1) The status and prospects of the Soil Monitoring Law,
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(2) the launch of the report State of soils in Europe,
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(3) a global perspective of soil health policies,
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(4) the launch of the EUSO Working Group on nutrients, and
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(5) Soil literacy and Soil Sciences and Arts.
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New data set on Land degradation in Europe published
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Land degradation is a complex socio-environmental threat, which generally occurs as multiple concurrent pathways that remain largely unexplored in Europe.
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An unprecedented analysis of land multi-degradation in 40 continental countries is presented, using 12 dataset-based processes modelled as land degradation convergence and combination pathways in Europe's agricultural (and arable) environments.
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The 12 indicators include: water erosion, wind erosion, soil organic carbon loss, soil salinization, soil acidification, soil compaction, soil nutrient imbalances, soil pollution via pesticides, soil pollution via heavy metals, Vegetation degradation, Groundwater decline and Aridity.
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New call on soil health living labs
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The 2023 Mission Soil call initiated the pilot phase of the living lab network and included the first topics to fund projects on living labs. If you are considering applying for future topics, including the 2024 bottom-up or urban topics - either with a new proposal or by revising and improving an existing proposal - you are encouraged to consider where further actors and communities need to be mobilised, and which soil health challenges are particularly relevant in the regions where you want to set up living labs.
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The call for proposals is open till 8.10.24. The call includes 9 topics for 13 projects and a total budget of 134.5 Million € (including 4 projects on LL)
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Nescafé Dolce Gusto joined ECN
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ECN welcomes Nescafé Dolce Gusto as new company member in ECN.
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Nescafe Dolce Gusto has developed a new portioned coffee system called NEO with paper-based compostable single-serve portions.
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The system has so far been launched in France, Switzerland and Portugal, and the SSSUs are certified by TüV Austria as both industrial and home compostable.
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Please find further info about Nescafé Dolce Gusto here.
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Interreg Europe I CORE I 12-14 September 2024
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4th Thematic seminar on ‘Good use and alternative use of compost and digestate based products’
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From 12-14 September the 4th Thematic Seminar of the Interreg Europe project ‘Composting in Rural Environments’ will take place in Potsdam (Brandenburg).
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Organised by the German project partner the Brandenburg State Office of Environment (Landesamt für Umwelt) the thematic seminar will focus on the presentation of good practices for the use of compost and digestate products and study visits to composting and anaerobic digestion plants.
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Further information about good practices from 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 here.
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ICAW 2025 I 4-10 May 2025
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ICAW 2025 theme and date announced
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Sustainable Communities Begin with Compost! is the ICAW theme for 2025. This theme was chosen with the goal of highlighting composting in all kinds of communities at any scale – from the backyard home composter to community composters, to large-scale facilities to all those who recognize the many benefits of using compost on our soils. The ICAW 2025 will take place from 4-10 May 2025.
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Each year, the International Compost Awareness Week Committee holds a poster contest to pick a design for the annual poster. There is always a new theme for ICAW, which is highlighted on the poster as well as that year’s dates. The poster contest is open to anyone from anywhere in the world age 14 or older. The prize for winning the contest is $500. Check out the full requirements for the poster here.
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To find out more about ICAW 2025 and to stay up to date with the latest news, click here.
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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.
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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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