If we are serious about the problem of wasted phosphorus product, then there are a number of areas the fertilizer industry and agribusiness could focus on to prevent a future market meltdown of ‘peak phosphorus’ proportions.
Many of these were set out in a recent article published by the Institute for Sustainable Futures, when it stated the following targets;
• increasing the efficiency of fertiliser application (only 20% to 30% of P in fertiliser is taken up by plants every year)
• recovering and reapplying waste such as urine and faeces (adults excrete 98% of the phosphorus they consume!)
• reducing phosphorus losses from crop spillages, non-edible crop by-products, and wastage during food processing, retail and household food consumption
• reducing the quantity of meat consumed in the average diet (producing meat products require 10 times the phosphorus required to produce vegetable-based products).
A 2013 report by Dr Dana Cordell and Dr Stuart White, of Sydney’s University of Technology, which was published through the scientific journal Agronomy, explained how an integrated approach to phosphorus use on farms could achieve the highest efficiency rates. The report combined a number of current practices used to improve efficiency, with, “…examples ranging from increasing efficiency in the agricultural and mining sector, to technologies for recovering phosphorus from urine and food waste.” The report went on to highlight how there is no silver bullet for wasting less phosphorus, but instead a mixture of measures taken together could prove most effective. It stated that, “An integrated approach will enable scientists and policy-makers to take a systematic approach when identifying potential sustainable phosphorus measures.”
Meanwhile the Institute For Sustainable Futures also questioned current practices, asking, “Do we need national phosphorus recovery targets? Subsidies on renewable phosphate fertilisers? Phosphorus use cap and trade schemes? Perhaps it’s high time to form an Intergovernmental Panel on Phosphorus Security.”
While some of these ideas might seem radical, they are only part of the early discussion that will hopefully delay or put an end to potentially catastrophic problems if phosphorus markets begin to react in the way that today’s oil markets do.
Certainly there is pressure on governments to act to ensure that their populations have food security. One such institute applying pressure is Phosphorus Futures, an NGO that is part of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Partnership on Nutrient Management. In a recent report it noted that, “Food demand is on the rise globally with no slowing down in sight. More demand for meat and dairy, especially in China and other rapidly growing economies, means more demand for fertilizers. While our bodies only need around 0.4 kg of P each year, we are mining 22.5 kg of phosphate rock for each person’s diet.”
Many industries are aiming to be a part of the circular economy, but clearly phosphorus fertilizer manufacturers are some way off. With such a low rate of return from the fertilizer supplier to the consumers’ plate, perhaps everyone in the industry should be thinking less about supplying more fertilizer, and more about wasting less phosphorus.