**1.1 Production of MSW in the EU countries**

 Among the EU countries, there are huge differences in the production as well as in the treatment of MSW. The average production per country varies from 254 kg/y in Romania to 758 kg/y in Denmark with the average to be 474 kg/y. Cyprus produced approximately 630 kg/y, Greece 650 kg/y, and Spain 495 kg/y (**Figure 1**).

**Figure 1.** 

*Waste production and management in the EU countries.* 

#### *The Use of Composted Municipal Solid Waste under the Concept of Circular Economy… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.83386*

Municipal waste per capita in the EU decreased from 523 kg per person in 2007 to 474 kg per person in 2014, in part because of the economic downturn.

The share of recycled or composted municipal waste in the EU-28 (including Croatia) increased from 31% in 2004 to 44% in 2014. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) [3], trends in the past decade also include a shift away from landfilling and a 56% drop in net greenhouse gas emissions from municipal waste management between 2001 and 2010. Recycling and composting range from 64% in Germany to 12% in Slovakia and Malta (EU average, 44%). Six member states landfill less than 5% of their municipal waste, 8 member states landfill over 70% of their municipal waste (EU average, 28%), 10 member states incinerate over 35% of their municipal waste, and 8 member states incinerate less than 2% of their municipal waste (EU average, 27%) [11]. The overall increase in the recycling rate appears in some items like paper/cardboard, glass, metals, plastics, and textiles. In contrast, increases in biowaste recycling are much more modest [3].

 Packaging waste in the EU in 2011, measured by weight, is made up of paper and cardboard (40%), glass (20%), plastic (19%), wood (15%), and metal (6%), according to Eurostat [2]. In 2013, 65% of packaging was recycled in the EU-28, although material-specific recycling rates varied a great deal: 85% for paper and cardboard packaging, 74% for metallic packaging, 73% for glass packaging, 36% for wooden packaging, and 37% for plastic packaging. Moreover, in yearly base almost 9 million t of end-of-life vehicles (ELV) are generated in the EU and can be recovered almost 80% of ELV materials [11, 12].

A significant issue of MSW is the food waste (FW), and according to FAO [13], in 2011 it is estimated that 35% of food (including supply chain) is mostly lost at the consumer level. Moreover, 1.3 billion t of edible foodstuffs (equivalent with onethird of the global food production) are lost yearly [13, 14], and this is sufficient to feat one-eighth of worldwide population [15]. Additionally, the total CO2 equivalences of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the entire FW is about 3.49 billion t [15], and the annual bulk-trade value of produced and unconsumed food is estimated at 936 billion \$.

The management of MSW is an increasing problem in small communities as well as in insular communities such as (Malta, Crete, Sicily, and Cyprus) because of the fast increase in population density, which is leading to the collapse of landfill sites [9]. It is open of question nowadays as indicated by Zorpas et al. [15], "how a small island will implement the concept of circular economy" with all the ambitious targets that were set. This perspective presents a significant challenge for any insular community as the European Union Landfill Directive has presented stringent requirements for waste disposal sites and requires a reduction for waste (biodegradable) being dumped [16].

#### **1.2 Circular economy and wastes**

 According to Winans et al. [17], there are limited data about the clear evidence of the origin of the concept of circular economy. However, according to Ellen MacArthur Foundation [18], some contributions include researches from the United States as may also have been stimulated by Rachel Carson's Silent Spring [19] , which states that "limits to growth" thesis of the Club of Rome in the 1970s, the "spaceship earth" metaphor presented by Barbara Ward and Kenneth Boulding, and work by eco-economist Herman Daly [20]. Pearce and Turner [21] proposed the general framework of circular economy with emphasis on product resource and pollution. The main principles were presented by Zorpas and Lasaridi [5], Wu et al. [22], and Zorpas et al. [23], and more specifically the well-known 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and the 6Rs (reuse, recycle, redesign, remanufacture, reduce, recover) by Jawahir

and Bradley [24]. Moreover, Zorpas [25] indicated the concept of "11R," which starts from refuse and ends to recover.

