Sustainable Biodegradable Waste Management for Circular Economy: Comparative Assessment of Composting Technologies

Waste management is essential for advancing sustainable development and applying circular economy principles. The growing generation of waste—particularly organic municipal waste—combined with limited processing technologies, financial constraints, and overconsumption, intensifies its negative environmental and social impacts. This study examines the conditions necessary for implementing the circular economy concept in the context of organic municipal waste management. The research is based on literature review and an experiment involving the composting of biodegradable waste classified under code 20 02 01, analyzing its transformation into a soil improver commonly known as compost. Two composting approaches—single-stage and two-stage—were compared to evaluate their effectiveness in producing a high-quality end product that complies with national and EU legal standards, as well as the requirements for obtaining decisions (certificates) from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). The study is particularly relevant in light of the increasing volume of this waste stream, which exceeds 1.8 million tons annually in Poland, and the ambitious recycling targets set by the European Union, requiring 55% to be achieved by 2025. Results demonstrate that both composting methods contribute to circular resource use but differ in process efficiency and final product quality. These findings provide practical guidance for selecting composting technologies and support progress towards more sustainable, circular waste management. Moreover, they help define the output parameters of the products, which enables proper categorization and facilitates the issuance of relevant decisions from the MARD.