Soil-Concept, a Luxembourgish company specialised in the processing of residual sludge, feels abandoned by the government and has already sought help from the administrative court.

For over 20 years, the company Soil-Concept at Fridhaff has been processing residual sludge to compost. When demand for the material started declining, manager Marc Demoulling sought to expand the side of the business concerned with the thermic processing of sludge. However, this change in direction brought about an ongoing dispute with the Ministry for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development.

Nobody wants anything to do with residual sludge, but we still need to take care of it instead of sending the problem abroad, argues Demoulling. A few years ago, he thus invested in a so-called gasification facility, which can turn sludge into thermic energy.

"Unfortunately, construction costs far exceeded the budget in the end. The project was co-financed by the Ministry, but the €1.2 million that we had to pay on top remain uncovered." Demoulling was forced to pay the extra amount to instal a filter necessary to make the facility operative in the first place.

Two years ago, a study on residual sludge came out, which led to several ministries cancelling their role in the process. The Ministry of the Environment now wants to take care of the procedure themselves, believes Demoulling. Confronted with large stocks, he has to start selling off to France.

Demoulling elaborated on the problems of this avenue: "To legally sell compost abroad, the material cannot be considered waste, which means it requires the 'End of Waste' status first." The stock of Soil-Concept does not respond to the criteria, which is why Demoulling chose to bring the case to the administrative court.

In her response to a respective parliamentary enquiry by MP Fred Keup from the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR), Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development Joëlle Welfring explained that, on 23 March, the court decided to uphold the waste status of Demoulling's stocks.

Nevertheless, the Greens politician expressed her willingness to open a dialogue, and she is scheduled to meet with Demoulling on Wednesday. Demoulling hopes that his business will be maintained as one of three Luxembourgish sites considered to contribute to a residual sludge solution.

Minister Welfring's response underlines that Soil-Concept can continue with thermic processing of sludge, which is also practiced by other companies. Still, she also warns that Soil-Concept has one month to adjust to certain regulations; if not, the company's activities will have to be put on ice.