meet several requirements like: allowable heavy metals contents, absence of pathogenic bacteriology and phytopathogens, absence of plastic materials >10 mm etc.
Composting predominates over anaerobic digestion for the bio-waste separately
collected, resulting over 90% of food and garden waste being processed into
compost. For the most part, food waste is still landfilled within Europe, leading to
the release of uncontrolled greenhouse gases [4].
The Circular Economy Package, published by the EU Commission in December
2015, paved the way for a resource-efficient society and sustainable recycling
industry across Europe and it contains also proposals addressing the EU waste
legislation with the aim of avoiding, reusing and recycling more waste in the
future [4]. Of particular relevance, for bio-waste treatment in Europe, is the proposed changes to the EU Landfill Directive [5] whose aim is to reduce the landfill
of municipal waste to 10% by 2030. In this ambit food waste fraction plays an
important role in recycling and in raising circular economy since up to 50% of
municipal solid waste is biogenic. Therefore, the 10% landfill target can be only
achieved through sustainable bio-waste management, including composting and
anaerobic digestion. In this paper, it is addressed the valuable effects of compost use
in agriculture on Soil organic matter (SOM) management and GHG emissions
balance of an industrial oil crop pointing out its role in the circular economy.
The SOM is primarily composed of carbon (C), and in soil plays a role in
providing four important ecosystem services: (i) resistance to soil erosion, (ii) soil
water retention, (iii) soil fertility for plants and (iv) soil biodiversity. SOM is
therefore the main indicator of soil quality. Even small changes of the soil C pool
could have strong effects both on agricultural yield and on global greenhouse gas
cycle. Maintaining organic C-rich soils, restoring and improving degraded agricultural lands and, in general terms, increasing the soil C, could play a fundamental
role in addressing food security and in mitigating the anthropogenic GHG emissions [6]. Organic matter (OM) in compost is rich in humifiable and humified
materials and so it provides and improve SOM pool and consequently soil fertility.
A specific SOM model has been developed and applied within BIT3G Italian
project funded by MIUR (Ministry of Education, Universities and Research) as part
of the National Technology Cluster of Green Chemistry SPRING with the aim of
defining a predictive tool suitable for estimating the site- specific SOM dynamics in
function both of pedoclimatic conditions and agricultural practices. Here are
reported the experimental results defined on cardoon industrial crop (Cynara cardunculus var Altilis DC) cultivated in the North-West of Sardinia following two
agricultural protocols: with and without compost application. In addition, this study
shows how compost can help to reach the objective of the ‘4 per 1000’ initiative
launched at the COP21 that aspires to increase global soil organic matter stocks
(SOMS) by 0.4% per year as a compensation for the global emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) by anthropogenic sources [7].
The final aim is to point out the valuable role of compost which represents the
bridge between bio-waste strategy targets and sustainable agriculture principles as
qualitatively described through a virtuous circular economy model reported in the
discussion.
134
F. Razza et al.
Composting predominates over anaerobic digestion for the bio-waste separately
collected, resulting over 90% of food and garden waste being processed into
compost. For the most part, food waste is still landfilled within Europe, leading to
the release of uncontrolled greenhouse gases [4].
The Circular Economy Package, published by the EU Commission in December
2015, paved the way for a resource-efficient society and sustainable recycling
industry across Europe and it contains also proposals addressing the EU waste
legislation with the aim of avoiding, reusing and recycling more waste in the
future [4]. Of particular relevance, for bio-waste treatment in Europe, is the proposed changes to the EU Landfill Directive [5] whose aim is to reduce the landfill
of municipal waste to 10% by 2030. In this ambit food waste fraction plays an
important role in recycling and in raising circular economy since up to 50% of
municipal solid waste is biogenic. Therefore, the 10% landfill target can be only
achieved through sustainable bio-waste management, including composting and
anaerobic digestion. In this paper, it is addressed the valuable effects of compost use
in agriculture on Soil organic matter (SOM) management and GHG emissions
balance of an industrial oil crop pointing out its role in the circular economy.
The SOM is primarily composed of carbon (C), and in soil plays a role in
providing four important ecosystem services: (i) resistance to soil erosion, (ii) soil
water retention, (iii) soil fertility for plants and (iv) soil biodiversity. SOM is
therefore the main indicator of soil quality. Even small changes of the soil C pool
could have strong effects both on agricultural yield and on global greenhouse gas
cycle. Maintaining organic C-rich soils, restoring and improving degraded agricultural lands and, in general terms, increasing the soil C, could play a fundamental
role in addressing food security and in mitigating the anthropogenic GHG emissions [6]. Organic matter (OM) in compost is rich in humifiable and humified
materials and so it provides and improve SOM pool and consequently soil fertility.
A specific SOM model has been developed and applied within BIT3G Italian
project funded by MIUR (Ministry of Education, Universities and Research) as part
of the National Technology Cluster of Green Chemistry SPRING with the aim of
defining a predictive tool suitable for estimating the site- specific SOM dynamics in
function both of pedoclimatic conditions and agricultural practices. Here are
reported the experimental results defined on cardoon industrial crop (Cynara cardunculus var Altilis DC) cultivated in the North-West of Sardinia following two
agricultural protocols: with and without compost application. In addition, this study
shows how compost can help to reach the objective of the ‘4 per 1000’ initiative
launched at the COP21 that aspires to increase global soil organic matter stocks
(SOMS) by 0.4% per year as a compensation for the global emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) by anthropogenic sources [7].
The final aim is to point out the valuable role of compost which represents the
bridge between bio-waste strategy targets and sustainable agriculture principles as
qualitatively described through a virtuous circular economy model reported in the
discussion.
134
F. Razza et al.