Horizon 2020 Project RUSTICA: Demonstration of circular biofertilisers and
implementation of optimized fertiliser strategies and value chains in rural communities
Particula Group is starting the first days of new year by taking part of the HORIZON 2020 RUSTICA project. The project is gathering sixteen partners joined in the network with all the relevant system actors such as universities, companies, research organisations, technology providers, education and communication centres, regional policy makers, environmental organisations, farmer’s organisations from Europe and Colombia.
The RUSTICA projects provides a technical solution to convert organic residues from the fruit and vegetable sector into novel bio-based fertiliser products of high quality that address the needs of modern (organic) agriculture.The overall objective of the RUSTICA project is to foster the technical validation, demonstration and implementation of bio-based fertiliser and soil improvement production techniques focusing on waste from the fruit and vegetable agro-food system to close nutrient cycles on a regional level. This objective will be achieved through a transdisciplinary multi-actor approach, aimed at validating, demonstrating and integrating 6 technological options for mineral nutrient recovery from fruit and vegetable waste streams in multi-valorisation configurations in 4 regions across the European Union.
Particula Group will assess the life cycle of RUSTICA products and processes to quantify their environmental footprint and determine whether or not they can lead to real environmental savings. Particula Group will evaluate the feasibility of the technologies under development and optimisation in this project in a systemic matter. We are responsible for implementing the assessment of ecological and social impact using the (Environmental/Social) LCA – Life Cycle Assessment method of the technologies individually and combined into different feasible biomass cascades.
The duration of the project is set to 48 months.