"After two decades of intensive legislating, what more do we need? What are the barriers? Why is biowaste recycling not happening?," asked Jos Delbeke, deputy director-general of the Commission's environment department, at a biowaste conference on 9 June.
"We already have the tools," he said, listing six existing EU legal instruments regulating the treatment of biowaste: the recently-revised Waste Framework Directive, directives on landfill, integrated pollution prevention and control, incineration and renewable energy, and the regulation on animal by-products.
Delbeke also noted that initial signs from member states indicate that a majority is against a new directive, instead favouring implementation of existing laws. "Perhaps we need to further consider the role of industry, technology and specific incentives for households and businesses in this regard," Delbeke said.
Potential benefits
Biowaste management "can considerably contribute to member states' climate goals," argued Astrid Klug, parliamentary state secretary at the German Federal Environment Ministry.
She called for mandatory separate collection of biowaste and underlined the environmental benefits of recycling: quality compost to improve soil quality and increased capacity for soil to absorb CO2.
Meanwhile, concerns were raised over the cost of mandatory separate collection, particularly in scarcely-populated regions.
Competition with Renewables Directive
The fact that the EU's recent Renewables Directive considers biowaste as a renewable energy when incinerated was considered problematic by several stakeholders at the conference.
Luc Vanacker from the Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM) said it was about choosing between producing energy through incineration of biowaste or contributing indirectly to the EU's climate change goals through recycling it into compost to improve soil quality, fight erosion and increase carbon sequestration.
Nathalie Cliquot, waste policy officer at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), an NGO, argued that the Commission indirectly encourages the incineration of biowaste, as its cohesion funds for the new member states finance the building of new incinerators. Every new incinerator built means that the hands of the local authorities are tied for 40-50 years to come and that no alternatives, like recycling, will be considered, she said.
Belgium, Spain pushing for a separate directive
Diplomatic sources told EurActiv that the topic is "genuinely controversial", as the local and regional differences are so great that it will be very difficult to legislate on the matter at EU level. Meanwhile, the Commission will most probably propose a "loose" directive next year to at least reach agreement on the quality of compost, in view of fostering an internal market for compost, the diplomat said.
The upcoming Belgian and Spanish EU Presidencies are piling pressure on the Commission to table a directive, as both want to make it a priority. Initial negotiations between member-state representatives show the rest of the countries is divided "50-50", the sources added.
However, Jos Delbeke noted that an alternative for a separate biowaste directive could be to "modify existing legislation through comitology procedure".
London to convert food waste into eco-fuel
Meanwhile, Mayor of London Boris Johnson launched on 10 June a major initiative to convert London's food waste into eco-fuel to cut landfill rates and carbon emissions. Some two thirds of the city's annual total of three million tonnes of organic waste is currently burnt in incinerators or buried in landfill.
The mayor's 'Foodwaste to Fuel Alliance' will bring together developers, food producers and energy companies to provide the new infrastructure. Five biofuel plants are expected to be built by 2012. Examples include anaerobic digestion plants to produce renewable energy, bio-diesel refineries turning cooking oil into fuel for buses, taxis and minicabs, hydrogen from waste, and the use of compost material for the city's allotments.
