ESTABLISHMENT OF WEIGHTED INDICATORS FOR THE EVALUATION OF
AGRICULTURAL WASTE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES
K. Komnitsas1 and D. Zaharaki
Dpt. Mineral Resources Engineering, Technical University Crete, Chania, Crete,
73100, Greece
Email: 1 komni@mred.tuc.gr
ABSTRACT
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.
Keywords: weighted indicators, agricultural waste treatment, compost
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the European
Commission (LIFE+ Environment Policy & Governance) in the framework of the
WasteReuse LIFE10 ENV/GR/594 project, www.wastereuse.eu.
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