Biowaste

Fruit and vegetables in a dumpster, discarded uneaten

Biowaste, bio-waste or biodegradable waste is a type of feedstock defined as waste from organic origin. It includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, methane or simple organic molecules (biodegradability) by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion or similar processes. It also includes some inorganic materials which can be decomposed by bacteria.

Tech4Biowaste follows the following definition:
Bio-waste is defined as biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises, and comparable waste from food processing plants. It does not include forestry or agricultural residues, manure, sewage sludge, or other biodegradable waste such as natural textiles, paper or processed wood. It also excludes those by-products of food production that never become waste.

Types of biowaste

Bio-waste is defined as biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises, and comparable waste from food processing plants. It does not include forestry or agricultural residues, manure, sewage sludge, or other biodegradable waste such as natural textiles, paper or processed wood. It also excludes those by-products of food production that never become waste.

Biowaste is devided in several groups depending on its origin and composition:

• Garden and park waste
  • Green-cuttings
    • Grass
    • Tree-branches
    • Tree-leaves

Mixed bio-waste: kitchen food waste and used coffee pads

Mixed bio-waste: kitchen food waste and used coffee pads

• Food and kitchen waste
  • Food processing
  • Houshold
  • Restaurants and caterers
  • Retail premises
• Municipal waste (biogenic waste mixed with other wastes)

In the EWC-Stat Waste Categories biowaste is included in item 31 ("Animal and mixed food waste"), item 32 ("Vegetal wastes") and partly item 34 ("Household and similar wastes").

Additional information

Currently the main environmental threat from biowaste (and other biodegradable waste) is the production of methane from such waste decomposing in landfills, which accounted for some 3% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-15 in 1995. The Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC) obliges Member States to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste that they landfill to 35% of 1995 levels by 2016 (for some countries by 2020) which will significantly reduce this problem.

According to the European Compost Network (ECN), across the European Union, somewhere between 118 and 138 million tons of bio-waste arise annually, of which currently only about 40% (equivalent to 47,5 million tons per annum [M tpa]) is effectively recycled into high-quality compost and digestate. As up to 50% of municipal solid waste is organic, the bio-waste fraction plays an important role in recycling and the nascent circular economy. Implementation of separate collection of bio-waste in all EU member states as laid down in the Waste Framework Directive is a key for diverting organic waste from landfills and to guarantee that high-quality secondary raw materials (composts and digestate) are consistently manufactured, so that they can be placed on the European fertilizer market.

Further information

• wikipedia:Biodegradable waste