Urban Biowaste Management

Dear Colleagues,

Due to urban population growth, accelerated urbanization, and economic development, the production of municipal solid waste (MSW) is still growing in most cities despite the efforts made to reduce production at source. Urban MSW comprises several categories of waste collected on urban territories, including biowaste, which corresponds to biodegradable garden and park waste, food waste from restaurants and supermarkets, and the biodegradable organic fraction of household waste (mainly food and kitchen waste). In this context, the specific management of biowaste is a key issue for several reasons: biodegradable wastes are alternative resources for the production of compost, nutrients, fuels or heat, and they divert biodegradable organic waste from landfilling and incineration. The selective collection of biowaste is therefore developing in several European cities to optimize this approach, in accordance with the new European Directive on waste. The source-separated collection of biowaste and the development of a public service to conduct the proper recovery operations will be mandatory in 2023.

Today, however, the efficiency of source-separated collection still remains poor in many medium- and large-size cities. The environmental quality of collected biowaste flows is thereby affected by the presence of several undesirable fractions, including hazardous domestic waste. Material recovery strategies such as the production of soil conditioner for agricultural purposes therefore appears difficult to implement in a safe manner.

This Special Issue is focused on innovative solutions for the biological treatment of biowaste collected in urban areas. The submission of research articles, case studies, and review articles related but not limited to the following topics is encouraged:

• Process mechanisms and operation, optimization, monitoring, modeling, and applications;
• Treatment of pathogens and solid micro-plastics) and other emerging pollutants;
• Resource recovery (e.g., nutrients recovery, high-value compounds), reuse, and recycling;
• Energy valorization (e.g., biogas production form urban biowaste);
• Biowaste preprocessing, including biowaste storage and pretreatment;
• Biowaste processing, including thermal treatment, composting, and anaerobic digestion;
• Biowaste residues from treatment, end-of-life management under circular economy investigations;
• Life-cycle assessment and carbon footprint;
• Techno-economic assessment and social perception of waste-to-resource processes;
• Low-cost technologies;
• Policy.

Prof. Dr. Rémy Bayard
Guest Editor

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• organic waste
• biowaste
• urban waste
• waste management
• organic waste treatment
• thermal treatment
• composting
• anaerobic digestion
• reuse
• resource recovery
• recycling