Kommission zur Einbringung von Biomüllrichtlinie gezwungen[en] 

Biowaste accounts for 30%-45 % of municipal solid waste across Europe.

The Commission defines bio-waste as biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises, and comparable waste from food processing plants. The definition does not include forestry or agricultural residues, manure, sewage sludge, or other biodegradable waste such as natural textiles, paper or processed wood. 

The main environmental threat from biowaste is the production of methane in landfills. Methane is said to be over 20 times more harmful to environment as greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The EU Landfill Directive obliges member states to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste in landfill by 65% by 2016 compared to 1995 levels. Meanwhile, the countries are not given binding specification on what to do with the it - a situation that has left most member states to opt for incineration.

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) management of biowaste in the EU-27 differs widely with member states divided into three groups: those relying on incineration, those with high recovery rates and those with high landfill.

In December 2008, the Commission published a Green Paper on the management of bio-waste in the EU and launched a consultation process to gather opinions on whether a specific stand-alone EU biowaste directive is needed. 

"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 at the Commission's environment directorate, speaking at a biowaste conference  on 9 June.

"We already have the tools," he said, listing six existing EU legal instruments regulating the treatment of bio-waste: the recently revised Waste Framework Directive, directives on landfill, integrated pollution prevention and control, incineration and renewable energy as well as the regulation on animal by-products. 

Delbeke also noted that initial signs from member states indicate that a majority is against a new directive and favours instead implementation of existing laws. "Perhaps we need to further consider the role of industry, technology and of specific incentives for households and businesses with this regard," Delbeke said. 

Potential benefits

Management of biowaste "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 soils 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 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 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 the 40-50 years to come and no alternatives like recycling will be considered, she said.  

Belgium, Spain pushing for a separate directive 

Diplomatic sources told EurActiv that the topic is "genuinly 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 get at least an 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 one of their Presidency priorities. 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, the 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 yearly 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 bio-fuel 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 and taxis and minicabs, hydrogen from waste or the use of compost material for the city's allotments.