Anthropogenic material flow analysis of phosphorus in the European Union

Abstract

The European Union is nearly entirely dependent on imports of phosphorus for its food production, yet there are high losses and wastes in the food commodity chain. There is currently no direct P Regulation or Directive at EU level that would make EU countries liable to its application. This results in unsustainable P practices in the EU leading to environmental and resource related challenges. Based on previous Phosphorus Flow Analysis, the management of the European Union's phosphorus flows; processes and stocks will be investigated (Phosphorus import into EU; soil, waste management and hydrosphere). The European phosphorus balance will be analysed and presented by STAN, to quantify the losses of phosphorus in the EU15 P cycle. The main goal and novel part of this thesis is the analysis of current P policies at EU level and the introduction of EU policy recommendations for future EU P policy. Current and potential future European policies addressing the flow "P imports" and the three processes "hydrosphere", "soil" and "waste management" will be analysed, determining how effective current P policy is in tackling challenges regarding environmental protection and resource availability in the EU. According to the analysis of the EU P Balance, the over application of P on EU soils pose the greatest environmental challenges. In order to overcome the current unsustainable use of P, the EU must firstly implement agricultural policy directed at the use of P at farm level, based on contemporary farming technologies. Subsequently, the application of agricultural policy, as estimated in Figure 1, will have the greatest effect on the hydrosphere and import of P. The recommended policies for the flow "import" and the three processes "soil", "waste management" and "hydrosphere" are estimated to reduce 45% of excess P import to the EU.