refertil newsletter compost edition december 2014

The REFERTIL project is co-funded by the European Union, Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreementnumber 289785. 2011-2015.

R E F E R T I L N E W S L E T T E R

Issue: December 2014 - Compost Policy Edition

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REFERTILWWW.REFERTIL.INFO

In This IssueTheis providing advanced solutions tothe transformation of the bio-wastestreams from EU municipalities,food industries and farms, by

for safe,economical and ecological nutrientrecovery, specially Phosphorus, forsustainable agricultural systems.

are designed, aiming toreduce the intensive use of mineralfertilizers and chemicals inagriculture, enhancing theenvironmental, ecological andeconomical sustainability of cropsand food production; reducing thenegative footprint of the cities and

overall contributing to climatechange mitigation, while creatingnew bio-economy.Moreover, the

for the revision of theFertilisers Regulation, that willstandardize and harmonize thebiochar and compost products useas organic P-fertilisers, organicfertilisers or soil improvers.

Science and technology RTD for definition of improved and safe compost& biochar standards in the EU 28.

Providing strong policy support to the European Commission for revisionof the Fertiliser Regulation (Reg. EC No. 2003/2003.).

Industrial scale transformation of the organic bio-waste and by-productsstreams from Europes agriculture and food industries towards zeroemission conversion performance into proven safe compost & biocharproducts.

Improvement of safe and economical bio-waste treatment and nutrientrecovery industrial process for compost & biochar products.

Bridge over biochar/compost applied science into industrial engineering,economical and environmental industrial practice, for the benefitsand interest of the SME farmers and consumers.

Page1 REFERTIL in brief REFERTIL partners The key objectivesPage 2 Input material for EoW compost Compost quality by EU policy Composting process requirements REFERTIL policy integrationPage 3 Composting BATs trials (ES, HU) Compost evaluationPage 4 REFERTIL Conclusions on compost

policy support Status of future EU Fertilisers regulation Coordinator contact

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Issue: December 2014 - Compost Policy Edition


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Regarding the , purpose of the EoW (End-of-Waste)Technical proposal of December 2013 is to ensure of clean suitable biowaste bymeans of a scope definition, finally rejecting the idea of a Positive list.

, as well as deinking,primary and secondary In principle the

production. Materials compliant with national EoW criteriamight be used on national territory + possibility for mutual recognition.

actively participated in theinitiative derived from

, concluding with

activities are in line with EoW policy,covering the 21 composting plants surveyedacross 7 EU countries, the 6 selected compostfor evaluation and the Composting BATs demotrials.

affecting most of theM.S.W. plants, together with the update ofcollection systems to reach the EoW or productquality for compost. has focused onpolicy support to the DG Ent & Ind in the revisionof

>15% on dry matter weight

No sp. in 25 g ;



Issue: November 2014 - Compost Policy Edition


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880 t input materials used in 2 years trials in Toledo (Spain)Mediterranean area, with 320 t of output compost fromdifferent mixes and formulations.

Similar technologies as Hungarian BATs trials. Input materials and compost produced intensively analyzed

and used as control for lab, greenhouse tests and field trialscompost evaluation.

Technical focus of trials on bacterial cocktails inoculumseffects, N conservation and eco-biological and foodwebprofile.

The activities are carried out at the composting plant of Gdll(Hungary), and used two different technologies: Negative aeration system with turning. Covered heap composting with GORE cover system.PROFIKOMP has used different configurations: heap sizes anddifferent intensive-maturation time profiles towards improvedand optimized composting processes.

Farmers willingness to use compost andbiochar is strictly connected to variousaspects and areimportant to evaluate its efficiency andefficacy.

Within the project, differentagronomical performance tests werecarried out by

with andbiochar during the Compost survey: cress test in and pots for

evaluating phytotoxicity and germinationcapacity: Composts showed littlephytotoxicity effects, in particular thosecomposts deriving from animal manureand municipal biowaste, with a cleargermination promotion effect by someof them.

potting trials on zucchini and lettuce toevaluate agronomical effects of compostand biochar. Green waste composts andanimal bonechar showed a goodfertilization effect on crops.

suppressiveness trials on cucumber, toevaluate the capacity to control plantpathogens. 3 of the 6 compost showedsuppressiveness activity.

microbiological analysis for evaluating thesafety of the products. and

are not a problem forcomposts, while are frequentlypresent but not exceeding the legislativethresholds.

In conclusion, compost and biochar couldbe a reliable alternative to chemical fertiliz-ers, with both short term (nutrients) and

long term effects to crops and soil. Agro-nomical evaluation should inform on suit-able crops and conditions of use.

of selectedcomposts has been performed by dose-response studies targeting sensitivebioindicators represented by ammoniaoxidizing soil microorganisms.Results indicated that compost productscaused no inhibitory effects on the soilmicrobial ecosystems except for oneproduct which caused a transient short-term (2 days) inhibition corresponding toan EC50 value of 9.1% (w/w percent ofcompost admixture to the soil).

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Issue: November 2014 - Compost Policy Edition


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More than and analyzed at WESSLING certified lab, from 21 European composting plants.Obtained results were in line with JRC analytical campaigns (FATE SEES-COMES Programmes). Only two compost samples were over

and limits (due to sludge and treated wood in the mix). In the opinion the proposed could be suitablewith quality input materials and with EoW compost.

Regarding Potentially Toxic Elements ( , it would be appropriate (alreadyadjusted up) . A good number of bio-waste and green waste composts exceed the Nickel limits (due to a natural concentrationof geogenic origin in the vegetables, with special incidence in Italy). Zn and Cu are oligo-elements and are originated in animal manurefrom diet additions, presenting risks only in repeated slurry applications near animal farms.

performed an up-to-date review of across the MS,stressing the need of a .

Today, only the Nitrates Directive regulates the compost application to a maximum amount of 170 kg N /ha/year. REFERTIL suggests amaximum rate of 10 t dry matter/ha/year, which corresponds with the national compost use regulations very well.

fully supports the recent Communication of July 2014which intends to promote the circular economy, including a legislative proposal to review recycling and waste-related targets:

(including plastics, paper, metals, glass and ).

Change in :

Disclaimer: The author is solely responsible for the content of this newsletter, which does not represent the opinion of the European Community.

The revision of is in the last phase of its technical preparation.For the first time, organic products are considered

(but also ,

The document is goes beyond registering procedure, being conceived as a tool forpromoting the closing of the nutrients cycles and recovery of mainly P (facing thescarcity and concentration of P mineral resources) but also other nutrients fromsecondary sources. For compost it should be carefully considered what should be theminimum required levels for OM, N and nutrients. Another alternative way is toestablish a specific category for compost, which is a fertilizing material as well as a soilimprover.

Please help our policy support works:http://www.refertil.info/refertil-survey-questionnaire

Edward SomeusBiochar S&T senior engineer

[email protected]://www.agrocarbon.com

http://www.refertil.info

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REFERTIL in briefThe key objectivesCoordinator contactREFERTIL in briefREFERTIL partnersThe key objectivesInput materials for "EoW" compostCompost quality criteriaComposting process requirementsREFERTIL policy integrationComposting BATs trials (ES,HU)Compost evaluationConclusions and policy supporting workStatus sof future EU Fertiliser RegulationCoordinator contact

refertil newsletter compost edition december 2014

Documents

compost policy

e t t e rissue

r e f e r t i

eow compost compost

refertil project

proven safe compost

refertil conclusions

page1 refertil