By the end of 2023, EU Member States will have to implement separate collection
schemes for organic waste. This is a very crucial step since around 34% of all the waste
generated by our cities is of organic origin (biowaste). Among Member States and also
within single countries and regions there are many different collection schemes or no
schemes at all applicable to biowaste.
The challenge is to widely adopt biowaste collection schemes able to meet the target of
recycling 65% of municipal waste by 2035.
What to do with biowaste?
While it is now common to use products make of recycled plastics and paper, not
everyone knows the potential of recycling biowaste.
Indeed, biowaste can have plenty of usage and one example is to make organic soil
improvers out of it with the potential to improve the physical, chemical and/or biological
properties of the soil. With more than 60% of European soils being “degraded” and
unhealthy, the restoration of soil health is a pressing issue and one of the key objectives
of the EU.
This is also the objective of the EU-funded project BIN2BEAN (Boosting the market
deployment of safe, effective, and sustainable innovations for soil improvement from
bio-waste, towards regenerative soil systems), which just kick-started in September 2023.
The project will support European cities by promoting innovations that aim to
valorize bio-waste and optimize their recycling into soil improvers through innovative
and economically viable value chains. The project will implement 3 Living Labs in the
cities of Amsterdam (NL), Hamburg (DE), and Egaleo (EL). Here, partners will develop
and validate solutions that other cities across Europe could replicate in order to valorize
their bio-waste streams and produce soil improvers.
Thanks to these activities, BIN2BEAN will help to reach Europe’s 2035 objectives of
reducing landfill to 10% of total waste while reinjecting nearly 135,000 tonnes of nitrogen
and 45,000 tonnes of phosphorus into soils in an environmental, social, and sustainable
way.
The BIN2BEAN project
Funded within the EU Mission: A Soil Deal for Europe, the project is coordinated by
CONSORZIO ITALBIOTEC (Italy) which leads a consortium of 11 partners from 7 countries
across Europe.
Leveraging on a wide diversity of expertise required in soil system transformation,
BIN2BEAN activities will range from bio-waste management to soil sciences, from safety
testing to regulatory advice and from behavioral sciences to business strategies.
The project partners met on the 13th and 14th of September 2023 in Milan to fine-tune the
actions for the upcoming months. The meeting was also an opportunity to visit the local
company Acqua & Sole and their organic waste recovery plant, unique in Europe in terms
of size, process and feedstock, characterized by a thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion
process.
Aqua & Sole Sewage sludge treatment plant
Now the project is entering its initial phase, where the three cities involved will set up the living labs, kick starting the very first activities. Stay tuned for more updates!