Assessment of Alternative Phosphorus Fertilizers for Organic Farming: Compost and Digestates from Urban Organic Wastes

Summary

Organic wastes from urban areas include organic household wastes, food processing residues and catering wastes. These so called "Urban Organic Wastes" are important potential sources for nutrient recycling back to agriculture. Main waste treatment options for these sources are composting and anaerobic digestion. Both differ in the process performance – regarding for example emissions or energy balances – and in the characteristics of the final fertilizer pro­duct. This fact sheet describes the most important aspects of compost and digestates from urban organic wastes for use in organic farming.