Download Circular Economy of Phosphorus Flow

Circular Economy of Phosphorus Flow
HENVI Workshop 2015: Circular Economy and Sustainable Food Systems
Moro Abdulai
Anna Kuokkanen
Barbara Plank
Eetu Virtanen
Gen Zha
Abstract
Current population of the world is around 7 billion and this number is projected to only continue growing. In order to feed and fulfill the increasing consumption, humans are extracting
and depleting the earth’s resources at increasing rates without consideration for the natural
balance of the environment. Phosphorus is one of those critical raw materials and it is used in
fertilizers of agricultural lands, supplement in animal feeds, pesticides, and medicines. Phosphate rock, the world’s main source of phosphorus, is a non-renewable resource that neither
can be produced synthetically nor replaced. Its declining reserves accompanied by the increasing global demand is problematic. It is the contention of this paper to discuss the importance
and the ways of meeting the world’s phosphorus demand in a resource efficient way. The report
identifies the opportunities of circular economy application onto the phosphorus flow in the EU
agriculture and food systems as well as reviews relevant policy frameworks.
The report starts with the outline of phosphorus flow in agriculture and discusses why phosphorus is a critical raw material in the EU. The second part of the study introduces the concept
of circular economy and opportunities to increase the efficiency of resource use as well as minimizing losses. Then the report brings together the two introductory parts by applying the concept of circular economy to phosphorus flow in the EU food systems. It identifies at which stages
losses occur and in which impacts they result. After that, it analyzes EU policy frameworks relevant for phosphorus flows in the EU and it concludes the previous parts of the report and focuses on the future challenges of the transition to circular economy of the phosphorus flow in
the EU food systems.
Table of Contents
Objective and Scope of the Report............................................................................................. 4
1. General Introduction................................................................................................................... 5
2. Introduction to Phosphorus Flow and the Current Situation …………………......... 5
3. General Principles of Circular Economy ……..................................................................... 8
4. Principles of CE applied to phosphorus flow.................................................................... 10
5. Existing Policies Related to Phosphorus Flow and Food Systems........................... 14
6. Transition to a Circular Economy in the EU – Future guidelines.............................. 17
7. Conclusion and Future Challenges………………………………………………………………. 19
References............................................................................................................................................. 21
Objective and Scope of the Report
The following report identifies and analyzes the opportunities of circular economy application
onto the phosphorus flow in the EU agriculture and food systems as well as analyzes relevant
policy frameworks. The objectives are to:
•
•
•
•
identify stages of the phosphorus flow at which losses occur,
find opportunities offered by circular economy,
analyze existing policy frameworks,
discuss future challenges on the way towards circular economy in regards to phosphorus flow in the EU food systems.
The report starts with the outline of phosphorus flow in agriculture and discusses why phosphorus is a critical raw material in the EU. This part of the report, performed by Moro Abdulai,
serves as an introduction to the study as it will allow to analyze at which stages of the flow
losses may occur and will further be used as a basis.
The second part of the study, presented by Gen Zha, introduces the concept of circular economy
and opportunities to increase the efficiency of resource use as well as minimizing losses.
Third part of the report, written by Barbara Plank, brings together two introductory parts by
applying the concept of circular economy to phosphorus flow in the EU food systems. It identifies at which stages losses occur and in which impacts they result.
The fourth part of the report, performed by Anna Kuokkanen, analyzes EU policy frameworks
relevant for phosphorus flows in the EU. It creates the basis for further discussion on which
policies would help utilize the concept of circular economy in order to raise the efficiency of
phosphorus flow in European agricultural sector.
The fifth part, written by Eetu Virtanen, concludes the previous parts of the report and focuses
on the future challenges of the transition to circular economy of the phosphorus flow in the EU
food systems.
1. General Introduction
Current population of the world is around 7 billion and this number is projected to only continue growing. In order to feed and meet the increasing consumption demands, humans are
extracting and depleting the Earth’s resources at growing rates without consideration for the
natural balance of the environment. Over the history, people have continued to shape, manipulate and change the physical environment to meet the needs of the society. Last 150 years of
industrial evolution was dominated by a linear-model of production and consumption with resources being extracted on a one-way-track. Utilization of resources was material and energy
intensive; goods were manufactured from raw materials, sold and used with 80% of the materials ending up as waste (Polman 2013). Increasing needs coupled with limited resources, and
wasteful use of goods are producing adverse effects on earth, leading to an unsustainable lifestyle that needs to be changed.
2. Introduction to Phosphorus flow and the Current Situation
Elemental phosphorus was first discovered by accident in the seventeenth-century by a German chemist from Hamburg called Henning Brand, when he was distilling urine in an attempt
to obtain gold from the golden liquid. He first thought urine contained gold, but what he rather
obtained was a whitish flammable solid called white phosphorus. For over ten decades, white
phosphorus was the main source for elemental phosphorus. However, phosphorus can today
be obtained from calcium phosphate mineral called apatite [Ca3(PO4)2].
