Results of Laboratory and Field Studies on Wastepaper Inclusion in Biowaste in View of Composting

A comparative study was run during 13 months on two biowaste definitions involving both lab tests and field surveys. A narrow biowaste definition, allowing only biogenic wastes was compared to a broad biowaste definition, including compostable man-made products, such as non-recyclable wastepaper and diapers. Two similar real-life test areas with each about 425 inhabitants were defined in a semiurban area North of Antwerp. During the whole test period the amount of curbside waste, this is biowaste and restwaste (the ‘non-biowaste’), was continuously and precisely measured and also analysed regularly (twice per season) for composition. At the start, middle and end of the test, surveys were held with a questionnaire for the population of each test area. In each season of the year, bench-scale aerobic composting experiments were run to evaluate the influence of both biowaste definitions on the composting process and the compost end product.