EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 3.12.2008 
SEC(2008) 2936 
  
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
accompanying the  
 
GREEN PAPER 
 
On the management of bio-waste in the European Union 
{COM(2008) 811 final} 
 
EN 2   EN EU legal instruments regulating the treatment of bio-waste 
Revised Waste Framework Directive1 
The Directive requires that all waste be treated in a way that protects the environment and 
human health by preventing or reducing th e adverse impacts of the generation and 
management of waste and by reducing the overall impacts of resource use and improving the 
efficiency of such use. Waste policy has to apply a five-step waste management hierarchy as a priority order. Highest priority is given to waste prevention, followed by preparation for re-use, recycling, other recovery and disposal. Po licies may diverge from the hierarchy in the 
interests of minimizing overall environmental impact. 
In particular, the Directive sets a 50% recycling target for at least paper, metal, plastic and 
glass from households - and possi bly from other similar origins - to be met by 2020. This can 
work in favour of bio-waste recycling since bio-waste is the largest single fraction of 
household waste and Member States can include a ppropriate parts of it in  the calculation of 
the 50% target. The target is subject to review by 2014. 
In addition, the Directive envisa ges the possibility of setting EU-wide “end-of-w aste” criteria 
for compost. These can include quality and safe ty requirements so that composted bio-waste 
is no longer waste but a safe product, thus  strengthening confid ence and the market. 
Currently, national rules regarding compost quality  and safety and even if compost is product 
or waste differ between Member States (see also Annex II). 
Facilities for the biological treatment of waste require a waste management permit. For 
recovery facilities Member States may deroga te from the permit requirements provided they 
ensure environmentally sound waste manageme nt by laying down gene ral rules for these 
facilities. Furthermore, it will allow the Comm ission to set minimum standards concerning 
health and environment for r ecovery activities not covere d by the IPPC Directive. 
Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste  (Landfill Directive) 
This Directive is a primary driver for the bett er treatment of bio-waste as it requires the 
diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfills to 75% in 2006, 50% in 2010 and 
35% in 2016 of the amount of bio-waste generated in 1995.
2 Countries with  high reliance on 
landfilling (over 80%, including most of th e new EU12, but also the UK and Greece) may 
postpone the targets by a maximum of 4 years. 
While no requirements are set for the management  of the diverted bi odegradable waste the 
environmental costs need to be taken into acco unt and the costs of landfilling are increasing 
rapidly. 
Directive 1996/61/EC on integrated pollution prevention and control  (IPPC Directive) 
This directive lays down the main principles for the permitting and control of installations 
based on best available techniques (BAT). It cu rrently covers biological treatment of organic 
waste only if it constitutes pre-treatment before disposal. In the ongoing revision the 
Commission has proposed covering all biological treatment of organic waste above a capacity 
of 50 tonnes/day. This will increase the IPPC co verage of composting ca pacity from 81% to 
89% and of anaerobic digestion from 89% to 99%3. 
                                                 
1 Revised Waste Framework Directive (2005/0281(COD)) 
2 Or in the latest year before 1995 for which standardised Eurostat data is available  
3 Vito, 2007  
 