2 Ca3(PO4)2(S) + 6 SiO2(s) +10 C(s) → P4(g) + 6 CaSiO3(l) +10 CO(g)
The achieved product, phosphorus consist of P4 molecules, and the bond between the P atoms
is 60o which actually makes the P4 molecule unstable and very reactive.
Figure1: Structure of elemental Phosphorus showing small bond angle of 60o between the
phosphorus atoms. (Citizendium.org/wiki/Phosphorus)
When white phosphorus is heated to about 300 °C, it structurally changes to a different form
called red phosphorus.
Figure 2: Structure of elemental white
Phosphorus. (Gensonscience.wikispaces.com)
Structure of red Phosphorus
Global phosphorus flow, from reserve, through agricultural, food and sewage systems
Figure 3: Key phosphorus flow through the global food production and consumption system
(Schröder et al. 2010, 35)
Why Phosphorus is a critical raw material in the EU
Phosphorus is an important raw material for the manufacturing of fertilizers used in agricultural lands to increase food production. Furthermore, it is used as a supplement for animal
feeds and for the preparation of pesticides and medicines. Without phosphorus, there will be
low production yields in agricultural crops, leading to a decrease in food production. Currently
almost all countries within the EU depend on imported phosphate minerals for the manufacture
of phosphorus containing feed supplement and fertilizers. The movement of Phosphorus traded
materials was overshadowed by rock phosphate, phosphoric acid and fertilizers resulting in
net import of 1.8 million tonnes of phosphorus. Some 0.6 million tonnes out of the 1.8 was estimated to have ended up in durable materials. It was approximated that 2.2 million tonnes of
phosphorus was removed from soil, specifically agricultural lands. Around 2.2 million tonnes
of phosphorus returned to soil through livestock manures and 1.3 million tonnes to fertilizers.
The use of Phosphorus is essential for food production; nevertheless, phosphorus usage has its
damaging impacts on the environment specifically in relation to food security. Phosphate rock
which is the world’s main source of phosphorus, is non-renewable, reserve of quality phosphate
is in decline, and the use of phosphate would exhaust in two to three generations. Access to high
quality phosphate is becoming physically laborious because of increasing waste accumulation
and cost. In addition to that, there is also growing global demand for phosphorus due to rising
demand for agricultural yields to feed the growing population of the world. Phosphorus reserves are found in few countries and for the past decade production of food has become highly
dependent on fertilizers containing phosphorus. Sooner or later when this essential commodity
becomes scarce, food availability and security will be under threat. Although alternative phosphorus source is likely be found in the future, it’s obvious that this commodity is in short supply
together with instable prices relative to human consumption.
The scarcity of phosphorus should not only be defined by physical insufficiency of phosphate
rock, there is also the problem of management of phosphorus throughout the systems of producing and consuming food. In addition, there is the problem of economic scarcity, where farmers with buying power get access to fertilizer market, instead of it been accessible to all farmers
who need it for crop production. Furthermore there is the lack of proper governmental structures globally that aim to ensure long-term availability and equal distribution of phosphorus
for food production. Global phosphorus dilemma in relation to food production and security
needs to be approached in a holistic manner.
Figure 4: Instability in Phosphate price (www.infomine.com)
Phosphorus is one of the influential commodities needed for sustenance. Currently there is no
replacement for phosphorus in the production of crops. Phosphorus cannot be produced synthetically, making it necessary to ensure that phosphorus is available not only for a short term
but also long term for the production of global food.
‘‘We may be able to substitute nuclear power for coal, and plastics for wood, and yeast for meat,
and friendliness for isolation—but for phosphorus there is neither substitute nor replacement’’
(Asimov, 1974).
3. General Principles of Circular Economy
Tighter environmental standards combined with resource scarcity means that a much higher
share of consumer materials should be recovered. A circular economy seeks to rebuild capital
financially, socially and naturally to ensure enhanced flow of goods and services. The idea of
circular economy replacing the status quo linear economy of take-make-use-dispose model is
gaining popularity in the political and business sphere.
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2015), circular economy is a “global economic
model that decouples economic growth and development from consumption of finite resources”. The model promotes circularity across a range of materials, products and actors at
different stages in product and value chains. It focuses on the attempt to reuse and extract the
maximum value from products before safely returning them to the biosphere. Circular economy
transforms and optimizes the chain of consumption of biological and technical materials by
keeping the materials circulating in economy for longer. It goes beyond waste reduction by promoting technological, organizational and social innovation.
