Project result in category -
Reduction of nutrients, hazardous substances and toxins inflow into the Baltic

Sustainable biogas project improved the nutrient efficiency of biogas plants

The project has improved the nutrient efficiency of 29 biogas plants as nutrient load sources. The exact reductions have not been measurable as such, but the project has given authorities new information and tools to guide and supervise the biogas plants. Inspection checklists and permitting process have been improved for biogas plants.

Key people from Regional Planning and Environmental and Agricultural ministries have been informed on the need to include biogas industry in the future biomass processing plans, which are currently being made (for household organic waste mostly) in Latvia. Supervision and support authorities have information on best practices for improving environmental risk management and how to support implementation of such practices. The project has suggested to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland that regional nutrient balance (using nutrient maps) and status of the water courses should be used as a criteria for nutrient recycling support scheme for biogas production.

In Latvia, the biogas plants have been informed on high-risk practices and that they should take extra care to minimise them as LSES will supervise them especially closely. In Finland ELY is utilising the project outputs when giving advice to new and existing biogas plants. Some of the recommended good practices also have economic benefits.

The existing Finnish quality assurance scheme will be updated according to the proposal done in the project. This way the scheme will better meet the requirements of the existing legislative framework and make it more useful both for fertiliser producers and users (farmers, food industry). The preparation of Latvian quality assurance scheme proposal provided useful information about similar schemes in Europe and new information to Latvian biogas operators.