According to the «Green Paper», Bio-waste is defined as biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises, and comparable waste from food processing plants. It does not include forestry or agricultural residues, manure, sewage sludge, or other biodegradable waste such as natural textiles, paper or processed wood. It also excludes those by-products of food production that never become waste.
The total annual arising of bio-waste in the EU is estimated at 76.5-102 Mt food and garden, waste included in mixed municipal solid waste and up to 37 Mt from the food and drink industry. Bio-waste is a putrescible, generally wet waste. There are two major streams, green waste from parks, gardens etc. and kitchen waste. The former includes usually 50-60% water and more wood (lignocellulosis), the latter contains no wood but up to 80% water.
Today, very different national policies apply to bio-waste management, ranging from little action in some Member States to ambitious policies in others. This can lead to increased environmental impacts and can hamper or delay full utilisation of advanced bio-waste management techniques.
One promising option for the management of domestic organic household waste is to encourage the householders to separate and dry the organic waste at home in order to significantly reduce its volume. In general, moisture content of household waste is generally very high but varies significantly. The average moisture content of household waste can range from 55% to 85%, values that are considered to be particularly high. Thus, the removal of moisture content will significantly reduce the quantity of organic waste.
Project Objectives
The aim of DRYWASTE is to design, develop, test, optimize, evaluate and demonstrate an innovative household dryer for the drying of Bio-waste in order to significantly reduce its volume at source. The produced "final dry organic waste product" without the moisture content and with the inactivation of pathogens can be further used in different alternative and environmental friendly ways. Therefore, the "dry waste" is more likely to meet the EU environmental standards and be suitable for further use, bringing associated environmental and economic benefits.