Figure 5: Biological and technical materials cycling through the economic system (Polman
2013)
“Circular economy draws a distinction between consumption and use of materials” (Polman
2013). The irreversible consumption of technical materials present in a linear system is minimized in a circular model. The key aims of circular economy are to focus on effective design and
use of materials, provide opportunities for innovation, prevent waste, and to work towards renewable energy sources. For example, the aim to increase the use of ‘functional services’ for
technical materials is promoted. This can be done by having manufacturers retain ownership
and only selling the use of products. Another area of management is waste disposal. Biological
and technical materials should be designed to fit within the biosphere in order to eliminate
waste. Biological materials can be returned to soil by composting while technical materials can
be recovered or upgraded. In addition, the use of renewable energy can be promoted by running agricultural production on solar power.
Priorities in the circular model include focusing on agricultural products and waste, wood and
paper, plastics, metals, and phosphorus. Priority sectors include packaging of food, electronic
and electrical equipment, transport, furniture, and buildings (European Commission 2014b). A
goal of the circular model is to create more value from materials used in consumer goods. This
can be achieved by retaining resource value by converting waste into by-products, retain effectiveness of the system by thinking holistically and not only focusing on the individual parts of a
process while neglecting the impacts from a system as whole. The circular model seeks to understand how parts across fields influence one another within a whole and the relationship of
the whole to the parts. Components within the circular model are considered in relation to the
environmental, technical, social, and economic context. For high in demand consumer goods, a
creation of an efficient redistribution and reuse system is necessary. For example, ways that
can enhance the collection and wash of bottles to refill with beverages or reuse of clothes, are
effective ways to keep materials circulating longer. Additionally, designing durable products
that allows for use in more consecutive cycles can be beneficial.
A shift to a circular model could minimize the strain on earth by keeping products at their highest utilize and value. With any new model seeking to replace a status quo, there exist barriers.
Some of the obstacles include insufficient skills and investment, lack of incentives and motivation for business actors, limited information, lack of consumer awareness, lack or insufficiency
of governmental and institutional structures, and insufficient investment and funding (European Commission 2014b). Overcoming these difficulties is essential; capturing new opportunities requires partnership, development of new technologies, and education of the public. Transition to circular economy is a multi-level governance challenge; actions need to be taken at
multiple levels, from global to member state, local, private sector and individual. Already a
number of policies are in place that support a circular economy model, but a lot of a work still
needs to be done. By increasing resource efficiency, minimizing waste and improving market
conditions, the world can move towards a greener and more sustainable lifestyle.
4. Principles of the Circular Economy Applied to Phosphorus Flow
After presenting the major principles of circular economy (CE), this report will continue to apply them to the phosphorus flows through the food production and consumption system. As
already seen above, substantial losses occur at all stages of the system: mining and fertilizer
processing, transport and storage, application and harvest, food processing and retailing, and
food consumption. Approximately 15 Mt of phosphorus per year are extracted out of the increasingly scarce phosphate rock especially for food production, whereas just 3 Mt are finally
consumed in the food eaten by the world population. (Cordell et al. 2009a, 295f) An apparent
loss of 80% could easily be interpreted as absolutely inefficient. However, the possibilities
within the scope of the CE to integrate those losses back into the system should not be forgotten.
At first, different types of phosphorus losses were looked at. Schröder et al. (2010, 31f) classified them into two groups, namely permanent losses, which imply a phosphorus flux that is
exported from the entire food production and consumption system, and temporary losses,
which are temporarily lost from a certain sub-system, but remain in the whole system and can
therefore be potentially recovered. Table 1 gives the major sources of phosphorus losses divided into those two categories and besides divided into certain functional groups used for our
further analysis. These groups represent the main areas of losses in the phosphorus flow and
are again divided into certain examples followed by appropriate sustainable response strategies in the context of CE, which will be elaborated upon below.
I. Losses to the environment
At the first stage of the production process, losses occur during the extraction and the rock
amelioration process whereby contaminants (e.g. iron phosphate) are removed and contained
or disposed into rivers. Some spillages also take place during storage and transport of phosphate rock. Prud’homme (2010) anticipates an increased importance of minimizing those
losses through improved management, new efficient technologies and adequate financial incentives in the future, although there is of course a physical limit to what is possible. In addition,
there is a great need to reduce environmental impacts such as disturbance of natural landscapes and ecosystems, water pollution or discharging of radioactive and toxic substances.
(Schröder et al. 2010, 45f).
The production process of phosphate rock into phosphate products causes a significant amount
of loss as well, especially phosphorus that is extracted in the form of the by-product phosphogypsum, that also causes severe environmental impacts because of its radioactivity.
(Prud’homme 2010) With some investments in new safe processing technologies there might
be a possibility to recover phosphorus from those big phosphogypsum stockpiles. (Schröder et
al. 2010, 72).
When moved on to the production process in agriculture, it is inevitable that erosion is the main
reason for worldwide permanent phosphorus losses and subsequent soil degradation. Erosion
abatement measures often aim at improving the soil infiltration capacity through e.g. less removal of crop residues, ridge tillage, terracing, reforestation and so on. (Schröder et al. 2010,
73f).
