Pioneering solutions and best practices for bio-waste management in Europe showcased during final LIFE BIOBEST event

Conference in Brussels on 5 June 2025 highlighted how best practices and instruments have succeeded across Europe and what the EU can do to help expand them faster.

6 June 2025 – for immediate release – The final LIFE BIOBEST event, organised as an official EU Green Week partner event, gathered over 60 participants in Brussels. The event brought together representatives from European Union institutions; regional, and local officials; waste company representatives; civil society organisations and academia working on bio-waste management.

The event took stock of all LIFE BIOBEST activities and learnings since the start of the project in 2023. During this time, LIFE BIOBEST has produced a series of publications on best practices and efficient instruments, the data behind these successes, and the key policies that have enabled Europe’s best performing bio-waste management systems – with the aim of inspiring and facilitating replication of these models across Europe. 

The event saw speakers from across Europe present on local best practices for increasing the collection and treatment of bio-waste, such as: 

• Milan (Italy), which proves on a yearly basis how even the most densely populated cities, with high levels of tourism in a multi-cultural context, can achieve impressive results through a well-designed system, ongoing education and economic incentives to reduce residual waste generation. 

• Catalonia (Spain), where the Waste Agency for the region presented their pioneering tax refund system for municipalities – where revenues from the landfill and incineration tax are redistributed to local entities based on the quality and quantity of bio-waste collected and treated. The tax fund is used to provide annual grants for the implementation and enhancement of local bio-waste collection systems, as well as for investments in biological treatment facilities.  

Sylvie Grajales, Policy Officer on bio-waste at DG ENV, European Commission, said: ”Bio-waste has been a big focus of EU policy in recent years. As the biggest component of municipal waste (34%), Member States cannot reach recycling targets without tackling bio-waste first. LIFE BIOBEST showed there is potential for more collection of bio-waste (and of better quality); more production of compost and digestate; and more uptake of output products from bio-waste recycling plants. The European Commission will help disseminate LIFE BIOBEST results across Member States.” 

Andrea Favalessa, Deputy General Director at Contarina S.p.A., said: ”Monitoring of bio-waste in residual waste is very much possible, practical, and essential in achieving sustainability. At Contarina S.p.A., we’re achieving less than 5% of bio-waste in residual waste, with less than 2% impurities. These numbers are clearly aligned and compatible with the LIFE BIOBEST findings and recommendations. The quality of the system leads to the quantity of bio-waste collected.” 

One of the most important materials born out of LIFE BIOBEST was the recently published  Comprehensive Guidance for effective bio-waste management in the EU,  with key policy recommendations to help close the gap between current practices and potential capture rates – addressing the fact that only 26% of kitchen waste is currently collected separately in the EU. A summary video presenting the key recommendations and measures of the LIFE BIOBEST project is available with subtitles in 11 EU languages. 

The feasibility/practicality of implementation of those main recommendations was examined by local frontrunners and bio-waste experts in the event’s panel discussions. Lessons learned for the future of bio-waste management in Europe included: 

• EU legally-binding targets on the quantity and quality of the bio-waste captured along with improved monitoring systems. 

• Implementing of a set of economic and fiscal instruments – such as increased landfill and incineration taxes or tax refund schemes – to increase the cost-competitivity of bio-waste management.   

• Key measures to support the production, marketing, and application of high-quality compost and digestate in agriculture, landscaping and the growing media industry.  

• Cascading governance and knowledge transfer to the local level. 

ENDS 

NOTES TO THE EDITOR 

Quote sheet: 

Gemma Nohales, project coordinator, ENT Foundation: “A key lesson learned from the project and the final event is that economic and fiscal instruments are essential for realigning incentives and encouraging authorities to establish or improve separate collection and treatment systems. Achieving cost-effective and competitive bio-waste management, especially in comparison to residual waste, is crucial to transforming the current scenario and meeting recycling and landfill targets.” 

