Domestic bio-waste contains valuable organic substances that can be used for soil improvement but can also be converted into sustainable raw materials for the bio-based industries. However, only 9.5 million tons of bio-waste are being collected across Europe so far, including food waste and garden waste. This number can grow fivefold, up to about 51 million tons. It becomes evident from a joint study by Zero Waste Europe and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), published today (6 July).

On paper, government should be able to give the biobased economy a considerable boost. However, in practice this is far more intractable. Complexity, the dominance of circularity and the lack of substantial evidence block progress. Remarkably it is a conservative sector, the civil and hydraulic engineering sector, that is taking the lead. What works and what doesn’t work?

The availability of numerous basic chemicals at Chemical Park Delfzijl, combined with the region’s agricultural residual flows and its knowledge of green chemistry, make the Northern Netherlands the perfect place for producing biobased building blocks.