Austria is now the third European country, after Switzerland and Germany, to make P-recycling from sewage sludge legally obligatory (from sewage works ≥ 20 000 p.e., by 2033). Published as part of the Waste Incineration Ordinance (Abfallverbrennungsverordnung 2024 – AVV 2024), the new regulation requires that, from 1st January 2033, all sewage works with design capacity works ≥ 20 000 p.e., must either incinerate their sewage sludge with P-recycling or must otherwise recover 60% of the sewage works inflow phosphorus. Where phosphorus is recycled from sewage sludge either 80% of the P must be recovered from the ash, or the totality of the ash must be used to produce a fertiliser compliant with Austrian fertilisers regulations. Sewage sludge and/or sludge incinerator plant operators will have to report annually the P-content of ashes or P inflow to the sewage works, type of P-recovery, tonnage of P recovered annually, tonnage of sewage sludge (DM) annually.
Austria Abfallverbrennungsverordnung 2024 – AVV 2024, CELEX 32010L0075, published in the Austrian Official Journal, 13th May 2024 (see section 4) https://www.bmk.gv.at/themen/klima_umwelt/abfall/recht/vo/abfallverbrennung.html