We want to introduce you to our new category “Did you know that….”. Here we will regularly post interesting facts about topics concerning biogas, waste or Botres itself.

Today we take a closer look at the masses of waste that arise in Europe each year.

Did you know that each year a European citizen produces about 500 kg waste?

With its 448 million citizens, the EU produces 224 million tons municipal waste per year. However, municipal waste only accounts for about 10 percent of the total waste generated in the EU. In 2018, only 47 percent of the European waste was recycled. Lots of it still ends up on landfills, unused, forgotten and harmful for the environment. All in all, 2,538 billion tons of waste were generated in the EU in 2016, municipal waste and industrial waste altogether. An essential part of the generated waste consists of organic materials. In this context, biogas plants can play an important role because instead of depositing the organic waste on landfills, the biogenic part can be used to generate biogas and electricity. Reusing the waste this way will become much more important in today’s circular economy due to the depletion of earth’s resources. According to a new EU directive until 2030 75% of the municipal waste have to be recycled and at maximum 10 % of all types of waste should be deposited. Organic waste bears enormous potential for electricity generation. Depending on the source of waste which should be converted to biogas a different waste-biogas output ratio can be achieved. From 1 million ton food waste, 1,13 TWh can be produced. The biogas potential from 1 million ton farm waste, for example, is 0,19 TWh.

Therefore, always keep in mind: Recycle, reuse, repair, reduce and rethink! #climatechange #botresglobal #biogas