K.Komnitsas, D. Zaharaki, "Establishment of weighted indicators for the evaluation of agricultural waste treatment technologies," presented at 4th international conference on Management of solid wastes in crisis: new challenges and prospects,Athens,Greece,2012.
Agricultural wastes (AW) which are produced in large volumes in all Mediterranean countries are often characterized by seasonal production and substantial contamination potential. Thus, various technologies have been developed for their treatment in order to prevent the adverse impacts caused by their uncontrolled disposal on soil and water bodies as well as for their valorisation. In the line of WasteReuse project “Best practices for Agricultural Wastes (AW) treatment and reuse in the Mediterranean countries” LIFE10 ENV/GR/594, co-funded by EC LIFE+ Environment Policy & Governance, weighted technical, environmental, economic and socio-cultural indicators have been established for the evaluation of the most important AW treatment technologies developed so far mainly through European Commission (EC) funding. In this study emphasis is given to the technologies aiming to produce compost and water which can be used as soil improver or for irrigation respectively, increasing thus crop yield especially in areas suffering from desertification and improving the long term sustainability of agriculture in the Mediterranean region.