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

Within the compost industry, implementation costs across the EU are predominantly
met via income from gate fees and energy production, rather than reflecting the
‘actual’ value of the compost in relation to market demand and production costs.
Only very few companies have developed their local market sufficiently in order that
their compost sales actually contribute to their economic success.
36.7 Effects on Technical Change / Innovation
584
� The development of separate collection systems in order to increase the
material available for composting/ AD and reduce the presence of
contaminants and physical impurities in the feedstock for BTP production, The
aforementioned example of Denmark (Section 32.4) illustrates a move away
from the use of sewage sludge as an input material and the move instead
towards source-separate collection of biowaste in order to meet the required
quality for end-user markets.
� Development of laboratory testing/procedures to ensure that the BTPs meet
the desired quality requirements for the end-user.
36.8 Complementary Policies
� Landfill Directive; specifies the requirement to divert biodegradable waste
from landfill, hence promoting the need for the separate collection of biowaste
and subsequent compost/AD processes.
� Nitrate Directive; specifies maximum application rates of nitrogen in nitratevulnerable
zones, hence limits the application of BTPs accordingly.
� Mandates to separate organic wastes at source (see Annexes 34.0 and 35.0);
� Energy tariffs and the Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROCs); as noted in
Section 36.3, those AD plants in Austria that use organic waste as well as
agricultural feedstocks have a higher return on the electricity that they
produce than those which ferment only agricultural feedstock. In addition,
farm-based AD plants are also regulated by the Green Electricity Act 2002 for
13 years, ensuring certainty for long-terms strategies on plant investments. 707
In the United Kingdom, Renewables Obligation Certificates are offered to
renewable electricity generators for every MWh of electricity generated which
can then be sold to other energy suppliers in order to help them fulfil their
renewable energy obligation. Double ROCs are currently being considered for
the production of electricity from anaerobic digestion plants. 708
707 C. Walla and W. Schneeberger (2003) Survey Of Farm Biogas Plants With Combined Heat And
Power Production In Austria, International Nordic Bioenergy 2003 Conference.
708 UK Trade and Investment Services (2007) UK Government Builds on Renewable Energy Incentives,
available at http://www.ukinvest.gov.uk/feature/4014905/en-GB.html.
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