Waste generation is the other side of the coin of resource exploitation and potential scarcity. Therefore, it is interwoven with global environmental security and governance, posing a problem that has grave environmental, social, and economic repercussions for all nations, for the current and future generations.

The concept of circular economy appeared in Europe in 1980 and 1990 with several other policies that also appear in the EU drawing on ideas that can be traced to 1970 [26]. Following the concern around high commodity prices, the European Commission (EC) launched a *flagship* initiative on resource efficiency, which at the beginning was operationalized through the roadmap for a resource-efficient Europe [27]. This was followed up with the declaration of a range of policy measures known cooperatively as the Circular Economy Package.

During 2014, the European Commission (EC) published a statement entitled "Toward a circular economy: A zero waste program for Europe." This report provides emphasis on the "the EU and the Member States should encourage investment in circular economy innovation and its take-up" [28]. Nevertheless, before the end of 2014, the proposals on the circular economy were eliminated as part of the drive to cut red tape [29]. During 2015 a new proposal focused on circular economy was realized by the European Commission. The new proposal entitled "Circular Economy closing the Loop – An EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy" sets out the new targets, the policies on the circular economy [30].

The EC's action plan for the circular economy has an ambitious goal: "to treat waste as a resource and to turn Europe into a circular economy." Although the recommended policies go far beyond the waste division, waste division management plays a key role in the transition to a circular economy. As such, the EC's 2015 action for a circular economy sets the current scene for a new approach to waste management in Europe.

The action plan sets out a policy framework that builds on and integrates existing policies and legal instruments. In particular, the European Circular Economy Action Plan proposes amendments to legislation relating to waste and landfills (which were due for revision). Changes on the following legislations were proposed by the EC in order to turn Europe into a circular economy: (i) Directive 1999/31/EC [16] on the landfill of waste, (ii) Waste Framework Directive (WFD) 2008/98/EC [31] on waste, (iii) Directives 2000/53/EC [32] on end-of-life vehicles, 2006/66/EC [33] on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, 2012/19/ EU [34] on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), and (iv) Directive 94/62/EC [35] on packaging and packaging waste. The action plan suggests three specific changes to the regulations by including the following targets by 2030: (a) a target to prepare 65% of municipal waste for reuse and recycling, (b) a binding landfill target to reduce landfill to a maximum of 10% of municipal waste, and (c) a target to prepare 75% of packaging waste for reuse and recycling by 2030 (with supplementary targets for specific packaging material).

On the one hand, it is important to achieve a reuse or recycling of 65% of MSW and reduce binding landfill. On the other hand, the use of MSW in soils as a source of nutrients and the main way to reuse the organic matter is not an optional target in the EU and for extension to other countries (**Figure 2**). In fact, this is an essential part of the circular economy, and the role of the administrations to ensure this use is crucial. However, we should consider that the "requirements that have to be content by a material derived from waste to confirm that the quality of the material is such that its use is not detrimental for human health or the environment" [36].

Considering developing and promoting recycling in the concept of circular economy, the main fraction of MSW is organics; those could be very useful to

*The Use of Composted Municipal Solid Waste under the Concept of Circular Economy… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.83386* 

**Figure 2.** 

*Circular economy time line from 2015 to 2030.* 

 provide several nutrition to soils as an acceptable method to treat them is composting [37, 38]. However, composts should cease to be waste only if they are placed on the market for specific purpose and only if acceptable criteria will be given [6]. Creating compost delivers economic and more specific ecological and environmental benefits. The production of compost with high and reliable quality expands its use and avoids unnecessary regulatory burden or other legal certainties. Nowadays, the quality of composted materials is determined only by the end use and classified according to its physicochemical characteristics. Having in mind the cure of circular economy and industrial symbiosis, the development of end waste criteria (EWC) for any organic material before the production of compost could be extremely helpful. For example, a bad quality compost with low C/N ratio or low organic matter or low bulking density could be useful for restoration of mining activities [39].