Massimo Centemero of CIC: “Italy introduced the obligation on the selective collection of organic waste two years before the EU deadline and has been among the pioneers for over a decade now, especially regarding the collection of food waste. Exporting the Italian know-how is therefore essential to fill the gap between the bio-waste produced and recycled, together with a European strategy that, starting from separate collection, aims to close the chain with the production of compost, digestate, biogas and renewable energy. The LIFE BIOBEST project, with its guidelines, tools and many organised seminars, can be the key to spreading best practices and improving the management of biowaste in Europe”. 

Jean-Benoit Bel of ACR+: “There is still much room for improvement for the recycling of bio-waste across Europe. For local authorities, the key to success lies in making bio-waste collection more attractive and convenient for inhabitants and assimilated producers than residual waste collection. Yet, to do so, they need the right framework conditions, making ambitious bio-waste management not only desirable but also economically viable; in this regard, regions and Member States have a critical role to play.” 

Steffen Walk of European Compost Network: “The LIFE BIOBEST project showed us that we must consider the entire value chain to close the loop and return valuable bioresources to the soil through effective collection and treatment systems. Best practices demonstrate a link between strong regulatory frameworks implemented through the commitment of regional and local decision-makers, and ambitious targets achieved through effective monitoring schemes.” 

Manon Jourdan of Zero Waste Europe: ”Since the start of the bio-waste separate collection mandate, progress on kitchen waste management was made – but the gap between generation and collection is still alarmingly wide. What’s clearly missing is a strengthened EU legal framework on bio-waste, starting with legally binding targets to reduce the amount of biowaste in residual waste. The good news, as showcased at our final event, is that some pioneering cities and regions are already putting these policies into action and delivering impressive results. At this point, the question isn’t what to do or how: it’s when.” 

Other key LIFE BIOBEST materials: 

Among other LIFE BIOBEST materials to support local and regional authorities are: 

• Decision support trees, which function as a tool for municipalities and regional authorities to evaluate their specific difficulties and context, and pairing them with resources and recommendations from the project. 

• A Decision Support Web Tool, designed to help authorities, consultants, and waste operators simulate and compare bio-waste management scenarios by evaluating their environmental, economic, and social impacts. 

• A proposal for quality standards for bio-waste entering biological recycling facilities. 

• A set of guidelines on bio-waste separate collection, governance and economic incentives, quality compost and digestate, and communication and engagement practices. 

More information about the LIFE BIOBEST project and all its activities on www.lifebiobest.eu. 

About LIFE BIOBEST:

The LIFE BIOBEST project, funded by the European Union, brought together experts from Fundació ENT, the Consorzio Italiano Compostatori (CIC), the Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management (ACR+), the European Compost Network (ECN), and Zero Waste Europe (ZWE). This project ran for 30 months. www.lifebiobest.eu. 

ENT Foundation (ENT) is a research centre based in Barcelona and dedicated to the elaboration, analysis, and implementation of public environmental policies. ENT has an extensive experience in the development of projects of consultancy, research and cooperation for development, which are carried out individually as well as integrated in consortia. www.ent.cat 

The Italian Compost and Biogas Consortium (CIC) is a non-profit association gathering 144 members, including composting and anaerobic digestion facilities. Considering its background and the good performance of Italy regarding bio-waste capture rate and quality compost, CIC is involved in activities EU-wide showcasing how the bio-waste value chain can return organic carbon to the soil while generating energy carriers and green jobs. www.compost.it 

ACR+ is the Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable resource management. We are an international network of cities and regions sharing the aim of promoting sustainable resource management and accelerating the transition towards a circular economy on their territories and beyond. www.acrplus.org 

The European Compost Network (ECN) is a membership organisation with 66 members from 27 European Countries, promoting sustainable recycling practices in composting, anaerobic digestion and other biological treatment processes of organic resources. www.compostnetwork.info 

Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) is the European network of communities, local leaders, experts, and change agents working towards a better use of resources and the elimination of waste in our society. We advocate for sustainable systems; for the redesign of our relationship with resources; and for a global shift towards environmental justice, accelerating a just transition towards zero waste for the benefit of people and the planet. www.zerowasteeurope.eu