EN 3   EN Waste Incineration Directive 2000/76/EC 
The incineration directive regulates the te chnical requirements for the operation of 
incineration plants, including emission limit values  for selected potential contaminants (e.g. 
NOx, SOx, HCl, particulates, heavy metals a nd dioxins) in order to prevent, as far as 
practicable, negative impacts on hu man health and the environment. It is relevant for bio-
waste treatment as it covers inci neration of most of bio-waste4 (including mixed waste 
containing biodegradable fractions). 
Regulation laying down health rules conc erning animal by-products not intended for 
human consumption 2002/1774/EC (The Animal By-products Regulation) 
This Regulation lays down detailed rules for th e protection of public and animal health that 
apply to the use of animal by-products in biogas and composting plants. Category 1 and 
Category 2 animal by-products are either excluded from such use or may only be used under 
strict conditions and following processing. Pendi ng the adoption of harmonised requirements 
for the processing of Category 3 classified ca tering waste, Member States may adopt risk 
mitigating national rules for the processing of such  material which must be at least equivalent 
to the standards set by the Regulation for the pr ocessing of Category 3 material of the same 
nature. 
The Directive on the promotion of cogeneration 
One of the best ways to use energy in an effi cient way is by making use of cogeneration of 
electricity and heat (also known as combined heat and power or CHP), thus limiting waste 
heat. This is the objective of Directive 2004/8/EC., and it also applies to waste incineration. 
The heat developed in the incine ration process can be used for district heating but also for 
industrial purposes, pre-treatment of fuel and for biogas production.  In order to ca lculate if the 
cogeneration process is highly efficient unde r Directive 2004/8/EC, harmonised reference 
values have to be used as defined in  Commission Decision 2007/74/EC. The list there 
includes reference values for electricity and heat  from solid biodegradable (municipal) waste, 
liquid biodegradable waste and biogas, in order to promote the use of high efficiency 
cogeneration with such fuels. A qualification as high efficiency cogeneration may lead to 
guarantees of origin for CHP electricity and to (extra) state aid for operators of such units. 
The proposed RES Directive5, repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC  
This proposal considers the use of  biomass, i.e. the biodegradable  fraction of products, wastes 
and residues from agriculture (including vegetal and animal substances), forestry and related 
industries, as well as the biodegradable fractio n of industrial and municipal waste, to count 
towards the renewable energy target s, but leaves it up to Member States to decide how certain 
renewable energy resources are to be supported. In the Commission's estimation, around half 
of the EU's overall 20% renewable energy targ et will be met from bio-energy. Furthermore 
the RES Directive sets sustaina bility criteria for the use of bi ofuels and bioliquids, while 
encouraging the use of bio-wast es, e.g. cooking oil or bio-methane, for developing so-called 
second-generation biofuels. The RES Directiv e also foresees reporting on a need for 
sustainability criteria for all other uses of biomass for energy purposes.  
                                                 
4 The excluded fraction includes vegetable waste from agriculture and forestry as well as non-
contaminated wood waste 
5 COM(2008)19 
 
EN 4   EN Differences in compost policies between the Member States 
Compost policies differ substantially between Me mber States. The following tables show the 
differences between quality cla ssification types of compost (tab le 1), quality standards for 
composts (table 2) and registration regimes (i ncluding waste/product diffe rentiation) (table 3). 
Table 1. Compost classification types and number of classes adopted in national 
compost standards and legislation. 
 Number of classes or categories 
Criterion 1 2 3 4 
Heavy metals BE, DK, FR, 
GR, HU, LT, NL, PL, SE, UK DE, SK AT, CZ, ES, IE, 
SI LV 
Input materials UK: Quality 
compost from source separated organic waste BE: Vegetable, 
Fruit, Garden compost; Green Waste Compost 
IT: Green Waste 
Compost; Mixed Compost (may include sewage sludge) 
FI: Green Waste 
Compost; compost from digestate  AT: (1) source 
separated org. waste (2) sewage sludge (3) bark (4) mixed municipal solid waste  
Application 
types   SI: (1) 
Agriculture – no restrictions (2) Agriculture with restrictions (3) Agriculture excluded AT: (1) 
agriculture (2) landscaping (3) landfill coverage (4) bagged compost 
 DE: (1) compost 
for Agric./landscaping (2) substrate compost (3) mulch compost 
Stability  DE: (1) mature 
compost (2) fresh compost 
IE requirement   
 
EN 5   EN within licensing 
LU (1) mature 
compost (2) fresh compost  
The table include both statutory (legis lative) and voluntary standards.  
Source: ORBIT/ECN, 2008, Compost production and use in the EU, Final report of ORBIT e.V. / European 
Compost Network ECN to European Commission, Joint Research Centre (for more details see table 3 of that 
report). 
 
EN 6   EN Table 2: Maximum, minimum and mean limit  values of potential contaminants for 
composts in Europe. 
Limit values for Compost from source separation (BWC & GWC)  
 Cd Cr CrVI Cu Hg Ni Pb Zn As 
 mg/kg d.m.  
min 0.7 50 0 25 0.2 10 45 75 5 
max 3 250 3 600 
(1,000)* 3 100 280 1,500 
(4,000)* 50 
mean 1.4 93 0.9 143 
(184)* 1.0 47 121 416 
(587)* 23 
max/min 4.3 5.0  24.0 15.0 10.0 6.2 20.0 10.0 
Limit values for Composts from MSW  
 mg/kg d.m.  
min 3 250 0 450 3 100 200 1,000 10 
max 20 1,000 10 1,000 16 300 800 4,000 25 
mean 8.0 473 6.7 625 7.1 168 456 2,000 17 
max/min 6.7 4.0  2.2 5.3 3.0 4.0 4.0 2.5 
  
* Limits for Cu=1,000 and Zn=4,000 mg kg-1d.m. stem from the Danish Statutory Order on Application 
of Waste Products for Agricultural Purposes  where sewage sludge is covered as well as compost. This explains 
the high thresholds.  
Source: ORBIT/ECN, 2008. 
 
EN 7   EN Table 3. Compost registration or certificat ion for marketing and use under national 
PRODUCT or WASTE regimes. 
Compost may become a PRODUCT 
Specific compost regulation w ithin waste & environmental 
legislation  with extensive QM and external approval scheme for compost AT 
Compost related regulation  within the waste and 
environmental legislation or based on standards but with 
simple registration scheme  LT, FR, SK 
Regulation within the waste a nd environmental legislation 
rolled out by the way of the licensing procedure  IE, LU (+ obligatory QAS*); 
UK (only with voluntary QAS)
 ** 
(Simple) fertiliser registration  within the fertiliser legisla tion CZ, ES, FI, GR, HU, IT, LV, 
NL, PL, PT, SI 
Compost remains WASTE 
Waste – but specific compost standards available 
Compost derived from source-segr egated or ‘residual waste’ 
animal by-products that does not meet ‘product’ requirements, 
but is spread on land (ABP a nd waste management licensing 
regulations apply). BE/Fl (+ obligatory QAS), 
DE (+ voluntary QAS) 
UK 
Waste – no specific compost legislation
 
Compost derived from source-se gregated, non-ABP bio-waste 
that does not meet ‘product’ requirements or ‘Compost-Like-
Output’ from Mechanical and Biological Treatment of residual waste that is dispos ed of (not spread on land). BG, CY, CZ, DK, EE, HU, 
MT, PL, RO, SE 
UK 
*QAS: Quality Assurance System. 
** In England and Wales this means independent certification to PAS 100 and the QCP (Environment 
Agency, 2007). In Scotland and Northern Ireland th is means certification to PAS 100 (BSI, 2005 or an 
equivalent standard) and meeting the other require ments summarised in table 10 of that report. 
Source: ORBIT/ECN, 2008.  
 
