The State of the Art of Composting and Perspectives

The specific challenges and operational experiences were reported by the presenters who described the status of composting in Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United States of America. The specific challenges included the following themes which were cited by most presenters: The need to overcome legislative barriers and enhance economic incentives so private companies will assume a greater role in composting;The need to integrate waste management solutions into the framework of societal issues – and to explore the links between quality of life and recovery of organic residuals;The need to build on the awareness of the relevance of composting through research on critical issues, and to identify those issues and use research centers more effectively to develop solutions;The need to form new partnerships among the private sector, government agencies, nonprofits in order to expand the impact of composting projects. To achieve successful partnerships, it is necessary to aggressively show the common interests of environmentalists, industry associations, private corporations and public policy-makers;The need to develop the diversity of approaches in managing and recycling organic residuals. These approaches range from decentralized, backyard programs using home compost bins and regional ‘self-composting’ to curbside collection of source-separated residential organics and residuals from commercial generators where they are composted at centralized facilities. The diversity also relates to combinations of aerobic and anaerobic systems to produce energy in the form of biogas as well as soil-improving materials for application to farms and gardens.