On 20 June 2019 the ‘COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2019/1004 of 7 June 2019 laying down rules for the calculation, verification and reporting of data on waste in accordance with Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Commission Implementing Decision C(2012) 2384’ was published in the EU Official Journal L163.

Article 4 of the Implementation decision lays down the calculation rules for municipal bio-waste separated and recycled at source pursuant to Article 11a(4) of Directive 2008/98/EC:

With regard to the calculation of bio-waste separated and recycled at source, the actual measurement of the input to or the output of the recycling operation is not always feasible since such waste is commonly managed by individual households. Therefore, a sound common approach that ensures a high level of reliability of the reported data should be established by the Member State. Annex II describes the ‘Methodology for calculating municipal bio-waste separated and recycled at source referred to in Article 4(3) in detail.

EUNOMIA Study
Nordic nations have to increase recycling of waste

A new study of EUNOMIA (UK) on the recycling targets in the Nordic nations (Denmark, Finland, Island, Norway, Sweden) has found that the Nordic nations have significantly to increase the amount of waste that they recycle in order to meet tougher EU targets. An increase of between 16-32% is required, highlighting that there are significant improvements to be made, even in regions where very little waste is landfilled.

The study concludes that despite the implementation of effective policies still very significant change is required in the Nordic region to achieve the targets of the revised EU waste directives. As the most important aspect the shift away from incineration towards recycling is identified.


Fig. 1: Eurostat Reported Recycling Rate of Municipal Waste for Nordic Countries (Eunomia, 2019)

A set of interventions how to achieve higher recycling rates (relevant for all nordic countries) is identified:

• Increase of separate door-to-door collection of recyclables and bio-waste,
• More sorting capacity for mixed waste after separate collection has been maximized,
• Reform of policies, perhaps increased taxes or bans on recyclable materials and bio-waste entering incineration plants,
• Reform of extended producer responsibility according to WFD
• Development of new recycling and bio-waste infrastructure
• Behavior change interventions backed by economic incentives (e.g. fines and surcharges ) and enforcement.

The study can be accessed here.

ISWA World Congress 2019, 7-9 October, Bilbao (ES)
Benefits of compost and carbon on soils

A specific bio-waste session will be held on 7 October 2019 during the ISWA World Congress. Organised and moderated by the Chair of ISWA’s Working Group on Biological Treatment of Waste (BTW) Marco Ricci-Jürgensen, the session will focus on the ‘benefits of compost and carbon on soils’.

ISWA’s Vice-Chair of the working group BTW, Jane Gilbert will present ISWA’s project work on carbon and soil. Speakers from the European Compost Network and the European Biogas Association will contribute by presenting the potential of biowaste for the production of compost and biogas in Europe. Finally, the session will be closed by introducing the new initiative ‘SOS - Save Organics in Soil’ of the Soil Organic Matter Alliance.

The programme of the session on 7 October 2019 (2-4 pm) as listed below can be accessed here:

• Benefits of compost and carbon on soils - Jane Gilbert, Carbon Clarity (UK)
• Compost production in Europe -Stefanie Siebert, European Compost Network (Germany)
• The new “Biowaste to Biogas” guideline - Mathias Hartel, European Biogas Association, Fachverband Biogas (Germany)
• The new European campaign SOS – Save Organics on Soils - Massimo Centemero, Vice-chair of European Compost Network & CIC (Italy) / Kristel Vandenbroek, Chair of European Compost Network

We would like to welcome all interested people to join the session and to sign the new ECN initiative ‘SOS – Save Organics in Soil’ at the ISWA World Congress 2019.

Further information on the SOS campaign will be published soon on ECN’s website. www.compostnetwork.info

Program of technical visits at the ISWA World Congress
As a complement to the World Congress ISWA2019, the organization has planned a series of technical visits whose program is now ready and can be consulted in all details on the Congress website. Four visits to the same number of local waste treatment facilities are planned, which will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, 9 and 10 October, at a price of 40 € each.

The programme of the technical visits can be accessed here.

Announcement
 

25 November 2019, Brussels (BE)
Soil and the SDGs: Challenges and need for actions

Soil and the SDGs conference is an opportunity for policy makers, public institutions, researchers, industry and civil society to come together to exchange knowledge and practices on the implementation in the EU of soil and land-related SDGs, and particularly the Land Degradation Neutrality target.

During this one-day conference with a rich agenda, the conference will first address the challenges related to soil and land degradation in the EU and then the opportunities for urgently needed action will be explored. Throughout the day, representatives from the EU institutions, the European Environment Agency, the scientific community and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification will provide insights on the issue from different perspectives. Selected Member States will present their cases on the implementation and monitoring of the relevant SDGs.

The conference is free of charge but registration is mandatory.

More details about the conference (including registration) can be found here.