In his speech at the ESNI-NERM conference on 28 April 2026 in Brussels, Henning Lyngsø Foged said that the production of bio-based fertilisers (BBFs) has a moderate socio-economic value. However, there are huge variations, and the production of BBFs from nutrient-rich organic wastes is especially giving good meaning to prevent otherwise thermal and oxidative treatments, such as incineration, pyrolysis, nitrification-denitrification and composting, which means a huge processing loss of valuable nutrients, especially N. The socio-economic value of BBF production proved to be mostly related with the ability of the value chain to recycle the N and P nutrients without processing losses, and the most perspective value chains based on municipal waste types, such as wastewater. Promoting market development for BBFs would require the establishment of mechanisms for reverting the value of the ecosystem services of the BBF production to the value chain operators. Furthermore, he claimed that effective policies in the area of BBF production require the definition of terms to characterise the related material types, since this gives reason for much confusion today.
Download the presentation here, and the poster with further details on the background research.