Exploring methods to increase biowaste collection: key learnings

Webinar

30 April 2024

By Platform

On 23 April 2024, the Policy Learning Platform hosted the first episode of the webinar series from waste to resource: biowaste collection and treatment.

During this first episode, we learned from inspiring solutions, good practices, guidance and recommendations backed by real-life examples from Interreg Europe projects.

Explore the recording, key learnings and presentations below.

Webinar agenda

Navigate the agenda below to the topic of your interest.

The webinar has been designed and moderated by Magda Michaliková and Astrid Severin , Thematic Experts for a Greener Europe.

00:01:02 Introduction by Astrid Severin and Magda Michaliková

00:1 1:50 Presentation on how to best collect biowaste by Manon Jourdan, Implementation Officer at Zero Waste Europe, Belgium

00:28:00 Q&A: about the compostable bags you mentioned, we have seen that a lot of biowaste is being brought to biogas plants and it is difficult to treat them. So what are the best bags to be used in these cases?

00:30:59 Q&A: Is door-to-door feasible for high-population density areas?

00:35:34 Q&A: What is your thought on the common cliche that separating waste is a fuss and that municipalities are not ready for separating and recycling?

00:40:10 Presentation on Food waste collection (CORE) by Elin Elfström from the Municipality of Söderhamn, Sweden.

00:49:17 Q&A: What actions are implemented to convince the remaining households to take part in composting?

00:51:50 Q&A: does the waste management company totally pay for the brown bags? Is it coming from hidden fees?

00:53:56 Presentation by Kimmo Rinne from Salpakierto Municipal Waste Management Company (Finland) on Improving the collection of biowaste from detached houses (CECI)

01:11:29 Q&A: why were not you able to pitch this idea to the local authority and what were the main issues?

01:12:28 Experience from a peer review perspective by Ana Lopes, LIPOR (Portugal) on PAYT schemes and self-sustainable financing models for biowaste collection

01:25:01 Q&A: on treatment facilities, should we have them on a decentralised level or as close as possible to the origin of the waste?

01:28:11 Q&A: to what extent was the expansion of home community composting essential to Lipor's goal? What is precisely meant with the micro-digestor?

01:30:50 Concluding remarks by the panelists on the most urgent priorities for biowaste management.

Key learnings

Biowaste makes for a half of municipal solid waste. Less than 40 million tonnes of municipal bio-waste are separately collected and processed into high-quality compost and digestate in Europe (ECN, 2022) ≤ 17% of bio-waste
Free distribution of starter kits (kitchen caddy, compostable bags) improves the biowaste collection rates.
Compostable bags make the collection easy and enhance the purity of the material, but can be an issue in biogas plants, therefore their use always depends on pre-treatment and the given collection and treatment system.
Door to door collection systems deliver the best results.
Incentive schemes and pay as you throw proved to be very good tools to promote and increase biowaste collection. Make bio-waste collection and treatment are cheaper than disposal into landfill or incineration.
The collection should be as user friendly as possible.
Citizen engagement and awareness raising is key. Informing people about the possibility to set up such system and start implementing it.
The municipalities should lead by an example.