MEPs argue for a special directive on biowaste

European Commission rejects need for directive

The European Commission and the European Parliament both want to boost the separate collection and processing of biowaste in Europe. The Commission, like the Netherlands, wants to do this with the current arsenal of legislation. Wrongly, argue MEPs. They believe a separate directive would achieve more.

By Pieter van den Brand

The Netherlands has a strong tradition of composting its vegetable, garden and fruit (VGF) waste. Since mandatory separate collection of this waste was introduced in 1994 by environment minister Hans Alders, each year 1.3 million tonnes of VGF are collected and processed to yield about 600,000 tonnes of compost. But there is more. The Netherlands has discovered anaerobic digestion, an extra step in the composting process that produces energy-rich biogas. The combination of energy generation and composting is highly promising. The green energy generated not only helps to reduce CO2 emissions, but tests so far show that the compost is of even better quality.

At the end of February, MEP José Manuel Fernandes visited one the anaerobic digesters in the Netherlands, the Attero digester in Venlo. He was visibly impressed. ‘This is the way Europe should go. Only then will we be able to make real use of European biowaste, making high-quality compost as well as producing green electricity.’ The Portuguese MEP calculates that the latter could provide no less than two per cent of the EU target of 20 per cent renewable energy in 2020. Other EU countries have a long way to go. Each year Europe produces an estimated 76 to 100 million tonnes of VGF plus a further 37 million tonnes of residual organic waste from industry. ‘In many member states these enormous quantities of biowaste end up in landfills, a loss not only for the environment, but also for the economy.’ Investing in recycling, contends Fernandes, is good for employment. ‘Every 10,000 tonnes of recycled waste creates 250 jobs,’ says the Christian Democrat, who is the European Parliament Rapporteur for biowaste management. Fernandes is a confirmed advocate of a specific directive for the separate collection and processing of residual organic waste streams from households and industry. High European quality standards for compost are equally indispensable, he believes.

Crazy
Fernandes has an ally in Bas Eickhout, member of the Greens/EFA. ‘We should encourage and stimulate the most sustainable way to treat biowaste. Recycling and composting helps to combat climate change. Compost improves soil quality, helps prevent soil erosion and increases carbon storage. Biowaste from parks and gardens contains fifty to sixty per cent water, and kitchen waste as much as eighty per cent. It’s crazy to burn water. It consumes masses of energy.’ Eickhout wants to see a target percentage set for EU countries. ‘They can then decide themselves how to meet this target. In thinly populated areas there may be little point in separately collecting biowaste, but that can be compensated for by collecting more in other areas.’ This approach, reasons Eickhout, ‘takes account of local conditions, while guaranteeing flexibility in implementation.’

According to Eickhout, it is high time for a directive. A Biowaste Directive was first proposed back in 2002 in the sixth Environment Action Plan. ‘Since then this has been repeatedly called for by both the European Parliament and the European Council, but so far the European Commission has consistently given no for an answer.’ In fact, the Commission’s intransigence was confirmed yet again in mid May. In a press release the EU commissioners state that they prefer to make the best use of existing legislation through better implementation and enforcement. According to insiders, this reluctance is born of the years of wrangling over the Waste Framework Directive; the Commission now balks at the idea of a new directive. The official explanation is that additional legislation on biowaste is unnecessary, but standards for compost will be drawn up to ensure that the same quality levels apply across the whole of Europe. These standards will be introduced in a revision of the Sewage Sludge Directive.

Fernandes points out that he and the Commission have the same ambitions, but that the Commission are failing to take firm measures. ‘The Commission says that Europe should demonstrate leadership in prevent the landfilling of biowaste, while allowing the EU countries to decide themselves how to do this – even though the Commission acknowledges that some member states are not taking any action. I think this is highly incongruous.’

Divided
Like the Commission, the Netherlands is opposed to the idea of a new directive. According to the environment ministry’s spokesperson, Paula de Jonge, the Dutch Government stated its opposition to binding rules at the EU level in February. ‘Local conditions play an important role. In our country the local authorities, who have prime responsibility for VGF waste, enjoy a measure of flexibility in how they meet their obligation to collect this waste, for example in areas where it is practically impossible to collect the waste separately, such as the city centres. We want to retain this flexibility.’ Neither does the Netherlands want the imposition of a mandatory processing option, adds De Jonge. The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment says that a life cycle analysis has shown that none of the biowaste processing options has a significant environmental advantage over the others.

Europe appears to be divided on this issue. Unlike the Netherlands, countries like Spain, Hungary and Belgium are in favour of a common legislative basis. Since 2006 neighbouring Flanders has been an active participant in a group of member states supporting a biowaste directive, says Mieke de Schoenmakere of OVAM, the Flemish public waste agency. ‘We are absolutely convinced that biowaste can deliver important benefits if it is managed properly. Until now not a single EU directive has stimulated the sustainable treatment of biowaste, and the fragmented legislation only sows confusion. We need a solid framework for developing a biowaste policy.’

Accord on sustainable ambitions
The Dutch composters, represented by the Bioconversion Section of the Dutch Waste Management Association, are going to invest heavily in anaerobic digestion technology. In their ‘Sustainability Declaration’, signed on 11 June during the opening of the Attero VGF digester in Venlo, their target for 2015 is to anaerobically digest one million tonnes of VGF waste before composting. This is no less than sixty per cent of the current supply of VGF and comparable organic waste streams. The anaerobic digestion process will generate about 150 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to meet the needs of more than 44,000 households. This year about 200,000 tonnes of VGF will be anaerobically digested. By investing a total of about 240 million euros in the construction of additional anaerobic digesters, the waste sector wants to make a significant contribution to the transition to sustainable energy and reducing CO2 emissions. The sector claims that the economic feasibility of anaerobic digestion technology has come within reach because of the government assistance for sustainable energy. It calls on the new government to meet the continuing need for reliable financial support.