The Project
Every year, Europe generates over 58 million tonnes of food waste, which presents significant environmental, social, and economic challenges. To address this, the European Union has set ambitious targets as part of its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, aiming to cut food waste per capita by half at retail and consumer levels by 2030 and reduce food losses throughout the food chain.
LANDFEED focuses on five different types of biowastes, each at a different use case.
Furthermore, for each use case a different processing technology is used to transform bio-waste into bio-based fertilisers:
HORECA waste
UC1 | Spain
Food waste generated at two main points – kitchens, during preparation of food, and by customers, who leave out parts of served food.
Technology: Solid-state fermentation of horeca residues using filamentous fungal strains.
Animal waste
UC2 | France
Animal waste, including wastes of meat (slaughterhouse), fish and shellfish (aquaculture).
Technology: Twin-screw extrusion or thermomechanical-chemical (TMC) extraction process.
Olive Oil waste
UC3 | Greece
Olive oil pomace and algae used in the production of BBFs.
Technology: Drying process with biomass burner and CO2 capture.
Multi waste
UC4 | Italy
A mix of several residual streams:
- Sludge from small wastewater treatment plants (without industrial wastewater);
- Sludge from large wastewater treating plants (with industrial wastewater);
- Sludge from freshwater fish farms;
- Residual paste from full-scale microalgae-extracted products;
- Digestate from agriculture residues;
- Residues from orange-based industrial productions;
- Etna volcanic ash.
Technology: Use of mix residues to produce bio-based fertilisers.
Learn MoreDairy waste
UC5 | Poland
Diary industry waste. Including whey, dairy sludges, and water waste from milking process.
Technology: Sequential chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis of diary residues.
The use cases will demonstrate the effectiveness of these technologies, advancing Europe’s self-sufficiency and supporting the EU’s Soil Strategy to restore soil health and enhance biodiversity.
These will be demonstrated in pilot plants for scaling up and followed by the formulation of products for field trials. The formulation will include the development of biodegradable coatings for controlled release. Coatings help release nutrients slowly, improving fertiliser efficiency, optimising yields, and reducing environmental impact, by lowering greenhouse gas emissions and minimising impact on water resources.
LANDFEED’s strategy will focus on developing two types of biodegradable materials: Chitosan and microalgal-based coatings. These coatings will be tested in field trials in each use case under different environmental conditions to validate results and evaluate nutrient release control.