The FertiCycle research and training network has provided a unique opportunity for the ESRs to acquire the scientific knowledge and technical skills needed to develop new treatment and formulation technologies for the sustainable upcycling of organic waste resources into high-quality bio-based fertilisers required in a circular economy. Such competences are sought after by many sectors of society, both in academia, industry and public service. Additionally, all ESRs have achieved important generic skills – project management, research communication and outreach, intellectual property rights and patenting, academic writing and research proposal development – both through training, but also more importantly through own experiences in practice. Finally, the involvement of the smaller and larger industry partner organisations has provided amble opportunities for the ESR to engage with the private sector to get experience on modes of work and cross-disciplinary collaboration during their internships/secondments, but also during consortium and bilateral meetings.
The FertiCycle research vision has been based on the cradle-to-cradle concept that all nutrient-containing products can be recycled in a waste-free and cyclic system, where their entire lifecycle is considered and dealt with. Potentially, this should be able to i) limit negative impacts on soil, air and water quality ii) substitute fossil resources depletion and energy consumption from synthetic fertiliser production and iii) establish synergy with bioenergy production from waste. Research, development and innovation in the FertiCycle project have focused on more efficient processes for this and on creating multiple products, including novel, high-quality, bio-based fertilisers. We have been successful in establishing a creative and collaborative ESR network for in-depth science on these topics, and the research of the individual ESRs has produced a lot of experimental and empirical data on bio-based fertiliser production, application, utilisation, emissions and markets. Although no patents have been filed yet, several of our private sector partners have expressed commercial interest in the ESR research results with potential for further development of high-quality bio-based fertilisers. The project has in this way provided strong opportunities for establishing and developing new collaborations between universities and industry.
The FertiCycle network has also focused on ensuring policy impact of our findings. The FertiCycle PI, Lars Stoumann Jensen (UCPH), was invited to give a presentation to the EU Committee on Agricultural and Rural Development for a public hearing in November 2022 on ‘Reducing impacts of fertilisers from production to end-use, increasing circularity in agriculture’, organized to address the ongoing crisis of fertiliser supply in Europe resulting from the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, in order to communicate the FertiCycle ESR research findings to policy makers, industry, farmers and other end-users, the FertiCycle consortium co-organised the European Sustainable Nutrient Initiative Conference (ESNI) in Brussels Sept 2023 with partners from the Biorefine Cluster Europe network; here several of the ESRs participated with presentations and had opportunity for lots of stakeholder interaction and policy impact.
