Reorganisation of sewage sludge recovery
New disposal priorities and obligations
Amendment of the Sewage Sludge Regulations ("Klärschlammverordnung" - AbfKlärV) was the subject of political and technical discussions for over 10 years. They have now been in force since October last year and they have brought far-reaching changes for all everyone involved.
While the Sewage Sludge Regulations to date only covered the spreading of sewage sludge on farming or horticulturally used land, the requirements of the amended version now apply to all soil-related recovery or reuse of sewage sludge, in particular in agricultural recovery (recultivation) and supply to and through mixed and compost producers.
For precautionary reasons, with the new version the legislator would like to end soil-related recovery of larger sewage works (2029 > 100,000 total number of inhabitants and population equivalents (PT), from 2032 > 50,000 PT) and obligate the operators of these plants to recover phosphorus from sewage sludge and sewage sludge ash after staggered transition periods of 12 and 15 years respectively. Soil-related sewage sludge recovery continues to be an option for sewage works ≤ 50,000 PT.
The objective of the amendment is also to harmonise various legal areas. The new Sewage Sludge Regulations themselves now only contain a few explicit test parameters, but refer to the parameters under the Fertiliser Regulations ("Düngemittelverordnung") and the Federal Soil Conservation and Contaminated Site Regulations ("Bundes Bodenschutz- und Altlastenverordnung").
The work of the sewage sludge producers and local administrative authorities increases. Sewage sludge producers must keep a register, in which the data of the sewage sludge recovery are documented. The local administrative authorities must draw up a spreading and placement plan for sewage sludge, sewage sludge mixtures and sewage sludge compost. Electronic data processing options are to be used for this.
The new specifications affect the disposal market. The partial extension of the range of tests and reduced analysis validity make soil-related recovery of municipal sewage sludge significantly more expensive. Energy recovery thus becomes more attractive as a disposal path.
Since 2006, bifa has operated the Bavarian Sewage Sludge Network, an online offer for electronic implementation of the mandatory notification and delivery note procedure for soil-related
recovery on behalf of the Bavarian State Environmental Agency ("Landesamt für Umwelt") (https://www.klaerschlamm.bayern.de). Adaptation of the offer to the new specifications is in preparation.