International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

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However, pending the adoption of rules in accordance with Article 6(2)(g), the
competent authority may, when catering waste is the only animal by-product
used as raw material in a biogas or composting plant, authorise the use of
processing standards other than those laid down in paragraphs 12 and 13
provided that they guarantee an equivalent effect regarding the reduction of
pathogens.
Annex VI thus adds confusion to the processing requirements for Category 3 catering
waste, particularly given that the amending Regulation 208/2006 inserted the
process validation tests discussed above just before this paragraph, which had
previously, in Regulation 1774/2001, followed paragraphs discussing temperature,
time and particle size. Thus it is not clear to what the term ‘equivalent effect’ refers,
and thus how it should be established and to what it is that ‘equivalence’ should be
demonstrated.
It is important to note that the ABP Regulation is currently being amended, with a
draft proposal and a working document with annexes currently under discussion
among stakeholders within the European community. Some commentators suggest
that it is likely that the existing exemption for catering waste, giving Member States
the possibility of setting national processing rules for catering waste, will be
maintained. 699
A number of countries have subsequently chosen the option of national regulations
for catering waste rather than adopting the ‘70°C for 1 h’ processing standard set out
under the ABPR. National regulations have been maintained mainly because in
practice, composting and digestion plants have found it difficult to implement the
Annex VI standard, particularly the 12 mm particle size requirement in composting
plants. All EU MSs have some test for pathogens; however, with the exception of the
Netherlands, the tests are set in terms of the presence of a given pathogen rather
than in terms of the level of reduction in the presence of the pathogen. Annex VI of
the ABPR concentrates on the latter, but it is difficult to see why this should be the
case from the perspective of the risks of using BTPs on land.
Denmark, France, Germany and Italy have all maintained their pre-ABPR timetemperature
regimes for catering waste. In addition, following amendment
208/2006, the Netherlands has developed its own process validation and
corresponding sampling regime which allows the spot test method to be used, in
order to show a 5 log10 pathogen reduction in the BTPs produced from the plants.
Only Belgium, Hungary, Latvia and Poland make use of the 70ºC for 1 h ABPR
hygienisation process for all ABP input materials, including catering wastes. For
Belgium/Flanders, however, the catering waste regulation is not considered relevant
for the majority of plants whose feedstock is vegetable, fruit and garden (VFG) waste,
with animal by-products excluded in the separate collection of biowaste.
For the remaining Category 3 waste (i.e. plants not solely accepting catering wastes),
the majority of EU MS have fully-implemented the Annex VI ABP regulations (i.e. 70ºC
699 F. Amlinger (2008) Implementation of the Animal By-Products Regulation (EC) no 1774/2001 in EU
Member States, Presentation at Orbit2008, 13-15th October 2008, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes