AREFLH has a partner on the WASTE4SOIL project “Turning food waste into sustainable soil improvers for better soil health and improved food system”. Waste4Soil aims at developing applicable recycling technical pathways to transform Food Processing Residues (FPR) into improvers, through a circular, system, and multi-actor approach. All food chain actors are involved at the regional level, thereby closing specific loops (nutrients, organic matter, water).
Waste4Soil is exploring innovative ways to convert food processing waste into locally produced soil improvers, addressing two major EU challenges at once: food waste and soil health. The project research team has set up Living Labs - real-life test environments - in seven European countries: Spain, Finland., Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Slovenia.
The aim is to test out a range of innovative solutions for transforming waste from different agrifood sources into local, bio-based soil enhancers. In addition to pig farms, other local food industries are being targeted, including olive oil and beer production, as both generate massive amounts of biological waste.
In december 2024 the Magazine Horizon dedicated an article on Waste4Soil, titled “Waste not, want not: turning food waste into fertile soils for sustainable growth”. It highlighted the first results of the project.
In Catalonia, working with chemical reduction, the researchers are using a process called anaerobic digestion, in which bacteria break down waste into biogas and a nutrient-rich wet mixture called digestate. “It is a very consolidated technology; there are more than 15,000 agro-industrial biogas plants around the EU”. Said Dr Victor Riau, a researcher at the Catalan Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology”. By recycling the food waste residue in this way, the researchers believe they could reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers by up to 80%. Working together with private and public companies dealing with food means that the results of the research will immediately benefit the local community.
In Slovenia, working on liquid gold, global warming is creating favourable conditions for olive groves, and a budding local olive oil producer is one of the participants in the Slovenian Living Lab. On the northern Adriatic peninsula of Istria, renowned for its high-quality olive oil, researchers recycle olive pomace – a byproduct of olive oil production that includes skins, pits and pulp – to create soil improvers.
In Finland, working on the fish idea, the Living Lab Päijät-Häme is looking to fish farming – one of the main local food industries – for waste that can be transformed into nutrient-rich fertilisers. The senior lecturer at LAB University of Applied Science in Lahiti, Anne-Marie Tuomala, explained that the fish residues, rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and other minerals, are ideal for nutrient recovery.
The strength of the initiative lies in collaboration. Researchers, farmers, civil society, industries and public authorities work together to co-create and test solutions in real-world conditions.
According to the Project Coordinator Panopolus, collaborative action will provide solutions to the ever-increasing problem of food residues that are currently wasted.
For more information about the full Article of Horizon the EU Research & Innovation Magazine click here
Know more about Waste4Soil
- www.waste4soil.eu
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LinkedIn : Waste4Soil Project
- Access all AREFLH articles on the project
This project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement Nr. 101112708.