final report - JRC IPTS - Sustainable Production and Consumption ...

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• The analysis results form a basis for the product declaration and the application
recommendations.
The net result is a compost product of continuously high and defined comparable quality which is
therefore marketable and saleable on a large scale.
Task 2: Quantity, uses, import and export of compost
Amount of compost produced
Due to the lack of consistent data reporting and collection systems, reliable numbers on biowaste and
green waste collection and potential as well as compost production are in some cases not easy to
assess. However extrapolation from well documented national experience can be taken as a trustable
basis.
In many cases a differentiation between biowaste and green waste is not possible since collection
systems for those fractions vary a lot on national and regional level respectively. Specifically for the
quantity of sewage sludge treated via composting only very poor data seem to exist.
Since the collected data have been compared to former investigations and are being corrected based on
realistic potentials of an overall capture of 150 kg per inhabitant and year of biowaste and green waste
the final estimation may give a good basis for further considerations on the importance of organic
waste recycling in Europe. This figure was used where no reliable national assessments were provided.
The collectable amount of compostable biowaste and green waste in EU 27 is estimated with 80.1 Mt
whereof 29.5 % or 23.6 Mt are currently separately collected. The proportion of which is composted
or (pre-)treated in biogas plants cannot be given, but the composted part can be estimated with at least
95 %. This results in 10.5 Mt production of bio and green waste compost
Total
Biowaste
compost
Green waste
compost
Sewage sludge
compost
Mixed waste
compost
EU27 13.2 Mt 4.8 Mt 36% 5.7 Mt 43% 1.4 Mt 10.4% 1.4 Mt 10.3%
Only from biowaste and green waste composting a total compost potential of 35 to 40 Mt of compost
can be achieved. Including compost produced from sewage sludge the total estimate is 45 Mt
Based on the very unsure and controversially debated strategies for the management, treatment and
use of municipal sewage sludge only a roughly estimated scenario for sludge composting can be
provided on European scale. If 15 % of the total municipal sludge production (approximately 5.3 Mt
fresh matter sludge) would be considered for being composted together with the same amount of
bulking agents and green waste this would result in ca. 5 Mt of compost.
Market shares and developments
Data on compost market sectors could be gained from 12 countries. Those MS represent
approximately 80 % of the EU compost production and therefore show realistic trends. The average
distribution of the market shares is:
• Agriculture – more than 50% with increasing tendencies,
• landscaping – up to 20 %,
• growing media production (blends) and manufactured soil – around 20 %
• the private consumer market with hobby gardening and wholesales – up to 20 %
Countries with mainly mixed waste compost production and little developed markets strongly rely on
agriculture (ES, FR) or on land restoration/landfill covers (FI, IE, PL). In Poland, the low quality
produced leads to 100% use in land restoration/landfill covers.
The compost application sector and the volume sold in the sectors depend only to a certain extent on
type of source material, compost class and quality respectively. Application areas like agriculture just
require standard quality, landscaping or even the growing media sector need upgraded and more
specialised products (with quality specifications in plant response, salt content, pH, particle size
among others), but compost type is of minor relevance as long as the plant performance is positive.
COMPOST PRODUCTION AND USE IN THE EU