Report on current policy instruments and governance structures in BSR

The report identifies significant regulatory and institutional hurdles to phosphorus (P) reuse in the Baltic Sea Region, particularly within the EU's fertilizer and waste frameworks. While the EU's Circular Economy package provides a positive signal, the study finds that 'silo-thinking' across sectors and a lack of harmonized national policies hinder the transition from linear to circular nutrient economies. It highlights a risk of 'lock-in' to sub-optimal technologies, such as mono-incineration in Germany, and recommends mainstreaming circular economy principles at local and national levels to support diverse systemic solutions like source separation.

• EU regulatory frameworks for fertilizers are primarily designed for chemical products and create administrative hurdles for recovered phosphorus, as they focus on the source of materials rather than the final product and require high concentrations that recycled materials often cannot meet.
• The classification of many phosphorus reuse products as 'waste' under the EU Waste directive restricts their cross-border transport and creates a need for clearer 'end-of-waste' criteria to facilitate their marketability.
• Governance in the Baltic Sea Region is characterized by 'silo-thinking,' where a lack of coordination between the sanitation, agriculture, and forestry sectors prevents the implementation of integrated nutrient reuse solutions.
• There is a risk that narrow national policies may lead to technological 'lock-in'; for example, Germany's focus on phosphorus recovery through mono-incineration may crowd out other promising systemic options.
• While the 'circular economy' concept is gaining traction at the EU level through the Circular Economy package, it has not yet been effectively translated into national or local policies in countries like Sweden and Finland.
• Source-separation technologies face unique structural barriers, including a lack of mandate for municipalities to require household separation and a lack of institutional 'home' for urine recycling.
• The chemical fertilizer lobby is identified as a powerful actor that has contributed to delays in the EU's new fertilizer regulations and resisted stringent reductions in cadmium content.
• Climate change acts as a catalyst for eutrophication in the Baltic Sea by increasing the frequency and magnitude of harmful cyanobacterial blooms, which are exacerbated by anthropogenic nutrient runoff.

APA

Barquet, K., Järnberg, L., & Macura, B. (2019). Report on current policy instruments and governance structures in BSR. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/report-on-current-policy-instruments-and-governance-structures-in-bsr.pdf

Chicago

Barquet, Karina,, Linn, Järnberg, and Biljana, Macura. Report on current policy instruments and governance structures in BSR. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2019. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/report-on-current-policy-instruments-and-governance-structures-in-bsr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Barquet |first1=Karina, |last2=Järnberg |first2=Linn, |last3=Macura |first3=Biljana, |title=Report on current policy instruments and governance structures in BSR |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=4 January 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/report-on-current-policy-instruments-and-governance-structures-in-bsr.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{barquet2019report, author = {Barquet, Karina, and Järnberg, Linn, and Macura, Biljana,}, title = {{Report on current policy instruments and governance structures in BSR}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/report-on-current-policy-instruments-and-governance-structures-in-bsr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }