EBA participates in the new EU project SYSTEMIC
The SYSTEMIC project aims to develop innovation approaches to recover and recycle valuable mineral components from organic waste streams and to integrate them optimally into a local or regional circular economy.
The project was launched on the 1st of June 2017. Its goal is to demonstrate how it can be economically viable to recover and recycle nutrients from bio-waste, animal manure and sewage sludge for agriculture. SYSTEMIC receives funding from the European Union’s research programme Horizon 2020. Its consortium includes 15 partners from 7 EU member states, including EBA.
In the EU, half of the phosphorus and nitrogen applied annually to croplands is derived from non-renewable sources. A high percentage of valuable nutrients are lost through the incineration or disposal of waste or through emissions of nutrients to the environment which causes environmental and eutrophication problems. This results in having severe effects on soil, air and water quality and threatening the long-term sustainability of EU agriculture.
The project will work with 5 demonstration plants to show how recovering nutrients from waste can be economically viable and how to produce high grade nutrients that can be cycled back to croplands. It will evidence how European bio-waste, animal manure and sewage sludge treatment can be taken to the next level by applying novel technologies to produce energy and recover nutrients.
SYSTEMIC will contribute to reducing the reliance on non-renewable resources, lower greenhouse gas emissions, reducing soil, air and water pollution, and helping livestock farmers and urban centres to manage their waste.
EBA was proud to attend the project’s kick-off meeting on 13-14 of June in the Netherlands, hosted by fellow partner University Wageningen.
