24 07 2018

First steps of the Nutrient Recycling Community

The concept of circular economy is based on the idea of extending as much as possible the lifecycle of any product by reusing and recycling it. This reduces waste and production costs and has a positive environmental impact.  Closing the loop of the nutrient cycle is part of the concept of circular economy. At the moment, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, essential to life, are lost along the entire food chain. The introduction of nutrient recycling can change this and boost the bio-economy efforts in the EU.

With this idea in mind, the Biorefine Cluster Europe is putting in place the Nutrient Recycling Community. The group is beginning to take shape and we would like to share with you the next steps we are planning to take to build this community.
  •      Community memorandum

A memorandum will be prepared over the summer to set the common vision and goals of the group. We understand that the philosophies on how to move forward towards a sustainable society may differ from one organization
to another, yet it is important to establish a common group vision. This memorandum could be considered as a starting point that could be freely used and amended taking into account the own interests and agenda of the different members.

  •     Community enlargement

Apart from building this common ground, we are also in the process of enlarging the community with other members interested in the topic. The idea of developing this community came from the EIG-AGRI Focus Group on Nutrient Recycling, which ended in November 2017. As a continuation of this first group, 8 projects have set a Common Dissemination Booster (CDB) on Nutrient Recycling that will start in September. The CDB is an initiative from the European Commission which encourages projects to come together for a common goal and provides different services to enhance the visibility and outcomes of the project group.

Building on these initial steps, the idea of the Biorefine Cluster Europe is to develop a Nutrient Recycling Community by expanding the original group. This community will be open-access, free-of-charge and inclusive to all willing to join.​​ Please feel free to invite other potential new members to join the group. The BCE has prepared a flyer with some information that you can download.

  • Online dissemination

The Biorefine Cluster Europe intends to provide digital support for the development of the Nutrient Recycling Community, increasing the visibility and online outreach of the group activities. The idea is to put together a digital archive of useful information which can be uploaded for open access on the BCE’s website. The information will then be easily traceble via the publications section and classified under the category of nutrient recycling. If there is any document you would like to disseminate, please feel free to share it with us!

On the other hand, the BCE has already been promoting the community via the online newsletter and the social media. We encourage also you to share with us any useful information on the topic of nutrient recycling via the Biorefine monthly bulletin or the @Bioref_Cluster Twitter account. We will be happy to promote and share any updates on the issue.

  •      Joint conference

Another step we are planning is the organisation of a joint conference in Brussels towards the end of this year or the beginning of the next one, based on and co-organized from active European projects related to this topic.

The conference would subdivide in parallel sessions co-organized by EU projects and European associations. The outcome of the conference is to have a broad basis of support across member states, sectors and scientific disciplines.

We are open to any comments or feedback from you concerning the development of this community, please feel free to share your insights on these next steps. Your ideas, previous experiences and contributions are welcome!

We are looking forward to this fruitful cooperation with all those willing to get involved. Let us know if you want to join us!

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