Mandatory yet makeshift: bio-waste management across the EU in 2025

#ForkToFarm Bio-waste Friends of the Earth - SPZ Polish Zero Waste Association ZERO Zero Waste Alliance Ukraine Zero Waste Montenegro

It’s been over a year since Member States got the official EU notice to implement systems that offer citizens the chance to separate their bio-waste—waste created primarily from the food we eat and the gardens and parks we spend our time in.

Those expecting a mad rush of change from authorities to install a separate bin in every home and on every street will have been left disappointed. Progress on this issue has been gradual so far. Our latest report showcases that only 26% of all food waste generated in the EU is captured—meaning nearly 75% of all food waste is still ending up in landfills or incinerators.

Figure from our joint report with the Bio-based Industries Consortium, Bio-waste generation in the EU: Current capture levels and future potential – Second edition.

Yet, for the glass-half-full people among us, this is still an increase of 8% since the first edition of our report in 2020, where only 18% of food waste was captured. So, there has been some progress, which is a testament to the growing number of municipalities recognising the environmental, economic, and social benefits that proper bio-waste management can bring to communities.

This progress is, however, too slow to address the severity of the issues we face. The waste sector is the second largest contributor to methane emissions in the EU, which are caused primarily by biodegradable waste sitting in open landfills. Meanwhile, most European soils are suffering from erosion, with 60-70% currently classified as unhealthy and nearly half suffering from low organic matter content, reducing their capacity to store carbon and retain nutrients and water. The economic landscape is also slowly shifting to finally acknowledge the true costs of incineration and landfilling, such as the inclusion of waste incineration in the future EU emissions trading scheme (ETS).

It is within this context that we launched the #ForkToFarm campaign last year. With the campaign, we wanted to showcase the growing number of good practices being implemented by local authorities, proving again and again that effective bio-waste management—no matter the local context—brings numerous benefits. With more examples and data being built at the local level, we are in a better position today to advocate for much stronger policies from the EU and national governments that can accelerate progress.

There have been many successes and highlights from our work in 2024 that provide seeds of hope as we transition into 2025.

For example, our member Zero Waste Montenegro launched a backyard composting pilot with 500 composting kits in the cities of Tuzi and Danilovgrad, with 89.1% of recipients starting composting. In addition to this, our member also set up new community composting at Podgorica’s Urban Garden, providing 100 bins for apartment residents. Across both initiatives, there were some hugely impressive results:

Nearly 90% of participants began composting, preventing over 211 tonnes of organic waste annually from landfills.
70% of households reduced mixed waste, with all respondents planning to continue composting.
56.1% of households emptied mixed waste bins less often, decreasing the need for garbage collection.

In the Slovakian town of Partizanske, a tailored bio-waste system was established for both multi-apartment buildings and individual households, through the tireless support of our member SPZ-FOE Slovakia. As a result of these efforts and the continued optimisation of the local strategy:

7.37 tonnes more kitchen waste was collected in August, September and October in 2024 compared to 2023.
21.36 tonnes less mixed waste was collected in August and September in 2024 compared to 2023.
This is all while providing cost savings for the municipality, with a reduction in costs for bio-waste of €23,000 Euros in 2023 despite the big investment in new equipment and education.

Incredibly, despite the horrors brought on by the Russian invasion, work to improve bio-waste management has continued with impressive results also in many districts of Ukraine, through the ongoing efforts of the Zero Waste Alliance Ukraine (ZWAU). For example, in the Lviv region:

ZWAU helped two communities install 8 community composters, which diverted at least 8,000 kg of bio-waste from landfills over six months, converting it into valuable compost that enhances soil fertility.
A hugely impressive 0.05% contamination rate across these 8 sites.
A six-month home composting programme with 100 households was conducted, with data showing a total of 47,083 kg of kitchen waste was redirected to household composters instead of landfills.

In Poland, an exciting number of municipalities are beginning to realise the benefits of improving their bio-waste management. Our member, the Polish Zero Waste Association (PZWA) has been working with two municipalities, Rydułtowy and Pruszcz Gdański, who are both beginning concrete measures to improve the volume of bio-waste collected and treated. The wider interest in this project comes from PZWA organising two successful conferences in 2024. This includes an in-person conference as part of our LIFE BIOBEST project, held in November 2024 with close to 100 participants, including the Minister of Climate Anita Sowińska.

ZERO, our Portuguese member, continues to support a growing number of zero waste cities in the country to improve their bio-waste management and make a stronger connection with methane reduction. These include capacity-building workshops, a study tour, two short study visits, three capacity-building workshops, as well as a series of meetings with relevant stakeholders. Many positive results continue to come out of this work in Portugal, with ripple effects seen via new Zero Waste City commitments with the Mission Zero Academy, which also includes certified businesses.

Our Bulgarian member, Za Zemiata, has begun a formal participation and collaboration project with the municipality of Blagoevgrad. This has resulted in several new initiatives being started locally, with the most notable being the building of a new local anaerobic digestion plant.

To complement all of the great work emerging at the local level, we have also developed a number of strategic publications as part of our LIFE BIOBEST project. The data-filled and expert-led publications created as part of this project showcase the common barriers preventing progress on this topic and highlight examples from European municipalities on how to overcome these challenges (as well as what legislation would make it easier for cities):

A central part of our strategy for improving bio-waste and reducing methane emissions from the European waste sector is to enhance our connection with the growing global movement emerging on this topic. From Accra to Sao Paulo, there are an increasing number of cities that are able to showcase concrete benefits from improving their system, and the added benefits this has had on methane mitigation for their city and country. In 2024, we took a delegation of members and staff to the International ZW Cities Conference and Methane Summit in Tanzania. In 2025, we will ensure European cities and groups are closely tied to this movement, learning from best practices elsewhere and piloting the innovative tools which are coming out from other regions.

The ZWE delegation at the 2024 Zero Waste Cities Conference and the Methane Summit in Tanzania, counting our members Zero Waste Montenegro, the Polish Zero Waste Association, Zero Waste France, and ZERO.

While the challenges we face remain grave and urgent, it’s inspiring to see the growth of the methane work globally and the deepening of our ties as a collective movement. For example, over 50 countries have now signed the COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste, which provides a more tangible framework for governments wanting to tackle methane emissions from bio-waste.

Finally, in the current political context, it’s imperative to highlight the key role that improving bio-waste management and subsequently having far greater volumes of quality compost and digestate available can play in delivering a competitive and thriving circular economy in the EU. If we are serious about switching from a fossil-fuel-based economy to one which is instead bio-based, at the core of this economy must sit a system that delivers the required volume and quality of biodegradable materials. Improving how we collect and manage bio-waste generated by European businesses and households is, therefore, a critical first step towards achieving this goal.

The ground is changing for municipalities regarding bio-waste management in Europe. Not only is it increasingly expensive to landfill or incinerate waste, but it’s become evident to everyone that properly managing bio-waste can deliver a range of concrete benefits—from providing much-needed nutrients to our depleted soils that grow the food we eat to building a thriving bio-economy that reduces our reliance on fossil fuels and the countries that export these materials.

We look forward to working with any and all partners in 2025 who share our vision for creating a healthy, safe, and compost-loving Europe.