Dear Reader,

As the LIFE BIOBEST project comes to a close, we’re writing to you one final time to mark the end of our journey. What began as an ambitious mission to mainstream best bio-waste management practices across Europe has culminated in the successful delivery of our Comprehensive guidance for effective bio-waste management in the EU, a set of innovative decision-making tools and guidelines, as well as a robust evidence base that will continue supporting municipalities and policymakers for years to come. 

We recently concluded our project with a final event and celebration in Brussels, bringing together 60+ stakeholders from all over the Union to celebrate our achievements and discuss the future of bio-waste management in the EU.

In the final months of LIFE BIOBEST, the Consortium has been busy consolidating our work and ensuring maximum impact, including:

• Releasing the project's policy recommendations to the public, consisting of our Comprehensive Guidance for Effective Bio-waste Management in the EU a short summary video and executive summaries in multiple EU languages;
• Engaging with the European Commission at a meeting in Brussels, where we presented our key findings and recommendations to ensure alignment and uptake;
• Launching two decision support tools, including the Decision Support Web Tool and the Decision support trees, which allows the user to test, evaluate, and choose the most appropriate bio-waste management strategy for their local or regional context;
• Completing a statistical study of bio-waste collection data in relation to socio-economic parametres;
  
• And lastly, hosting four events, including the final capacity-building workshop on using LIFE BIOBEST tools to enhance bio-waste management, two technical webinars on driving bio-waste quality and the key enablers to ensuring successful bio-waste management in Europe (hosted together with ECESP), as well as our final event and celebration in Brussels, which was organised as part of #EUGreenWeek.

The LIFE BIOBEST Consortium

Looking forward: LIFE
BIOBEST's political legacy

As the LIFE BIOBEST project concludes, our work takes on new urgency in addressing Europe's soil crisis. With 60-70% of European soils unhealthy and only 26% of EU kitchen waste successfully collected, the gap between potential and current practice remains wide.

The EU's new Soil Monitoring Law aims for healthy soils by 2050, but achieving this requires the practical solutions. Manon Jourdan, Waste Prevention Manager at Zero Waste Europe has written an analysis exploring how our research and tools can help bridge EU bio-waste legislation with advanced and coordinated measures and policy proposals. 

This analysis outlines how our validated best practices and guidance can support upcoming EU policy opportunities—from the Bioeconomy Strategy to the Circular Economy Act—ensuring bio-waste management plays a central role in European soil restoration and climate action, along with the achievement of recycling and landfilling targets. 

Complete resources
for European bio-waste management

To ensure the project's impact reaches stakeholders across all EU Member States, we have developed a complete toolkit of practical resources; from interactive decision-making tools to guidelines, these evidence-based materials provide actionable solutions for municipalities, waste management professionals, and policymakers throughout Europe, considering the different contexts.

Our complete resource library includes: 

• The Comprehensive Guidance for effective bio-waste management in the EU, its accompanying summary video, and translated summaries in 11 EU languages;
• Four detailed guidelines covering separate collection, governance, quality production, and communication practices, as well as a short summary document of all guidelines;
  
• A Policy brief identifying regulatory barriers and solutions;
• An online Decision Support Web Tool for simulation of bio-waste management options in a specific local context;
• A self-assessment checklist of barriers and core actions based on a set of Decision support trees;
  
• A Statistical analysis looking at how socio-economic parametres can influence bio-waste collection results;
• A Proposal for quality standards for bio-waste, for when it enters the recycling process;
• An Assessment matrix of best practices analysing contextual factors and providing recommendations;
• A set of Improved and homogenised datasets on municipal bio-waste management providing the current status of data collection and reporting in sampled jurisdictions;
• And lastly, recordings and presentation materials from our webinars and hybrid events.

A final thank you

As we close this chapter, we extend our gratitude to everyone who has been part of the LIFE BIOBEST community. From our Supporting Stakeholders Network and Advisory Board members, to everyone who joined our in-person workshops, webinars, or followed our progress via the newsletter—your engagement, feedback, and dedication to improving bio-waste management across Europe has been the driving force behind our success.

We also express our gratitude to the LIFE Programme and CINEA, whose funding and support made this research journey possible.

The tools, guidance, and networks we've built together will continue to support the transition toward more effective bio-waste management, contributing to healthier soils, stronger circular economies, and a more sustainable Europe. 

Thank you for being part of this journey.

The LIFE BIOBEST Consortium

LIFE21-PRE-ES-LIFE BIOBEST - 101086420

Copyright © 2024 BIOBEST. Copies of this publication – also of extracts thereof – may only be made with reference to the publisher.