1. Revision of Ecolabel Decisions for Soil improvers and Growing media:
Proposal on scope and definition
Joint Research Centre (JRC)
IPTS - Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
Seville - Spain

2. PROJECT BACKGROUND
1998:
Initial criteria were published for the award of the European Eco-label for Soil Improvers
Criteria were focussed on the use of soil improvers for home gardening.
2001:
First revision broadened the scope to professional applications of soil improvers and extended the criteria to cover growing media
2005:
The criteria set for Soil Improvers and Growing Media were split up and two different decisions were published, 2006/799/EC for soil improvers and 2007/74/EC for growing media.
April 1998:
In April 1998, initial criteria were published for the award of the European Eco-label for Soil Improvers. The criteria focussed entirely on the use of soil improvers for home gardening.
June 2001:
A first revision of the criteria was finalised in June During this revision, an important point of attention was to broaden the scope to professional applications of soil improvers and to extend the criteria to cover growing media as well.
2005:
As a result of this process of revision, the criteria set for Soil Improvers and Growing Media were split up entirely and therefore two different decisions were published, 2006/799/EC for soil improvers and 2007/74/EC for growing media.

3. Revision process: Objectives
Merging soil improvers + growing media
Broadening the scope to mulch
Revision of the criteria in the base on:
Commission statement
Legal framework
Waste Framework Directive
New Regulation on fertilizers (ongoing)
Ecolabel Regulation 66/2010
This revision will span both product groups; thus common criteria for both soil improvers and growing media will be developed, which are only differentiating between technical product characteristics where necessary.
Other objective of this revision is addressing the possibility to broaden the scope to mulch.
The revision should be developed in the framework of the new legislation:
EoW criteria on biodegradable waste
New regulation on fertilisers
Art 6.6. Ecolabel Regulation, related to the presence of hazard substances in products awarded by ecolabel.

4. Current criteria
Despite of this separation, both products are made of the same ingredient, and thus they share the main criteria, as is shown in Figure 1, so the merging of both products group makes sense.

5. Scope and definition Soil improvers  Growing media  Mulch? 
CEN/TC Soil improvers and growing media
Definition of mulch
Functions
Could it be defined as SI?
Ingredients
Are new criteria needed?
Regarding scope and definition, the definitions of Soil improver and growing medium are widely agreed by mean of CEN/TC 223 Soil Improvers and Growing media, but the definition of Mulch is not so clear, so it is needed to define the product, its functions and ingredients and if it could be defined as soil improver, and if new criteria are necessary.

6. Considered by CEN/TC223 as soil improvers
Soil improver = Material added to soil in situ primarily to maintain or improve its physical properties, and which may improve its chemical and/or biological properties or activity
Growing medium = Material, other than soils in situ, in which plants are grown
No specific definition for mulches
Considered by CEN/TC223 as soil improvers
on the grounds that, although they are
applied as a surface layer on soil, they
ultimately get incorporated into the soil.
The CEN/TC223 Committee for Soil Improvers and Growing Media applies the following definitions for Soil Improvers and Growing Media in most if not all Standards they develop associated with these products. These definitions are described in the 1999 CEN report CR13456 Soil improvers and growing media - Labeling, specifications and product schedules:
Soil Improvers
“Material added to soil in situ primarily to maintain or improve its physical properties, and which may improve its chemical and/or biological properties or activity.”
Growing media
“Material, other than soils in situ, in which plants are grown
There is no specific definition of mulches applied within CEN/TC223, but the definitions provided allow deriving that mulches are considered by CEN/TC223 as soil improvers on the grounds that, although they are applied as a surface layer on soil, they ultimately get incorporated into the soil.

7. Ecolabel Decisions SI and GM
Same definitions as CEN/TC 223
Definition of SI in the User Manual EU Ecolabel Soil Improvers
“can loosely be used to describe any material which improves
the physical, chemical and/or biological properties of soil.
However, the more usual interpretation relates to materials
which are added to soils to enhance their physical properties.
Such materials include bulky organic manures, and various
types of composted materials which may or may not also
provide some useful quantities of plant nutrients.
They can be subdivided in soil conditioner, planting materials or mulches.”
The User Manual of EU Ecolabel for Soil improvers includes a definition that consider mulches as a kind of soil improver

8. PAS 100:2011. Specification for composted materials
Definitions within standards on compost
PAS 100:2011. Specification for composted materials
‘Mulch: material spread and allowed to
remain on the soil surface to conserve
soil moisture, suppress weeds and shield
soil particles from the erosive forces of raindrops and runoff'
We have searched other standards, and standards on compost set the specific function and way of application that distinguish mulches from soil improver. It is applied on the soil surface and the functions are..

9. European Compost Network ECN/ORBIT
Definitions within standards on compost
European Compost Network ECN/ORBIT
"Mulch compost: Compost of generally coarse structure (higher portions of wood chips with a maximum particle size > up to ca. 35 mm) and with less demands regarding maturity"
German standard Quality Assurance RAL GZ "Compost and digestate products"
European compost network and German standard Quality Assurance RAL GZ also provide definition of mulch as a type of compost with particular features of particle size or maturity
"Mulchkompost (Mulch compost):
Low portion of fine particles for soil coverage"

10. ‘Mulch’
A protective covering placed around plants to prevent the loss of moisture, control weed growth, and reduce the erosion and the evaporation.
Constituents?
So we can conclude that the definition of mulch may be something like this… But what are its constituents?

11. Constituents of mulch
Organic constituents: peat, compost, bark, shredded wood, leaves, hay, straw.
Mineral constituents in gardening applications:
stone, gravel.
Mulching films: plastic, textiles, other fibres
It is clear that mulch ingredients are the same than soil improvers and growing media. Organic constituents as peat, compost, bark, shredded wood, leaves… In some gardening applications we can find mineral constituents as stone and gravel, but we also should take into account the materials of mulching films, since they have the same functions than we previously define for mulch. Mulching films are made of plastic, textiles and other fibres, which are completely different from the soil improvers and growing media constituents.

12. Requirements of biodegradability of mulching films used in agriculture
NF U Matériaux biodégradables pour l'agriculture et l'horticulture - Produits de paillage - Exigences et méthodes d'essai
Requirements of biodegradability of
mulching films used in agriculture
and horticulture.
This standard is focused on films made
of bioplastics, textiles, natural fibres, etc,
used to cover the soil.

13. MULCHES Criterion 1 Criterion 2 … Mulching films
As we said at the beginning, on of the objectives of this revision is merging the both product groups, soil improvers and growing media, that is very straightforward since they share constituents and main criteria. We are now trying to define a separate product from soil improvers, mulches, that indeed have different functions and way of application, but we need further study to conclude whether they derive in different criteria or different values. We consider that mulching films are out of the scope of this merging process, since the materials are completely other so they cannot fit in the product group soil improvers, growing media and mulches that we have defined.
Mulching films

14. Recommendations
The definitions of Soil Improvers and Growing Media are consistently applied and match those typically applied in CEN developed Standards for these products.
That a separate product “Mulch” is considered for which Ecolabel criteria are developed.
This is a provisional recommendation, until the outcome of the literature review, which will confirm whether or not the environmental impacts of soil improvers and mulches and mode of use are sufficiently different to warrant a separate classification.

15. Thank you for your attention
improvers and growing media/index.html