The new Regulation, among other aspects, promotes the use of recycled or organic materials and determines the maximum level of cadmium.
The Official Journal of the European Union has published Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 laying down provisions for making fertilizer products available on the market.
The new Regulation, among other aspects, promotes the use of recycled or organic materials in order to fertilize by establishing harmonized conditions for making available on the market fertilizers produced from such materials throughout the domestic market. Promoting greater use of recycled nutrients would contribute more to the development of the circular economy and allow a more efficient use of nutrients in general, while reducing the Union’s dependence on nutrients from third countries. Therefore, the scope of harmonization should be extended to include recycled and organic materials.
On the other hand, contaminants that contain fertilizer products, such as cadmium, can pose a risk to human, animal or plant health, safety or the environment, as they accumulate in the environment and enter the food chain , that is why its content will be limited. In the case of organic fertilizers, the maximum level of cadmium is 1.5 mg / kg of dry matter, in the case of organo-mineral fertilizer the limit value will be 3 mg / kg of dry matter for fertilizers with a phosphorus content (P) of less than 5% expressed as P2O5 or 60 mg / kg when the P content is greater than 5%.
