Difference between revisions of "Biowaste"

<onlyinclude>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.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Biodegradable waste|url=https://ec.europa.eu/environment/topics/waste-and-recycling/biodegradable-waste_en|Author=European Commission|year=|e-pub date=|date accessed=2021-09-23}}</ref></onlyinclude>

Bio-waste is defined as biodegradable [[garden and park waste]] and [[food waste]] from kitchens households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises, as well was 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<ref name=":3" />. Depending on its origin the biowaste may occur in relatively pure fractions or  in form of [[municipal waste]] (different contents of biogenic wastes mixed with other non-biogenic fractions that are out of scope within of the Tech4Biowaste database).[[File:2021-08-05 Biowaste in MSW (modified from European Environment Agency 2020).png|thumb|Bio-waste in municipal waste and how it is collected, EU-28, 2017. Modified dataset<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|author=European Environment Agency (EEA)|year=2020|book_title=Bio-waste in Europe — turning challenges into opportunities|publisher=European Environment Agency|place=Copenhagen, Denmark|ISBN=978-92-9480-223-1}}</ref>]]

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|Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC)]]<ref>{{Cite book|author=Council of the European Union|year=1999|section_title=|editor=|book_title=[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:31999L0031 Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste.]|publisher=Council of the European Union|place=Brussel}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">''[https://ec.europa.eu/environment/topics/waste-and-recycling/biodegradable-waste_en biodegradable waste]'', definition at European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment.</ref>