Proceesings strategies for farm livestock slurries - an EU collaboration

Abstract

Livestock numbers in the European Union (EU) represent nearly 10% of the world total; much of this is concentrated in specific regions. The resulting local manure surpluses have led to a series of environmental problems, especially water pollution, ammonia emission and odour nuisance. In response to this, many governments have introduced regulations specifying minimum requirements and restrictions for the storage and spreading of wastes. A common theme underpinning these rules is the closer matching of manure nutrient applications to their uptake by crops and the avoidance of spreading in sensitive areas. Treatment of wastes, including processing to produce useful products, represents an important waste management option; in some situations, treatment may indeed represent the only effective management option in satisfactorily dealing with the manure. Such processes have received considerable interest with much research now on-going in many countries. However, there is a need both to bring together many of the ideas being explored and to assess them in terms of effectiveness. An EU Concerted Action drawing on representatives from fourteen leading European institutions in the area of livestock waste management has been set up to focus effort in this task.