In a sustainable, circular, urban biobased economy, processes and products have positive economic, social and environmental outcomes. In particular, the biobased products produced from urban biowaste and wastewater sludge must respect specific safety criteria to avoid negative impacts on human and animal health and on the environment. Innovative technologies and processes aim to demonstrate the possibility to extract more value from these feedstocks.

However, how does the EU legislation on waste, climate mitigation, renewable energy, water resources, etc. influence their upgrade and their development? How can the EU legislation support innovative value chains and processes, and at the same time assure their safety and sustainability?

This report presents a preliminary analysis of the EU regulatory obstacles and drivers influencing the production of biobased products from urban biowaste and wastewater. This analysis is based on a survey carried out in 2018 by the EU Urban Agenda’s Partnership on Circular Economy. Moreover, this report can provide useful information to local policymakers interested in valorising urban organic resources through the production of biobased products by reporting direct experiences.

The different product categories covered are:
 

• fertilisers;
• biogas/methane;
• bioethanol/methanol;
• biobased chemicals;
• bioplastics;
• biobased food and feed;
• and recovered cellulose.

Considering the heterogeneous EU legislations analysed, the Partnership opted for specific analysis and conclusions for each legislation, instead of an overall conclusion for the entire report.

The paper provides bottlenecks and recommendations for each product category, as well as regulatory drivers. Overall, this is relevant for cities and regions that have a Circular Systemic Solution involving biobased production and would like to understand how to facilitate the transition to a circular bioeconomy. It is also relevant for urban-rural cooperation.