Table 1: Typology of phosphorus losses and appropriate CE response strategies. Based on
Schröder et al. (2010, 33f)
Loss type
A. PERMANENT
LOSSES
from the food
production &
consumption
system
I. LOSSES TO
ENVIRONMENT
Examples
CE response strategy
•
Mining losses
•
Reduce spillages, wastage
•
Losses in rock amelioration and P extraction
•
More efficient recovery
techniques
•
Losses in fertiliser production
•
Process improvements
•
Phosphogypsum stockpiles
•
New recovery techniques
•
Reduce spillages, wastage
•
Spillage during storage,
transport
•
Erosion, runoff, leaching
(to water or non-arable
land)
•
Improving the soil infiltration capacity
•
Discouragement of erosion sensitive crops
Wastewater discharged to
rivers, oceans
•
Encourage efficient recovery of P for productive reuse in agriculture
•
Soil testing and management
•
Better utilization of soil P
reserves
•
Fertilizer placement
•
Mycorrhizal fungi
•
Policies aiming at livestock production
•
Manure processing and
export of nutrients from
surplus areas
•
Using low P feed
•
B. TEMPORARY
LOSSES
within the
food
production &
consumption
system
II. ACCUMULATION
in agricultural soil
(i.e. potentially
recoverable)
Excess P in soils due to:
•
•
III. ORGANIC
WASTE
BY-PRODUCTS
losses (due
to
inefficient
use,
unnecessary waste
production
or
suboptimal
Abundant (risk aversive)
fertilization
Local excess of manure
due to concentration of
livestock
•
Slaughterhouse waste
•
•
Crops used for non-food
purposes
Improve reuse in agriculture
•
Prioritize P use for food
security
•
Improve reuse to conserve nutrients
•
Composting with other organic rest streams
•
Collect organic household
waste followed by e.g. biogas production
•
Crop residues
•
Organic waste from food
and feed industry
•
Food preparation & consumption waste
•
Manure, human excreta
recycling)
•
Source separation and reuse in agriculture
•
Sewage sludge reuse
II.
Accumulation in agricultural soil
Phosphorus losses from the crop itself are negligible as it immediately becomes a part of the
crop mass and is either harvested or grazed, where almost all of the consumed phosphorus is
returned to the soil as urine and faeces. In today’s Europe pests and diseases also do not cause
significant losses as they occur rarely. (Schröder et al. 2010, 37f) A severe problem is rather
caused by the accumulation of phosphorus in agricultural soil, which is indicated by the OECD
(2015) as the soil surface phosphorus surplus (amount of P applied to land minus amount removed in harvested crops). In Western Europe more phosphorus is generally imported than
exported from agricultural land, because of a risk-averse attitude and the will to maximisze
crop yields. So there is a high, unused phosphorus surplus in 70-80 % of the European arable
soils. (Römer 2009).
Therefore, Römer (2009) calls for a critical revision of the common recommendations of phosphorus levels to ensure a more efficient use of phosphorus fertilizer and also to wipe out the
misconception that mineral fertilizers are more available to crops than organic resources such
as manures. Furthermore, there is a need to replace current application strategies by more precise application positioned sub-surface close to seed rows in the most intensely rooted parts of
the soil, where plants have the best ability to uptake phosphorus. (Schröder et al. 2010, 74f).
There are also several attempts to find ways of improving crop genotypes or to create a symbiosis with the arbuscular mycorrhizal funghi, which can improve the availability of soil phosphorus for the crops. (Schröder et al. 2010, 76).
However, not only the phosphorus input can be addressed in attempts to enhance the reduction
of phosphorus losses, also the output should be extended to equalize the soil surplus. Here, not
only is the focus on crops, milk, eggs, meat and wool, but also on manure. Locally excessively
high concentrations of soil phosphorus are emerging due to the deposition of urine and faeces.
As there is a high separation between farms specialising in crop or in livestock production, the
phosphorus in the manure does not return to the land where the feed originates from. Solutions
that are recommended by Schröder et al. (2010, 77f) could be a better distribution of livestock
over the feed production area, manure processing and export of nutrients from the surplus areas and adjusting livestock diets by using less phosphorus containing feed. Of course, it would
be advisable to shift away our consumption from meat and dairy products, as one of numerous
reasons for this measure is that the amount of phosphorus consumption per kilo output is very
high compared to vegetables, fruits or grains. (Hislop and Hill 2011, 30).
III.
Organic Waste and By-Products losses
Losses occur as well between harvest and food consumption. There are still many potential
efficiency measures in improved management or technical practices to reduce losses in crop
and food storage, processing and trade, food retailing and in the household food storage, preparation and consumption like shifting the production closer to the point of demand or reducing
wastage of edible food. (Schröder et al. 2010, 79).
