QUALITY OF COMPOSTS FROM MUNICIPAL BIODEGRADABLE WASTE OF DIFFERENT ORIGINS

SUMMARY: mechanical biological treatment of municipal solid waste is increasing rapidly in France as well as in other European countries. One of the outputs of this treatment is a compost prepared from the organic matter of the waste. This organic matter can be either collected selectively from the customers as biowaste, or separated from the total MSW in the plant. Unlike in Germany or Austria, where only the compost from selective collection of biowaste is allowed to serve as an amendment, in France the use of the compost is based on its compliance to a quality Standard. We present here the first results on an enquiry concerning the quality of composts from the two processes, determined on 5 French plants, between 2008 and now. All the composts fulfill to the prescriptions of the Standard and can be used as soil amendments. 1