Introduction
The European Compost Network e.V. (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.
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.
Join ECN’s event featuring experts from Sweden, Italy, and Belgium discussing the role of compost and digestate in urban soil health.
Agenda
Date & Time of Event: Friday, December 5, 2025 — 10:00 – 11:45 AM (CET)
- 10:00 – World Soil Day Opening and Welcome by ECN.
Olivier Labrie, Project Officer for Agriculture and Environment at ECN. - 10:10 – State of the art and overview of soil-relevant EU policies.
Aline Granjard, Policy Officer at ECN.
Including a 5-minute Q&A. - 10:30 – Use of digestate in cultivation at a Swedish nursery.
Johan Dahlenborg, Essunga Plantskola AB.
Including a 5-minute Q&A. - 10:50 – Terra Viva: quality compost for urban soils.
Laura Bianconi, Tecnogarden Service SRL.
Including a 5-minute Q&A. - 11:10 – Compost and digestate use in urban green spaces in Flanders.
Maxim Rooseleer, Vlaco vzw.
Including a 5-minute Q&A. - 11:30 – World Soil Day Wrap-Up & Closing Remarks.
Olivier Labrie, ECN.
Join the webinar here
https://ecncloud.compost-digestate.eu/index.php/call/t8tdey99
Don't forget to add the event to your calendar!
About the speakers
Aline Granjard is the EU Policy Officer of ECN. Based in Brussels, she is responsible for the advocacy work on waste, resources, environmental and agricultural policies at EU level. She is also involved in ECN projects regarding policy aspects.
Johan Dahlenborg is the Chief Gardener at the tree nursery Essunga Plantskola AB. With over thirty years of experience in the nursery industry, he is responsible for cultivation in Essunga as well as sales and customer support throughout Sweden, giving him broad expertise in creating green environments for public spaces.
Laura Bianconi is an agronomist with nearly 25 years of experience in the composting sector, gaining expertise in all aspects of composting processes, as well as the technical and agronomical considerations of producing and using quality compost and wood biomass. She currently works for Tecnogarden Service, a leading company in green and wood waste recycling, where she handles regulatory compliance and environmental permits. In this role, she also has the exciting opportunity to develop the “Terra Viva” Project and raise awareness about the importance of applying quality compost in horticulture, gardening, and green space management for private citizens.
Maxim Rooseleer is active within the Vlaco quality and certification team as a sampler and auditor. Each week, he travels throughout Flanders to collect samples of different soil improvers such as composts and digestate products. He is responsible for maintaining contact with laboratories, conducting objective assessments based on established procedures, and providing thorough reporting of analysis results. Maxim also contributes to the substantive and practical implementation of quality monitoring and supports other team member in different research projects around these topics.
Olivier Labrie is the Project Officer for Agriculture and Environment at ECN, based in Germany. In this role, he is responsible for implementing EU-level projects that promote the use of compost and digestate on agricultural soils, while advancing ECN’s circular economy and sustainable agriculture objectives.