However, some losses are still unavoidable, but can be composted or otherwise reintroduced
into the phosphorus cycle. Furthermore, almost 100% of the phosphorus consumed in food is
directly excreted, but until now only a very small amount of the human excreta is actually
treated for reuse and either ends up discharged to water as effluent or non-agricultural land as
landfill. (Schröder et al. 2010, 44). Recovering phosphorus from organic waste streams could
have many important benefits. First of all, it could prevent pollution of water bodies where it
could lead to eutrophication and other disturbances of the ecosystem. Phosphorus could also
be recovered from different wastewater streams and thus improves wastewater treatment and
the possibilities of its reuse. Secondly, the recovered phosphorus could be used as a renewable
fertilizer source or used in industrial applications and therefore substitute the increasingly
scarce mineral phosphates.
There is already a wide range of technical processes used to recover phosphorus ranging from
low-cost, low-tech small-scale (decentralized) processes through to more expensive, high-tech
large-scale (centralized) recovery processes. As they are described by Schröder et al. (2010,
85f) they have both pros and cons, but anyways many technologies are already antiquated and
need immediate modernization. Especially when it comes to recycling of municipal sewage
sludge a lot of caution is needed because of high concentrations of contaminants. Therefore,
more research and more efficient technologies are strongly necessary to recover phosphorus
in an uncontaminated and plant-available form. In addition, Schröder et al. (2010, 92f) state
that “end of pipe” measures as the recovery of phosphorus out of seawater, aquaculture, ocean
sediments or landfills do not seem realistic for technical and economic reasons.
Figure 6: A sustainable scenario for meeting long-term future phosphorus demand through
phosphorus use efficiency and recovery (Schröder et al. 2010, 71, redrawn from Cordell et al.
2009b)
When following a recent global phosphorus scenario analysis as it is shown in figure 1 all those
above presented measures are needed to meet the world’s increasing long-term phosphorus
demand in a sustainable way, measures as well in demand management (70%) and in recovering and reuse (30%). In addition, the above mentioned pathways of phosphorus loss and the
nature of environmental effects differ substantially from country to country, so the strategies
to abate losses and improve the efficiency of phosphorus must differ as well on a national level.
(Schröder et al. 2010, 70f).
5. Existing Policies Related to Phosphorus Flows and Food Systems
Phosphorus is an essential macronutrient in agriculture that cannot be replaced by any other
element. It is mainly produced out of phosphate rock, which is a finite mineral and which biggest reserves are found in geopolitically sensitive areas. At the same time, European phosphorus flows in the food system are highly inefficient and have enormous leakages to the water
bodies, where phosphorus causes serious eutrophication and dead zones. The balance between
P imports and exports can illustrate the extent of the problem; a total of 2600 Gg of P was imported to EU-27, of which 1500 in the form of fertilizer and the remainder in food and feed,
while out of this amount only 600 Gg of P i.e. 22% was exported (Schoumans et al. 2015). The
rest accumulates in waste and soil, and finally runs off to the water. Hence, the problem is manifested by wasteful use of vital element, which in the long term threatens both resource security
and environmental sustainability.
The linear open-ended phosphorus flows are pinned down to inefficient nutrient management
in the primary production, triggered by the decisions in food supply and demand chain, and on
the other end, lack of recycling recovered phosphorus back to the use in food production, thus
minimizing losses to the environment. So far policies have been targeting the environmental
runoff from point sources and considerably less from diffuse sources i.e. agricultural sector.
Industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants are bound by polluter-pays-principle,
thus forced to meet nutrient runoff targets. However, these recovered nutrients are not always
returned back to agricultural use, the EU average being 41% (Kelessidis & Stasinakis, 2012). In
contrast, EU-level legislation to prevent nutrient pollution from agriculture has mainly relied
on the Nitrate Directive, which does not explicitly address phosphorus. Resource security has
not been addressed yet (Schröder et al., 2010). Recently though, phosphorus was added to the
European critical raw materials’ list (European Commission 2014a), which might trigger new
policies.
There is no EU-level phosphorus legislation, although many member states’ national regulation
accommodates phosphorus. As there is no EU-wide framework, phosphorus regulation varies
from country to country. The most relevant directives are stated in the table below. It should
be noted that as most of these are directives, they allow member states to decide themselves
how to meet stated objectives. Hence, there can exist a wide array of strategies. Roughly, phosphorus policies can be divided into two groups by their aims and objectives.
On the other hand there are policies addressing phosphorus inputs in agriculture. Agricultural
sector causes biggest leakages, however, also tackling this stage is the most difficult. On the
other hand, there are policies that are directed at the ‘end-of-pipe’ stage, in which phosphorus
streams are smaller, but more manageable and concentrated, mainly in the form of sewage
sludge, wastewater, and organic residues. The aim here has been removing phosphorus and
preventing its leaching to waterways. However, lately the interest towards recovering and recycling phosphorus from this stage back to use has increased, as the value of phosphorus resource has been understood.
