Kreislauforientierte Betrachtung zur Verbesserung der Kompostqualität aus biogenen Abfällen aus der Haushaltssammlung

The recycling of bio-waste from households is an essential component for a functioning circular economy and a relevant factor in achieving the recycling quotas for municipal waste that are prescribed by the EU. A major hurdle lies in the problem of impurities as for example plastics, metals or glass are falsely disposed of into the collection of bio-waste. In order to virtually produce a quality-assured compost the input material for composting should not exceed an impurity content of 3% wet mass. The new Austrian Compost Ordinance that is intended to enter into force in 2025 will prescribe a limit of interfering substances in accepted bio-waste. In the project “Plastic Free Compost” eight partners from industry and science work together to test measures for improving the quality of bio-waste from households. The project works along all of the phases of the composting cycle which are the citizen, the collection, the pre-treatment, the composting, the post-treatment and the quality compost, in order to find solutions for the problem of impurities.