RePhoR Webinar Series Launch – Registration Open

On Tuesday, March 11, 2025, the kick-off of the RePhoR webinar series will take place with the presentation of the legal opinion on the end-of-waste status of phosphorus recyclates. The legal opinion was prepared by KOPP-ASSENMACHER Rechtsanwälte as part of the BMBF funding guideline for Regional Phosphorus Recycling (RePhoR), which the FiW supports with the scientific transfer project TransPhoR. It analyzes the legal framework regulating the transition of phosphorus recyclates from waste status to product status. The entire recovery and recycling chain is examined, with particular focus on the specific requirements arising from the EU Fertilizer Regulation.

Another key focus is on industrial applications of phosphorus recyclates, for which there are currently no uniform regulations.

The legal opinion is available for download at the following link: https://www.bmbf-rephor.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Rechtsgutachten_Abfallende_Phosphorrezyklat.pdf

The RePhoR webinar series provides a platform for an illustrative presentation of results and practical experiences from the RePhoR joint projects, as well as the accompanying cross-cutting topics. The thematic spotlights offer practical insights, potentials, and challenges – including the transferability of results – to promote the utilization of outcomes and knowledge transfer. Following the presentations, further applications and possibilities will be discussed.

Starting in March 2025, several compact RePhoR webinars (lasting between one and 1.5 hours) will be offered. In the first half of 2025, the focus will be on the results of the cross-cutting topics; from the second half of 2025, experiences from the technical implementation of the joint projects will be presented.

The webinars are aimed at stakeholders from politics, regulatory authorities, municipalities, industry, academia, practitioners, and society. Participation is free of charge. Registration is possible at the following link: https://www.bmbf-rephor.de/rephor-webinare/

Webinars already scheduled include “Sustainability Assessment of Phosphorus Recycling” on May 19, 2025, and “Plant Availability of Phosphorus Recyclates” on June 17, 2025.

Phosphorus is an essential and non-substitutable building block in all living organisms and is primarily needed as a fertilizer for productive agriculture. The finite phosphate ore reserves are limited to a few, partly politically unstable regions in the world and are increasingly contaminated. Germany, like almost all countries in the European Union (EU), has no domestic raw phosphate deposits and is therefore completely reliant on imports. This dependency poses significant risks to supply security and leaves the market vulnerable to price fluctuations. For this reason, phosphorus was already included on the EU list of critical raw materials in 2014 to incentivize recycling activities. An important role in securing future supply is played by the recovery of phosphorus from phosphorus-rich waste streams, such as wastewater and sewage sludge.

Within the framework of the BMBF-funded measure Regional Phosphorus Recycling (RePhoR), large-scale recovery is being implemented and supported in seven joint projects. Various obstacles hinder the market entry of fertilizer recyclates, including inconsistent or unclear legal regulations regarding pollutant limits, the certification process, and factors such as the social acceptance of new products. The FiW coordinates the networking and transfer project TransPhoR.