Nextgen serves as a best-practices demonstration for new policy position paper
Nutrient pollution and inefficiencies in the nutrient cycle require additional action at the EU level to improve food security, protect human health and preserve the ecosystem.
In this context, the EU has released a public consultation to improve legislation on the topic.
Answering to the call, our parter Water Europe released a policy-oriented paper to encourage a water-smart Nutrient management action plan. The water sector and particularly the utilities are key actors to recycle and recover nutrients but it needs to be supported by:
- Raising Awareness through efficient monitoring to better understand the impact of nutrients on water and our environment
- Reducing nutrients uses with targets and a clear framework for legislative clarity, that includes to:
- Close the nutrient cycle to stop nutrient loss, recover and recycle through nature base solutions for instance
- Reduce the exploitation of natural (virgin) resources to reduce the dependency of importations
- Enable recovery and recycling of materials with good quality and efficient function suitable for their applications
Investing in research and development to find and deploy technological solutions is key. To demonstrate the feasibility and limits of circular nutrient management, the position paper cites 4 EU Projects, one of them being Nextgen water solutions.
Have a look at the policy-oriented paper here: