title: Recovery of essential nutrients from municipal solid waste--Impact of waste management infrastructure and governance aspects.
abstract: Every year 120-140 million tonnes of bio-waste are generated in Europe, most of which is landfilled, incinerated or stabilized and used as covering material in landfill operation. None of these practices enables the recovery of essential nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N), which are in great demand for agricultural production. Recovery of these nutrients is a matter of international concern considering the non-renewable nature of P sources and the energy intensive production process required for the synthesis of N fertilizers. The objective of this research is to understand the relation between the municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system, both its the physical components and governance aspects, and the recovery of nutrients in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country) as a benchmark for European medium-size cities. The analysis shows that the existing physical infrastructure and facilities for bio-waste have high potential for nutrient recovery, 49% for N and 83% for P contained in bio-waste. However, governance aspects of the MSWM system such as legislation and user inclusivity play an important role and decrease the actual nutrient recovery to 3.4% and 7.4% for N and P respectively.
authors.affiliation: Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries (Sandec), P.O. Box 611, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland. Electronic address: imanol.zabaleta@eawag.ch.
authors.forename: Imanol
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zabaleta
authors.affiliation: Wageningen University, Education and Competence Studies, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: ljiljana.rodic@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ljiljana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rodic
mesh_terms: D002947:Cities; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis*; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D062611:Solid Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D013030:Spain; D018505:Waste Management / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence
chemical_list: D062611:Solid Waste; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Bio-waste; Nitrogen; Nutrient recovery; Phosphorus; Solid waste management