The role of management instruments in the diversion of organic municipal solid waste and phosphorus recycling

Abstract

Organic waste, which contains essential plant nutrients such as phosphorus, constitutes 30%–50% of municipal solid waste in developed countries. Unfortunately, much of this resource is buried in landfills or incinerated. Many jurisdictions have, therefore, adopted the diversion of organic waste and the recycling of nutrients as policy goals. We used data sets from Europe and Ontario, Canada, to explore the impact of socio-economic and management factors on the rates of organic waste diversion and examined the effect of this diversion on phosphorus recycling. Organic diversion rates were highly correlated with income in Europe and with infrastructure, such as source-separated organic waste collection, in Ontario. Significant correlations were also observed between diversion rates and the use of policy instruments such as economic incentives, legislative organic waste bans, and curbside bag limits. We estimated that 39%–63% of the phosphorus in diverted organics is returned to arable land. Ultimately, we found that although socio-economic factors influence the success of organic waste diversion, policies, accessible infrastructure, economic incentives, and legislative requirements can be leveraged to improve the recycling rate of organic waste and the nutrients they contain.