EN 8   EN List of studies and legislation 
Community papers and legislation: 
– 2006/2293(INI) European Parliament resolution of  13 November 2007 on the Thematic 
Strategy for Soil Protection; 
– COM(2001) 264 final  EU Sustainable Developm ent Strategy (SDS) ; Communication 
from the Commission A Sustainable Europe for a Better World: A European Union 
Strategy for Sustainable Development (C ommission's proposal to the Gothenburg 
European Council)  
– COM(2005) 666 final  Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste  
Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the 
European Economic and Social Committee an d The Committee of the Regions - Taking 
sustainable use of resources forward - A Thematic Strategy on the prevention and 
recycling of waste {SEC(2005) 1681} {SEC(2005) 1682}  
– COM(2005) 670 final  Thematic Strategy on the Sustai nable Use of Natural Resources , 
Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the 
European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Thematic Strategy on the sustainable use of natu ral resources {SEC(2005) 1683} {SEC(2005) 1684}   
– COM(2006) 231 final  Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection ; Communication from the 
Commission to the Council, the European Parl iament, the European Economic and Social 
Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection [SEC(2006)620] [SEC(2006)1165] 
– COM(2007) 59 final  Communication from the Comm ission to the Council and the 
European Parliament on the Interpretativ e Communication on waste and by-products  
– COM(2008) 19 final  Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the 
Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources COD 2008/0016  
– COM(2008) 397 final Communication from the Commission to the European 
Parliament, the Council, the European Econom ic and Social Committee and the Committee 
of the Regions on the Sustainable Consumpti on and Production and Sustainable Industrial 
Policy Action Plan {SEC(2008) 2110} {SEC(2008) 2111}  
– COM(96) 557 final STRATEGY PAPER FOR REDUCING METHANE 
EMISSIONS - (COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 
AND TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT)  
– Decision 2006/799/EC  The eco-labels for soil improvers ; Commission Decision of 3 
November 2006 establishing revised ecological criteria and the related assessment and 
verification requirements for the award of the Community eco-label to soil improvers 
(notified under document number C(2006) 5369) (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 325, 
24.11.2006, p. 28–34)  
– Decision 2007/64/EC The eco-labels for growing media  ; Commission Decision of 15 
December 2006 establishing revised ecological criteria and the re lated assessment and 
verification requirements for the award of the Community eco-label to growing media 
(notified under document number C(2006) 6962)  (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 32, 
6.2.2007)  
– Directive 1999/31/EC  Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill 
of waste (OJ L 182, 16.7.1999, p. 1–19) 
 
EN 9   EN – Directive 2001/77/EC  Directive 2001/77/EC of the Eu ropean Parliament and of the 
Council of 27 September 2001 on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable 
energy sources in the internal el ectricity market (OJ L 283, 27.10.2001, p. 33–40) 
– Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91  The Organic Farming Regulation , Council Regulation 
(EEC) No 2092/91 of 24 June 1991 on organi c production of agricultural products and 
indications referring thereto on agricultural pr oducts and foodstuffs - (until 31/12/2008); 
– Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 
on organic production and labelling of organi c products and repeal ing Regulation (EEC) 
No 2092/91 - (as from 1/01/2009) 
Data sources and studies: 
– ACR+ (2008) ACR+ BIOWASTE CLUSTER – Reduction of Municipal Organic 
Waste  – Technical Report, Final Draft  
– AEA, 2001 A. Smith, K. Brown, S. Ogilvie, K. Rushton, J. Bates, Waste Management 
Options and Climate Change , Final report to the European  Commission, DG Environment, 
by AEA Technology, 2001 (http://europa.eu.int/com m/environment/waste/studies/climate_change.htm
). 
– BREF Waste Treatment  http://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/FActivities.htm ; 
– Brussels, 2001  APPLYING COMPOST BENEFITS AND NEEDS, Seminar 
Proceedings, Brussels, 22 – 23 November 2001; http://ec.europa.eu/environm ent/waste/compost/seminar.htm
 
– Copenhagen, 2007  Nordic Council of Ministers: Biowaste. Decision support tool 
for collection and treatment of source-sorte d organic municipal solid waste. TemaNord 
2007:602,  
– COWI 2004 Preliminary Impact Assessment for an Initiative on the Biological 
Treatment of Biodegradable Waste ; 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/c ompost/pdf/ia_biowaste_directive_report.pdf  
– DEFRA 2004  Review of environmental and hea lth effects of waste management: 
municipal solid waste and sim ilar wastes (DEFRA, May 2004); 
http://www.defra.gov.uk/ENVIRONMENT/ waste/research/h ealth/index.htm  
– EEA 2006  EEA report No 7/2006 on "How much bi oenergy can Europe produce without 
harming the environment?"; http://reports.eea.europ a.eu/eea_report_2006_7/en  
– EEA 2007 (1)  The road from landfilling to recyclin g: common destination, different 
routes ; http://reports.eea.eur opa.eu/brochure_2007_4/en  
– EEA 2007 (2)  Europe's Environment – Fourth Assessment ; 
http://reports.eea.europa.eu/state_of_environment_report_2007_1/en  
– EEA CSI-16  EEA, Core set of indicators – municipal waste (CSI-16); 
http://themes.eea.europa.eu/IMS/ISp ecs/ISpecification20041007131809/IAssessment1183
020255530/view_content  
– Eunomia 2002  Economic analysis of options fo r managing biodegradable municipal 
waste ; http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/c ompost/pdf/econanalysis_finalreport.pdf  
– EUROSTAT, 2008 Data downloaded from Environm ental Data Centre on Waste 
(especially: Structural Indicators on munici pal waste and Waste Statistics Regulation): 
 
