Views are being sought on how the management of bio-waste could be improved across Europe.

The EU needs to become a resource-efficient, recycling society and bio-waste offers great opportunities

 
Stavros Dimas

The European Commission has launched a consultation on a Green Paper which explores options and opportunities in bio-waste management in the European Union and will contribute to assessment of the need for new legislation.

Bio-waste - covering biodegradable garden, kitchen and food waste - accounts for around one third of municipal waste and is of particular concern to the EU when landfilled because it emits the powerful greenhouse gas methane, which contributes to climate change.

The Paper looks at the potential advantages of using bio-waste as a source of renewable energy and recycled materials and addresses, in particular, the best level for action - European, national or local - and asks stakeholders for evidence to support these views.

Announcing the paper yesterday (December 3), European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: "The EU needs to become a resource-efficient, recycling society and bio-waste offers great opportunities. Once our resources become waste we must find ways to recycle them.

"Energy recovered from bio-waste in the form of biogas or thermal energy will help in the fight against climate change, and quality compost can contribute greatly to healthy soil and biodiversity. We need to work with stakeholders to ensure that the waste management options we choose bring the greatest benefits to our environment," he added.

Main elements

The Green Paper includes an overview of current bio-waste management practices in the EU, and looks at the benefits and drawbacks of these methods, taking into account environmental, economic and social issues.

The Paper also looks at the impact of existing regulatory measures. Bio-waste management is already subject to a number of EU and national legislative measures.

This includes obligatory diversion from landfills (Landfill Directive), encouragement of recycling (under the new Waste Framework Directive), incineration and composting (Incineration Directive, IPPC Directive, and Animal By-Products Regulation) and product standards and requirements (Organic Farming Regulation, the EU Ecolabel requirements for compost, national standards).

The Commission is also working on additional measures including end-of-waste criteria for compost and guidelines for bio-waste management.

The Green Paper will also consider the need for new legislation which could help to direct more bio-waste towards recycling and energy recovery. The Paper is intended to stimulate a debate among stakeholders and help the Commission assess the need for additional EU action. The next step will be an impact assessment of a possible legislative proposal, which will be carried out in 2009. A legislative proposal, if justified by the impact assessment, could be adopted in 2010.

The views of all stakeholders, including the public, are invited. The consultation will remain open until March 15, 2009.

Context

Each year the EU is estimated to produce between 75 and 100 million tonnes of food and garden waste.

According to the EU, the main threat from bio-waste is the methane generated in landfill sites. The EU's Landfill Directive was introduced to address this, setting strict guidelines for their management. However, landfill is still the most common method for disposing of municipal waste in the enlarged EU.

Options for bio-waste management include collection schemes to separate bio-waste followed by composting or anaerobic digestion, biological treatment of bio-waste, and incineration with high or low energy recovery.

The environmental and economic benefits of different treatment methods depend on local conditions such as population density, climate and infrastructure.

Member States have vastly diverging national policies for bio-waste management, ranging from little action in some Member States to ambitious policies in others.

The Commission has said that more efforts are needed to ensure that less goes to landfills and there is a high level of energy recovery and recycling.

Environment Council

The bio-waste Green Paper is currently being discussed at a meeting of the Environment Council today and tomorrow (4-5 December), during which environment minister Stavros Dimas will also update the Council on the progress of the Climate and Energy packaging.

The Council is also holding a policy debate and will then adopt conclusions on its action plan on sustainable consumption and production presented by the Commission in July.

The action plan creates a framework for improving the energy and environmental performance of products (in particular through a revised EU eco-design directive) and stimulating private and public sector demand for environmentally sounder products through labelling (mandatory European energy efficiency label, voluntary EU Ecolabel), public procurement practices and the involvement of retailers.

At the Competitiveness Council meeting on 25 September, there was strong support for the action plan and for the approach of turning environmental challenges into competitive advantages.