Waste management from an environmental and integral sustainable perspective

The nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)and organic material (OM) are important elements in the nutrient cycle that runs through soil –plants –animals –and humans. Reuse of N and P in waste in the nutrient cycle is an effective and efficient manner to minimize losses to the environment; this is important for reducing environmental impacts. The management of waste is crucial in this, especially in case of spatial accumulation of N and P (a co-called manure surplus) at a national level. The goal of this paper is to present guidelines for a successful future strategy for sustainable waste treatment, based on more than 30 years of experience in surplus nutrient management in the Netherlands. Single and combined waste processing technologies are used to improve transport efficiency, enable export of nutrients, and improve quality of wasteflows. However, we identified eleven problems and flaws in application of current approaches and technologies in waste processing: resulting trade-offs (TO) towards “pollution swapping”(1&2), “animal welfare”(3), and “economics”(4), and issues related to “other economic aspects”(5&6), the “technical complexity”of installations (7&8), a “too narrow focus”(9), and legislation and lack of reward (10&11). We present 6 guidelines to overcome current flaws and problems in the future and to come to a more sustainable production of food and biomass: 1) a systems and design approach, 2) involvement of stakeholders, 3) long term perspective, 4) integral chain approach, 5) valid business models, and 6) governance and responsibilities.