EN 10   EN http://epp.eurostat. ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=3155,70491033,3155_70531796&_d
ad=portal&_schema=PORTAL   
– Favoino, 2002  E.Favoino: Myth and reality about costs of  separate collection schemes  
"The biological treatment of biodegradab le waste - Technical aspects", workshop 
proceedings, Brussels, 2002, more presentations at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/w aste/compost/presentations/favoino2.pdf
 
– Fowles 2007  M.Fowles, Black carbon sequestration as an alternative to Bioenergy , 
Biomass & Bioenergy, 31 (2007) 426-432;  
– Heidelberg 2002  Untersuchungen zur Umweltverträglichkeit von Systemen zur 
Verwertung von biologis ch-organischen Abfällen , Teilbericht ifeu-Institut, 
Forschungsprojekt unterstützt von de r Deutschen Bundesstiftung Umwelt, 
Veröffentlichung in der Reihe Initiativen zu m Umweltschutz Bd. 52, Berlin 2002, cited in: 
Florian Knappe, Regine Vogt: Biomassenutzung im Vergle ich Auf emissionsmindernde 
Maßnahmen und eine hochwertige Nutzung kommt es an , Müllmagazin 2/2003, 19-25; 
– Impact Assessment of Proposal of Directive on Industrial Emissions 
(http://ec.europa.eu/envi ronment/air/pollutants/st ationary/ippc/proposal.htm ); 
– JRC, 2007 European Commission, Joint Research Centre (Ed.): Environmental 
Assessment of Municipal Wa ste Management Scenarios:  Part I – Data collection and 
preliminary assessments for li fe cycle thinking pilot studies ; Part II - Detailed Life Cycle 
Assessments; JRC Scientific and Technical Reports, Luxembourg, 2007; 
http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu/uploads/filead min/Documentation/Re ports/RWER/EUR_2006-
2007/EUR_23021_EN.pdf  
http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu/uploads/filead min/Documentation/Re ports/RWER/EUR_2006-
2007/EUR_23021_EN2.pdf  
– JRC, 2009 Bart Krutwagen; Jaap Kortman; Koen Verbist: Inventory of existing studies 
applying life cycle thinking to biow aste management. Analysis of existing studies that use a 
life cycle approach to assess th e environmental performance of  different options for the 
management of the organic frac tion of municipal solid waste ; in: Raffaella Bersani, Rana 
Pant, David W. Pennington (Ed.) European Comm ission Joint Research Centre, Scientific 
and Technical Report, Italy, 2009 (forthcoming); 
– Juniper 2005 Mechanical-Biological-Treatment:  A Guide for Decision Makers ; 
– L.de Baere 2008  The practice of dry digestion of or ganic waste in the European context . 
Workshop "The future of anaerobic digestion of organic waste in Europe" Nuremberg, 
January 2008. 
– Lehmann, 2007  Johannes Lehmann, Bio-energy in the black , Ecol Environ 2007, 5(7) 
381-387 
– ORBIT/ECN, 2008 , Compost production and use in the EU, Final report of ORBIT e.V. / 
European Compost Network ECN to Europ ean Commission, Joint Research Centre 
– Vito, 2007 Data Gathering and impact assessment for a review and possible widening of 
the scope of the IPPC Directive in relation to  waste treatment activities; Fact sheet E1 
Biological treatment of organic waste – study for DG ENV 
– WRAP, 2008  The food we waste , WRAP (2008), at: 
http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail/food_waste /research/the_food_we_waste.html ;