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Material Matters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

Udo Pagga
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Extract

In many European countries the controlled biological treatment of organic solid waste is a suitable method in waste management. Technical prerequisites such as collection and separation systems for household waste often exist and sufficient treatment facilities for controlled aerobic composting or even anaerobic digestion are available. Space for landfill is scarce and therefore expensive in many industrial countries and biotreatment is much cheaper than incineration. The advantage of composting compared to other waste treatment techniques is not only the relatively low costs but also the technical reasons. An obvious example is the direct disposal of packaging with alimentary residues and the subsequent biological treatment. Not only green waste from gardens or biowaste from kitchens can be treated, but any compostable material is in principle suitable, for example waste from the food industry or packaging and packaging materials made from paper, cardboard, wood, or biodegradable plastics. Biological treatment has already become a good way of meeting, for example, Germany legislative targets to reduce and recycle garbage.

Prerequisites for controlled biological treatment are suitable technical facilities plus standards and directives for waste management. An example is the European packaging directive which harmonizes national measures concerning the management of packaging and packaging waste. The aim is to prevent any impact of the use of packaging on the environment or to reduce such an impact. For applying this directive and any similar regulations, it is important to have clear definitions, standardized test methods, and suitable evaluation criteria to identify biodegradable packaging materials and to differentiate compostable from noncompostable packaging materials which can commonly be used and the results of which are accepted by all parties concerned.

Type
Material Matters
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 22 , Issue 11 , November 1997 , pp. 5 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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