Recycling Phosphorus from Agricultural Streams: Grey and Green Solutions

Many intensively farmed soils show high phosphorus (P) contents compared to the thresholds required for agricultural production; 0.084 Mt of P year−1 is leaving the European terrestrial system. This paper focuses mainly on non-point flows of P and provides an overview of the most promising and sustainable solutions for P recycling, centred on waste materials from agriculture. Given the global shortage of the primary resource of P, its management is critical for its efficient use. Nowadays, wastage and loss at every stage of the P cycle raise concerns about future supplies and especially about the resulting environmental problems, such as the eutrophication of surface water bodies and the re…