Cleanliness in biowaste collection
In Germany more than 14 million tonnes of biodegradable waste are already delivered to biowaste treatment plants. Implementation of the Recycling Management Act (Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetzes) requirements will result in further increases in the quantities of biowastes collected Germany-wide. Biowastes have until now mostly been processed directly to form composts, which are used as nutrient-rich soil conditions, mostly in agriculture as well as in horticulture and landscaping.
However, in the meantime biowastes are increasingly being used in biowaste fermentation plants to produce biogas first and are then composted. In this way it is possible to use the raw materials that are available in biowastes and to utilise the potential renewable energy.
Collection of biowaste in household
Collection of the biowastes begins in households. They therefore decisively determine the quantity and quality of the biowastes collected. In future, in regions that use biowastes to produce energy in fermentation plants, efforts will be made to collect the largest possible fractions of particularly energy-rich kitchen wastes in the biowaste collection. Water-rich kitchen wastes are more highly perishable than plant-based, uncooked green, gardening wastes. The nuisance caused by the accumulation of odours can be avoided by short storage times at the comparatively high room temperature in residential buildings.
Bags for the collection of biowaste
Use of moisture-resistant bags for biowaste collection also improves cleanliness in the collection of biowastes in households: The collected biowastes remain enclosed in the collection bags. This avoids contact with the unpleasantly smelling biowastes that are intensively covered with microbial growth.
This has also been confirmed by current investigations carried out by the bifa environmental institute: bifa examined the extent to which bags made of different materials enable hygienically safe collection of biowastes rich in kitchen waste.
For the biowaste bag developed by BASF SE and made of the biodegradable plastic ecovio®, it was determined that the contact surfaces of the filled biowaste bags stored for several days were cleaner in hygienic terms that the surfaces of unsoiled hands. Use of reliable biowaste collection bags can therefore ensure acceptance of the collection, even of biowastes with high food waste content among the important group of biowaste producers.