Table 2: EU-level policies regarding nutrient use (European Commission 2014b)
Legislation
Sector
Measures
Water protection sector
Directives on Bathing Wa- Water
ter (76/160/EEC)
amended by (2006/7/EC)
Water Framework Direc- Water quality
· Achieving and maintaining a
tive (2000/60/IEC)
good status for all surface waters and ground waters by
2015
· Prevent deterioration and ensure the conservation of high
water quality
· River Basin Management Plans
have to be implemented
Groundwater Directive
Groundwater quality
(2006/118/EC)
Marine Strategy FrameMarine industry
work Directive
(2008/98/EC)
Agri-environmental management
Common Agricultural Po- Cross-compliance
· Land has to be kept in good aglicy
ricultural and environmental
Agri-environmental
condition
schemes
· Fertilizer application restriction can be part of AEP
Code of Good Agricultural Manure spread, treatAdvisory instrument for farmPractices (part of CAP)
ment and storage, and
ers or minimum level of reapplication
quirements
Fertilizer Directive (in
Fertilizers
Fertilizer criteria
preparation)
Nitrates Directive
Nitrogen pollution
· Identifying and designating ni(91/676/EEC)
from agriculture
trate vulnerable zones
· Establishing Codes of Good Agricultural Practice
· Establishing action programs
· Monitoring the progress of implementation
· Maximum amounts of animal
manure applied on land 170kg
N/ha/y
Waste prevention and management sector
Landfill Directive
Biodegradable waste
Reduce landfilling biodegradable
(1999/31/EC)
waste
Waste Framework Direc- Waste
End-of-waste criteria
tive (2008/98/EC)
Industrial Emissions DiIndustrial emissions
rective (2010/75/EU)
Directive on Dangerous
Dangerous substances
Substances (76/464/EEC)
à (2006/11/EC)
As already mentioned, there is no European-level overarching phosphorus legislation in the
food system, some examples of P policies are mentioned in the table 5. Common Agricultural
Policy has included cross-compliance principle, which requires land to be kept in good agricultural and environmental condition. In addition, there is agri-environmental scheme, which
grants payments for up-taking agri-environmental measures in agricultural production. AEP
can include such measures as fertilizer application restrictions, manure application restrictions, buffer zones, and etc., but these vary between member states.
However, on average only 24% of agricultural land is subject to AEP, although in some countries
this might be considerably higher, in Finland this accounts for 95%. Therefore, there is variation between member states to which extent phosphorus applications are restricted and controlled, and by which means (Amery & Schoumans 2014). In some countries there are no explicit limits at all, only indirect limitation of manure phosphorus by Nitrate Directive. The new
CAP, which is enforced since the beginning of 2015, has included more ‘greening’ practices that
are meant to foster better overall agri-environmental management. In Pillar 1 at least 30% is
directed at Green Direct Payments, which focus on permanent grassland, ecology and crop diversification (European Commission 2013b). In addition, 30% of the second pillar must be directed at amongst others organic farming and pro-environmental investments (European Commission 2013b).
Table 3: Examples of P restrictions in some of the member states
Denmark
Poland
The Netherlands
There is a total limit Has no reFrom 1998-2005 The
of 140-170kg
strictions
Netherlands had introN/ha/y for the enon P appli- duced MINAS accounting
tire Danish territory, cations or
tool to manage N and P inwhich restricts P ap- other reputs and outputs, surplus
plications from ma- strictions.
being taxed. It was an econure. There is also
(Amery &
nomic instrument rather
maximum applicaSchoumans, than physical mandate and
tion rate for total P, 2014)
gave insight into farm
but it is only consulmanagement options and
tative. In addition,
farm benchmarking. It did
since 2005, there is
not punish highly efficient
a tax on mineral P in
farms, but forced ineffifeed. When animal
cient ones to change their
farms are willing to
management or pay taxes.
expand their proAlbeit, the system was conduction in the P sensidered promising, it was
sitive areas, they
seen as incompatible with
face additional rethe N Directive by EU
strictions for the
Court of Justice and abromanure P surplus.
gated. (Oenema & Barent(Amery & Schousen, 2005)
mans, 2014)
Sweden
As part of environmental objectives adopted
by Sweden, an interim
target was set in 2005
(Swedish Government
2005) that by 2015 at
least 60% of P compounds present in
wastewater should be
recovered for use on
productive land, at least
half of which should be
returned to arable land.
Recycling of P increased, but the interim
target seemed to be difficult to meet (Naturvårdsverket 2011) and
it’s not anymore included in the new milestones published in
2013 (Naturvårdsverket
2013).
