Environmental Data Centre on Waste

Total Generated

 

 

 

 

 

Biowaste is defined as animal and vegetal waste arising from households, commerce and the food manufacturing industry.

As biowaste degrades in landfill it produces a potent greenhouse gas, methane.  It is important to gain an understanding of how much biowaste is in the waste stream, and therefore how much treatment capacity might be needed to manage the material, if it were diverted from landfill through the introduction of source segregated collection systems.

Currently, the data collected under the Waste Statistics Regulation is not of sufficient detail on a country by country basis to relate to the definition of biowaste used here. However, for the European Waste Code (EWC) for animal and vegetal wastes, which also includes manure and the like, European wide data is available. Click on the following link to extract the raw data as required.

Animal and vegetal wastes, tonnes, (Data Explorer, Waste Statistics Regulation)

As biowaste degrades under anaerobic conditions in landfills, methane is produced. Generation and treatment of biowaste is considered a priority due to the environmental impact associated with the production of methane, and specifically the potential for methane which is not collected by gas capture systems to contribute to global warming (methane is a greenhouse gas which is around 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide). As separate biowaste collections begin to become more feasible it is interesting to look at arisings and how this waste is being treated across Member States.

 

Depending on the composition of the biowaste arisings there are several treatment options available:

• open air windrow composting;
• in-vessel composting;
• anaerobic digestion;
• mechanical biological treatment;
• incineration; or
• landfill.

The EC Regulation No 1774/2002 lays down the health rules concerning animal-by-products (ABP) not intended for human consumption. It specifies the ABP materials that can be used in composting and anaerobic digestion (AD) plants. This is important in the context of reducing the risk of spreading diseases, such as foot and mouth disease or BSE.

With 1995 as the reference year (100% by weight), biodegradable municipal waste to landfill must be reduced to:

• 75% in 2006 (2010)
• 50% in 2009 (2013)
• 35% in 2016 (2020)

(Note: years in brackets show the targets for Member States that have been granted a 4 year derogation due to relatively lower performance in the baseline year of 1995 i.e. > 80% landfill rate in 1995)

Link to DG Environment web site  - Environment biodegradable waste

 

 

Biodegradable Municipal Waste Management in Europe

 

 

   

Country Specific Reports

 The Food We Waste (July 2008)

• DG Environment Biodegradable Municipal Waste
• EIONET on Biodegradable Municipal Waste
• European Composting Network
• Organic Recovery and Biological Treatment (ORBIT Association)