This document compiles perspectives from industry experts – Paul Mines, Chief Executive of Biome Technologies; Adrian Higson, Managing Director of NNFCC; and Richard Platt, Managing Consultant atE4Tech – on the role of the bioeconomy in the climate change debate, as well as a series of policy recommendations on compostable packaging and other biobased and biodegradable materials.

This working paper is designed to guide and inform a growing number of conversations on plastic pollution and compostable materials. With legislation fast approaching which will make separate food waste collections mandatory across the EU block and England and rising public frustration with plastic packaging, clarity is needed on when it is responsible to use compostable materials and when it makes sense to use another material.
The document has been created for packaging designers and brand managers, ultimately focusing on one issue of concern – the health of our soils.

Tunisia faces challenging environmental and energy issues, relating mainly to the implementation of an appropriate solid waste management system capable of dealing with the high production of biowaste, and the increased need for water and energy resources. This study intends to develop a closed cycle technical concept treating mainly food waste through combined biological processes.

This policy document, published by the UK Government, outlines the Net Zero Strategy. The Strategy, the Government states, sets out measures to transition to a green and sustainable future, help businesses and consumers to move to clean power, support job generation and leverage up to £90 billion in private investment by 2030.
The document indicates that the Government will scale up the production of biofuels, amongst other low carbon alternative fuel sources. This, the document states, will contribute towards an overall emissions reduction of 39-51 per cent in the natural resources sector.

This paper, which was written by the European Circular Bioeconomy Policy Initiative (ECBPI) and its many academic supporters and research institutes, aims to inform EU policymakers about how to understand and recognise the connections between the quality and health of our soils, and their importance in combatting climate change. It additionally outlines how good waste management plays a critical role in supporting this, and how the bioeconomy can provide significant benefits for the EU economy and environment.

This study sets out to assess the five-year variable frequency of application of Compost Quality Alliance (CQA) tested municipal solid waste (MSW) compost effect on metabolic profiles of the edible portions of four different vegetable plants – lettuce, beetroot, carrot, and green beans.
The research concludes that the annual application of MSW compost enhanced amino acids, phospholipids, acylcarnitines, amines and choline but reduced glucose in the vegetables, urging further studies to elucidate the mechanisms underpinning such biofortification.

This document sets out the REA’s policy on bags and liners suitable for separately collecting particular biodegradable waste types from the particular source types specified in our policy below, in England from 2023 onwards.
Its implementation should coincide with the introduction of mandatory separate food waste collections in England and whatever government decides on rules for co-collecting food and plant wastes and corresponding timings.

This position paper by the European Compost Network (ECN) addresses the production of quality compost and digestate obtained from separately collected feedstock, and the presence of plastics in the final product.
It concludes that the composting and anaerobic digestion sector must be framed as one of the many unintentional carriers of microplastics.

To gain more insight into the effects of different sediments on the degradation rate of biodegradable plastic, Andreas Eich, Miriam Weber and Christian Lott performed two iterative seawater tank experiments.
Understanding the parameters driving biodegradation is key to reliably report the range of disintegration rates occurring under the various conditions in different ecosystems.