6. Transition to a Circular Economy in the EU – Future Guidelines Dealing
with Phosphorus
As discussed in chapter 3, there are already some policies and measures in place in the EU related to phosphorus flows in food systems, but no specific regulation over phosphorus use in
many EU countries. There are initiatives underway addressing the transition to circular economy by private actors and stakeholders that are parallel with the EU policy discussions.
According to the “Scoping study to identify potential circular economy actions, priority sectors,
material flows and value chains” (European Commission 2014b) the implementation of the
Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe (European Commission 2011a) would be an important
step on the way towards a circular economy. The Roadmap concentrates on the key sectors
nutrition, housing and mobility that are typically responsible for 70-80% of all environmental
impacts in the EU countries. Addressing food systems, in its Budget for Europe 2020 communication (European Commission 2011b) the Commission proposed measures that a reformed
Common Agricultural Policy would need to take to achieve higher resource-efficiency. The sustainable supply of phosphorus is an additional issue for long term global food security. The
Roadmap states that further research is needed to find out how improvements to the fertilizer,
food production and bio-waste issues could reduce the EUs dependence on mined phosphate.
The Roadmap (European Commission 2011a) defined a milestone addressing food systems: “By
2020, incentives to healthier and more sustainable food production and consumption will be
widespread and will have driven a 20% reduction in the food chain's resource inputs. Disposal
of edible food waste should have been halved in the EU”. In The Roadmap, Commission also
expressed its will to assess more closely the security of supply of phosphorus and possible actions towards its more sustainable use. This will resulted in the Consultative Communication
on the Sustainable Use of Phosphorus (European Commission 2013a). Relevant for the transition to a circular economy, the communication on the Sustainable Use of Phosphorus mapped
potential for and obstacles to a higher efficiency in the use of phosphorus. Price of phosphate
rock and its derived products was found to be an obstacle for technological development both
in the efficiency of phosphate rock extraction, processing and industrial use and the processing
of recycled phosphorus. (European Commission 2013a).
Although some initiatives within EU have already led to more efficient phosphorus use and reductions in losses of phosphorus in agriculture there are a lot of possibilities for significant improvements in phosphorus use and efficiency at farm level. In 15 out of 22 EU countries, the
main source of phosphorus to agricultural land is recycled phosphorus in manure, but in many
regions in the EU there are many opportunities for processing manure and using it in place of
mineral fertilizers. The communication finds that the Research Framework Programme for
2014-2020 and forthcoming European Innovation Partnership for agricultural productivity
and sustainability could be important in finding new solutions for a more efficient use of phosphorus in agriculture. (European Commission 2013a).
Also any reduction of food waste at all life cycle stages would reduce the need for inputs of new
phosphorus into the system. Food waste issues have been comprehensively studied in the EU.
Large quantities of phosphorus is lost to landfill with food waste as such and when ashes from
incineration of food waste and biodegradable are not reused. Reusing biodegradable and food
waste composted, digested or as ashes would recycle considerable amounts of phosphorus and
other nutrients. The Communication states that highly fragmented interpretation of the standards for biodegradable waste is complicating making use of this waste stream across the EU.
There are also many other waste streams from agriculture and by-products from food production that, if properly managed, could recycle significant quantities of phosphorus. (European
Commission 2013a).
There are a lot of technologies available enabling recovering phosphorus from waste water
treatment plants. The technologies have been developed considerably recently, with several
pilot projects and also commercial scale operations across Europe. About 25% of waste water
phosphorus is currently reused in the EU, most often through direct application of sewage
sludge on to fields. The total achievable potential for recovery is about 300,000 tonnes of phosphorus per year in the EU. The significant differences in sewage sludge application between the
different EU countries shows potential for harmonization of best practice. The Communication
demands harmonization of higher quality standards that would encourage confidence amongst
farmers and consumers on the safe use of sludge. A common strategy to promote the use of
these renewable sources by farmers is lacking. The price of recycled fertilizer is usually higher
than the price of mineral phosphate fertilizer. Much more could be done to identify markets for
recycled phosphorus and barriers to increasing its use and implementing the available technologies. (European Commission 2013a).
The scoping study (European Commission 2014b) also finds that implementation of the 7th
Environmental Action Programme - 7th EAP (European Commission 2013c) would support a
circular economy in the EU. The 7th EAP states that “further efforts to manage the nutrient cycle
in a more cost-effective, sustainable and resource-efficient way, and to improve efficiency in
the use of fertilizers are required” through investments in research and improvements in the
coherence and implementation of EU environment legislation. The 7th EAP calls for addressing
the nutrient cycle as part of a more holistic approach integrating existing EU policies and thus
avoiding problem shifting. The 7th EAP expects to ensure that by 2020 the nutrient cycle (nitrogen and phosphorus) is managed in a more sustainable and resource-efficient way through
better source control and the recovery of waste phosphorus.
