International Conference ORBIT2012 Global assessment for organic resources and waste management

During the last years, a big strength has been put on organic resources recovery in order to achieve our aspiration towards a "Recycling Society" and climate stabilisation. Energy, nutrients and organic matter needs have thus driven sustainable management of resources and wastes and promoted new technological developments. In this context, biological processing of organic wastes and the use of natural resources to recover nutrients as phosphorus, to produce soil improvers and to supply energy is of great interest. However regulations on the management of organic resources waste are fragmented. So the current legislation in Europe might be not sufficient to achieve the stated objectives of its effective management. Moreover there is an open question on the tools that can be used to assess the efficiency of management systems for organic resources and waste which lead to the adequate processes selection. Especially the increasing use of Life Cycle Assessment tools has to be carefully addressed with a special focus on the considered indicators and the local applicability of the results. Following the ORBIT conferences tradition, ORBIT2012 deals with all aspects of organic resources and waste management with a special focus on the assessment of technologies with environmental, social and economical point of view. A large place is given to climate change and decision making tools between waste treatment options. Traditional themes as energy recovery (Biofuels, biogas, hydrogen production), biological treatments (composting and anaerobic digestion) and also mechanical biological treatment still remain central issues that are discussed in order to improve technologies and product quality, especially for land application. More local approaches such as home and community composting are also discussed as they may represent solutions that have to be considered in an integrated organic waste management plan which includes prevention. Special emphasis is also laid on EU policies and strategies for sustainable management of organic resources and waste. The conference presents high quality and innovative research in all the aforementioned topics and includes oral presentations, poster sessions and specific workshops.