In 2019, VCM launched a call to producers of nitrogen fertilisers, reclaimed from manure (RENURE), with the aim of making a note to the Flemish Government and the European Commission, asking whether certain nitrogen fertilisers, reclaimed from manure, could be temporarily used as fertiliser substitutes in Flanders, by analogy with the pilot project 'Minerals Concentrates' and 'Kunstmestvrije Achterhoek' in the Netherlands.
 
The Safemanure report, which describes under which criteria products from manure processing (RENURE) can be used as fertiliser replacements in Nitrate Sensitive Zones, published in September 2020 by JRC. However, the legal application of the RENURE criteria in practice is still pending. Currently, DG ENVI is investigating how to close nutrient cycles in Europe, taking into account the findings of the SAFEMANURE report.
 
Therefore, instead of such a 'group application' and in anticipation of the translation of the RENURE criteria into European and Flemish policy, VCM provided an information document on Flemish RENURE products to DG ENVI at the end of 2020. The document contains a list of Flemish RENURE products (ammonium salts, mineral concentrates and thin fraction digestate after thorough separation) and the pioneers who are already, or soon will be, producing these products. This document thus replaces the originally planned 'group application' and, on the one hand, points out the urgency of an end-of-manure status and, on the other hand, already provides more information on possible project cooperation, in which the concerns of the European Commission concerning the stability of the products, prevention of nutrient losses and ammonia emissions,... are addressed.

The full document can be read here.