ECOVAL shares its organic waste valorisation in Nutrient Recycling Community webinar

On Friday 23 September, between 14:00hrs and 16:00hrs, the Nutrient Recycling Community webinar, organised by the University of Ghent, took place. Several projects related to the recovery of nutrients from waste effluents in the food and agriculture industry were presented remotely. There was also a round table where the different actors shared ideas and were able to generate synergies between common objectives or processes.

 

The Nutrient Recycling Community is an initiative driven by the European Biorefinery Cluster (ECB), of which Ecoval is a member. It started as a continuation of the EIP-AGRI Focus Group on Nutrient Recycling and currently has more than 70 members, including universities, research centres, European associations, policy groups and others. Its work focuses on the recovery of nutrients from waste streams in the agri-food value chain and their use as sustainable fertilisers. The aim is to boost the circular economy by closing the life cycle of nutrients and reducing the use of plant protection products in agriculture.

 

The transition to a more circular economy through resource recovery is one of society’s priorities and nutrient recycling can play a key role in its development.

 

The event began with a brief introduction to the Nutrient Recycling Community by Laia Llenas Argelaguet from the University of Vic (UVIC), to then move on to the presentation of the various projects invited and linked. Each one 5 minutes to explain their relationship with nutrient recovery. They are: LEX4BIO, dedicated to biofertilizers in agriculture, Nutri2Cycle, specialists in the agri-food nutrient cycle, WalNut, focused on the valorisation of wastewater to produce biofertilizers, Fertimanure, focused on the recovery of nutrients to make biofertilizers from animal manure, Nitroman, researchers in the conversion of raw manure into mineral fertilizers, Run4Life, focusing on the recovery of nutrients to create low-impact fertilizers, Renu2Farm, linked to increasing the recycling of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from the food production chain, RUSTICA, providers of technical solutions to convert organic waste from the horticultural sector into biofertilisers, Circular Agronomics project, facilitators of development towards smart and sustainable economies, Ecoval Sudoe, promoters of sludge and organic waste management and valorisation, and Sea2Land, producers of bio-based fertilisers from fisheries waste.

 

They all presented in that order until 15:00hrs, when a 50-minute round table discussion between them moderated by Kari Ylivainio of the Natural Resources Institute of Finland (LUKE) began, and a closure with conclusions brought the event to a close at 16:00hrs.

ECOVAL gets to know the facilities of SOGAMA, the largest urban waste manager in Galicia

Several ECOVAL partners visited the most important facilities of the Galician Environmental Society (SOGAMA), in Santiago de Compostela and Cerceda. On Wednesday 7th September, the coordinator and several members of CETAQUA, the project leader, together with members of FEUGA, the partner responsible for communication, and USC enjoyed a guided visit to SOGAMA’s industrial complex.

SOGAMA is a regional public company at the service of Galicia’s environmental policy in the area of urban waste management and treatment. It is based on the prioritisation of waste prevention, reduction, preparation for reuse, recycling and recovery. Traditionally, Sogama focused its management on two fractions of urban waste: the yellow bag, i.e. the materials deposited by citizens in the yellow container (plastic containers, cans and bricks), and the black bag (the rest) placed in the generic container. In the last three years, they have also introduced separate management of bio-waste, through collection in the brown bin and management in their compost plants. They have 37 transfer plants located in different parts of Galicia, an environmental complex and a controlled landfill in Cerceda.

In addition, SOGAMA is an associate partner of ECOVAL, and works on campaigns against food waste such as “A túa comida ten algo que dicirche”, which promotes synergies with the project’s “A new bin, are you in?” campaign.

 

1,000,000 tonnes of municipal waste per year

The guided tour to get to know its facilities will start at 09:30h at the Santiago de Compostela Transfer Plant. The function of these plants is to allow the transfer of waste from municipal collection lorries to containers of greater capacity (with a load of 20 tonnes) and more suitable for long-distance transport. At 11:00h they will move to the Environmental Complex in Cerceda. With a surface area of 65 hectares and a nominal waste treatment capacity of 1,000,000 tonnes per year, this is the point around which the company’s industrial activity revolves. This is where the recyclable materials deposited in the yellow bag are separated, facilitating their delivery to recyclers, and the energy recovery of the non-recyclable fraction of the black bag is carried out. From there they will go to the industrial composting plant, located in the same locality at the Areosa non-hazardous waste landfill. This facility is the end of the route and the end of the cycle for some organic waste, which, not being recoverable in other ways, becomes part of the 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes of compost produced at the plant.