Legislation for the Reuse of Biosolids on Agricultural Land in Europe: Overview

The issues concerning the management of sewage sludge produced in wastewater treatment plants are becoming more important in Europe due to: (i) the modification of sludge quality (biological and chemical sludge are often mixed with negative impacts on sludge management, especially for land applicati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2019-11, Vol.11 (21), p.6015
Main Authors: Collivignarelli, Maria, Abbà, Alessandro, Frattarola, Andrea, Carnevale Miino, Marco, Padovani, Sergio, Katsoyiannis, Ioannis, Torretta, Vincenzo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Agriculture
Arable land
Biosolids
Chemical sludge
Emission standards
Energy recovery
Fertilizers
Land application
Landfills
Legislation
Materials recovery
Pathogens
Population
Quality control
Regulation
Sewage sludge
Sludge
Sludge treatment
Soil fertility
Soil improvement
Solid waste management
Sustainability
Waste disposal sites
Waste management
Waste treatment
Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment plants
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Summary:The issues concerning the management of sewage sludge produced in wastewater treatment plants are becoming more important in Europe due to: (i) the modification of sludge quality (biological and chemical sludge are often mixed with negative impacts on sludge management, especially for land application); (ii) the evolution of legislation (landfill disposal is banned in many European countries); and (iii) the technologies for energy and material recovery from sludge not being fully applied in all European Member States. Furthermore, Directive 2018/851/EC introduced the waste hierarchy that involved a new strategy with the prevention in waste production and the minimization of landfill disposal. In this context, biological sewage sludge can be treated in order to produce more stabilized residues: the biosolids. In some European countries, the reuse of biosolids as soil improver/fertilizer in arable crops represents the most used option. In order to control the quality of biosolids used for land application, every Member State has issued a national regulation based on the European directive. The aim of this work is to compare the different approaches provided by European Member States for the reuse of biosolids in agricultural soils. A focus on the regulation of countries that reuse significant amount of biosolids for land application was performed. Finally, a detailed study on Italian legislation both at national and regional levels is reported.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su11216015