The Circular Economy Package was published in July 2014 (European Commission 2014c) and
withdrawn for revision by the Commission in March 2015 (European Commission 2015). The
package included an overarching communication (COM(2014)398), a proposal to amend aspects of six EU waste Directives (COM(2014)397), and related communications on sustainable
buildings (COM(2014)445), green employment (COM(2014)446) and green action for SMEs
(COM(2014)440).
The communication “Towards a circular economy: A zero waste programme for Europe” (European Commission 2014d) lists specific waste challenges that are related to significant loss of
resources or environmental impacts. Recycling of phosphorus is acknowledged as one of the
main challenges, because of its significant security-of-supply risks and the way its current use
causes waste and losses at every phase of its life cycle. The Commission is developing a framework for further action, following the findings of the Consultative Communication on the sustainable use of phosphorus. Phosphorus is also tightly linked to the challenge of food waste. The
Commission is considering to present new proposals to reduce food waste. Phosphorus is also
classified as a critical raw material because its production worldwide is concentrated in few
countries, it has low substitutability and it has low recycling rates. The Commission promotes
efficient use and recycling of critical raw materials through the framework of the Raw Materials
Initiative and the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials. (European Commission
2014e)
As Withers et al. (2015) present, the sustainability challenge of phosphorus use in Europe can
be seen as a test case for other non-renewable resources on which Europe depends and also for
building global phosphorus stewardship. It is a test case for the EU on how to address this challenge when interpretation of standards is fragmented, common strategy and policies are lacking, and national regulation is missing in many EU countries.
7. Conclusion and Future Challenges
After a short introduction about the history and chemical properties of the element phosphorus
we shifted our focus to emphasize the urgent need to apply the principles of the circular economy on the worldwide and particularly EU phosphorus flow as it is identified as a critical raw
material and could cause severe problems for the worldwide food security in the near future.
Therefore, we continued to describe the main principles of the circular economy concept and
then applied the possibilities within the CE on the phosphorus flow in particular. The analysis
showed that there are severe losses on all stages of the production and consumption process,
namely about 80% of the phosphorus imported into the process cannot be consumed in form
of food products. That is why there is an urgent need to improve policies that help to close the
loop as there are also already plenty of possibilities and ideas how to minimize the losses or to
recycle phosphorus. However, there is certainly still a strong need for more research on minimizing and recycling strategies as the price of recycled phosphate fertilizers is still higher than
the price of mineral fertilizers which causes a bias on the free market and does not represent
the true value ratios.
As it is seen in this paper the worldwide problem of phosphorus scarcity is hitting and policy
makers should set immediate action to address the severe losses on all stages of the production
and consumption system and to ensure food security for the growing world population in the
future. Albeit the challenge is not easy and straightforward, there are promising signs in the
European policy agenda towards the right direction in the sustainable P cycle. Phosphate rock
was added to the critical material list, which implies the increasing interest in reducing P import
dependence and securing resource availability in Europe. At the moment circular economy
package is being revised and at least based on the previous version, food system is one of the
central focal points. In addition, the new CAP period started from 2015 onwards, with inclusion
of stronger environmental focus than ever. In the waste sector, restrictions on landfilling of
biosolids is enforced from 2016, providing strong impetus for developing new strategies to deal
with biowaste. Keeping in mind these positive drivers, there are still big challenges remaining
but also opportunities. The most crucial thing in transition to circular economy is to address
the entire food system, from agriculture to waste management, including input industries:
•
•
Agriculture and primary production
• Increasing nutrient-use-efficiency
• Improving manure use and distribution
• Considering technological innovations for manure treatment e.g. small-scale biogas plants
• Taking up agro-ecological measures to improve natural nutrient circulation
Food supply chain
• Reducing food waste
•
•
•
• Managing food waste
Food consumption
• Reducing food losses
• Consuming less resource-intensive products, such as meat
Waste and wastewater treatment
• Re-considering technology for nutrient recycling needs
• Recovering P
• Developing the end product suitable for agricultural use
• Closing the nutrient loop
Input and fertilizer industry
• Expanding fertilizer product portfolio
• Improving market and marketing of organic fertilizers
• Developing smarter and less resource-intensive fertilizing services
In conclusion, the current phosphorous flow in food systems is inefficient and recycling phosphorus remains as one of the biggest challenges. The implementation of measures at EU level
that address transition to a more circular model is vital to resource security and environmental
sustainability. The current EU level phosphorus regulation lacks universality and consistency,
thus much more can be done to implement an objective framework that aims to use phosphorus
in a cost-effective, sustainable and resource efficient way. A circular model defining sustainable
food production, consumption, recovery and recycling of phosphorus complemented by implementation of technologies could lead to a more efficient phosphorus use and reduction in losses.
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