Astrid Klug supports EU Biowaste Directive

Parlamentary State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry, Astrid Klug, called for a clear European framework to boost the recycling of biowaste. "In far too many cases biowaste is still dumped in landfills in Europe. However, biowaste is not only much too valuable for this practice but also causes a multitude of problems on the landfills. A separate EU Biowaste Directive would best help to advance our cause" Ms klug pointed out at an international conference on biowaste in Brussels.

Discussions at the conference, which was jointly organised by the EU Commission and the environment ministries of the Czech Republic, Belgium and Germany, centred around the kind of European legal provisions best suited to mobilise most effectively the immense biowaste potential for the benefit of climate and resource protection. With a share of 30-40%, biowaste still accounts for the largest proportion by weight of domestic waste in Europe. Approximately 110 million tonnes of biowaste are produced annually in the EU and only about 20% are being collected separately and subsequently recycled.

As far as separate collection and recycling of biowaste is concerned, Germany is already well positioned: On average an amount of 100 kg of household bio- and garden waste per inhabitant is separately collected in Germany per year. From the 8 million tonnes thus collected we produce roughly 4 million tonnes of valuable compost per year.

In most EU countries biowaste is still landfilled, together with the remaining household detritus and thus causes methane gas emissions which are particularly harmful to the climate. Lanfills can be counted among the most prominent sources for methane emissions in Europe. If biowaste were no longer landfilled, this would contribute considerably to achieving the 2020 reduction target for emissions harmful to the climate which the EU Commission committed itself to. Based on figures from 2004 (EU 15, before the accession of Eastern member states) this could account for 20% of the reduction target.

Moreover, compost produced from separately collected biowaste could replace 10% of the fertilisers used in farming. In addition, compost and composted fermentation residues are valuable humus building components and thus help to improve water storage capacities of farm land. This is a particularly important aspect for countries in the Southeast of Europe but is gaining in relevance also in other regions . Some of the biowaste suited for this purpose can also be used to produce biogas from either direct combustion or fermentation processes. This, in turn, can help to replace fossil fuels. "For reasons of climate protection and efficient utilisation of resources we have to step up our efforts in Europe for separate collection of biowaste and its subsequent use, also in energy related terms" Ms Klug went on to explain.