Opportunities and challenges ahead
18 Feb 2025 afternoon – 19 2025 Feb morning
at Silversquare Bailli in Brussels
Circular fertilisers help us protect our soils and ecosystems, decrease EU dependence on fertiliser imports, and improve resource efficiency. However, there is a lack of understanding on the full socio-economic and environmental benefits of circular fertilisers. The adaptation of the existing technical and legal framework as well as targeted support to innovation on nutrient recycling, will facilitate the broader use and production of circular fertilisers across Europe. Circular fertiliser producers, farmers, civil society organisations, academia and policymakers will get together to discuss the state-of-play and the future of circular fertilisers in Europe.
Agenda
DAY 1: 18 FEBRUARY, Afternoon
| Time | Activity | Speaker(s) | Presentation(s) |
| 13:00 – 13:30 | Registration | — | |
| 13:30 – 13:45 | Welcome and introduction | FER-PLAY coordinator – Dr. José M. Soriano (CETENMA) FER-PLAY project officer Ms. Sofia Pachini (REA.B3) | |
| 13:45 – 14:00 | Keynote from DG AGRI “The next institutional cycle (CAP) to boost the domestic production of circular fertilisers in the EU and to enable a sustainable and fair transition towards sustainable agriculture” | Mr. Stephanos Kirkagaslis (DG AGRI) | Access to the presentation |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Environmental benefits and cost-competitiveness of circular fertilisers + Q&A How do circular fertilizers help us replace the use of energy-intensive synthetic fertilisers and protect the health of our soils and the surrounding ecosystems? | Aline Granjard (European Compost Network) – LIFE BIOBEST Prof. Ľuboš Jurík (SUA) – NENUPHAR | Access to Aline’s presentation Access to Ľuboš’s presentation |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Re-thinking LCA and LCC: enabling full accountability of the socio-economic benefits of circular fertilisers + Q&A The existing LCA methodology struggles to account for fertilizer effects on soils, requiring new indicators, factors, or integration with other assessments to support circular fertilizer use. | Mr. Hasler Iglesias Yañez (CETENMA) Dr. Jorge Senán (University of Vic) – NOVAFERT | Access to Hasler’s presentation Access to Jorge’s presentation |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Coffee Break | — | |
| 15:30 – 16:30 | FER-PLAY recommends – flagship outcomes and considerations for the circular fertilisers community – Collecting comprehensive data on circular fertiliser: FER-PLAY database – How to scale-up circular fertilisers production – Recommendations to foster market uptake – for farmers, producers and local administrations | Ms. Inès Verleden (INAGRO) Mr. Wim Moerman (NuReSys) Ms. Eva María López (CIC) | Access to the presentations |
| 16:30 – 16:45 | Wrap-up and Conclusions | Dr. Elisa Gambuzzi (CETENMA) |
DAY 2: 19 FEBRUARY, Morning
| Time | Activity | Speaker(s) | Presentation(s) |
| 08:30 –09:00 | Registration | — | |
| 09:00 – 09:10 | Welcome | FER-PLAY coordinator – Dr. José M. Soriano (CETENMA) | |
| 09:10 – 09:30 | Keynote – R&D keys for market uptake of circular fertilisers | Prof. Erik Meers (Ghent University) | Access to Erik’s presentation |
| 09:30 – 10:30 | Designing Policy Recommendations Keynote – Diagnosis: regulatory barriers hindering the market uptake of circular fertilisers. Roundtable to co-create policy recommendations for circular fertilisers market uptake | Keynote by Ms. Lucile Sever (EBA) Moderation by Prof. Erik Meers (Ghent University) – NOVAFERT Roundtable speakers: Dr. Lucian Miron (Effost) – ReLEAF Mike Stinavage & Gemma Nohales (Fundació ENC) – LIFE BIOBEST Marcella Fernandes de Souza (Ghent University) – SEMPRE-BIO | Access to Lucile’s presentation |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee break and expo corner | — | |
| 11:00 – 12:00 | Roundtable “Circular fertilisers: what’s next to be done? – directions from R&D projects” Streamlining research and innovation on nutrients recycling. Discussion involving other research projects working on the topic. | Moderation by Dr. José M. Soriano Disla (CETENMA) Roundtable speakers: Dr. Xialei You (LEITAT) – ReLEAF Dr. Hongzhen Luo (Ghent University) – NUTRI-KNOW Prof. Ľuboš Jurík (SUA) – NENUPHAR Dr. Teresa Alvariño (CETAQUA) – WALNUT Mr. Wim Moerman (NuReSys) – bioSOILUTIONS, ValueWaste Mr. Bertrand Vallet (DG RTD) | Access to the presentations |
| 12:00 – 12:15 | Wrap-up and conclusions | FER-PLAY coordinator – Dr. José M. Soriano (CETENMA) | |
| 12:15 – 13:15 | Circular Fertilisers: Chat on safety, benefits & market readiness? – hybrid session This interactive session will explore circular fertilisers (CF), covering their benefits, safety, and market readiness. Experts will discuss how public authorities can support CF production and whether they are legally available and cost-competitive. Short presentations and Q&A will provide insights for consumers, retailers, and local administrators. Register for online participation here | Moderation by Ms. Beray Cayli (ACR+) Speakers: Werner Vogt-Kaute (Naturland) Vanesa Benito (GAIKER) Nicolas Scherrier (Brussels Environment) Morana Jednačak (IPS) | Access to the presentations |
| 13:00 – 14:30 | Networking lunch at the expo corner |
This event has been organised in collaboration with Novafert and with the support of the European Sustainable Nutrient Initiative (ESNI) and Biorefine Cluster Europe.
