Nutrient Recycling Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, Segmented By Type (Gaseous Cycle, Sedimentary Cycle, Hydrological Cycle), By Method (Bio Composting, Anaerobic Digestion, Nutrient Recovery from Wastewater, Cover Cropping & Mulching, Aquaponics, Others), By Application (Wastewater Treatment, Food Waste Management, Biogas Production, Forestry Residue, Biobased Fertilizer, Others), By Region and Competition, 2021-2031F

Forecast Period	2027-2031
Market Size (2025)	USD 4.91 Billion
CAGR (2026-2031)	6.91%
Fastest Growing Segment	Hydrological Cycle
Largest Market	Europe
Market Size (2031)	USD 7.33 Billion

Market Overview

The Global Nutrient Recycling Market will grow from USD 4.91 Billion in 2025 to USD 7.33 Billion by 2031 at a 6.91% CAGR. Nutrient recycling involves the extraction and recovery of essential minerals, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, from organic waste streams including wastewater, manure, and agricultural residues for reuse as high-value fertilizers. This market is primarily driven by stringent environmental regulations aimed at mitigating nutrient pollution and the strategic necessity to reduce reliance on imported synthetic fertilizers through circular economy principles. Additionally, the agricultural sector's transition toward regenerative practices has accelerated the demand for recycled nutrient products that enhance soil health and organic carbon levels.

Recent industry data highlights the sector's rapid infrastructure development, particularly within the anaerobic digestion segment. According to the American Biogas Council, in 2024, capital investment in U.S. biogas projects, which utilize digesters to generate nutrient-rich digestate, increased by 40% year-over-year. Despite this robust growth, the market faces a significant challenge in the form of regulatory inconsistency, particularly regarding the "end-of-waste" status of recovered materials, which complicates compliance and restricts the widespread commercial distribution of recycled nutrient products.

Key Market Drivers

Implementation of stringent environmental regulations and nutrient discharge limits is forcing municipal and industrial entities to upgrade wastewater treatment infrastructure, thereby creating a reliable feedstock for the nutrient recycling market. Governments globally are mandating significant reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus runoff to prevent eutrophication in sensitive water bodies, effectively transforming compliance costs into resource recovery opportunities. This regulatory pressure is driving massive capital allocation toward advanced filtration and extraction technologies, ensuring a consistent supply of recovered nutrients while creating a stable market for waste-derived fertilizers. According to Ofwat, in December 2024, the UK water regulator approved an investment package that allocated £6 billion specifically to upgrade wastewater treatment sites for tackling nutrient pollution.

Increasing economic viability driven by volatile synthetic fertilizer prices has further accelerated the adoption of recycled nutrient alternatives. As geopolitical instability and supply chain constraints keep the cost of mined rock phosphate and fossil-fuel-based nitrogen high, agricultural producers are increasingly seeking cost-effective, locally sourced bio-based substitutes. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in June 2025, the average export price for phosphatic fertilizers reached USD 605 per tonne in the first five months of the year, a 12% increase from the previous year. To support this shift toward domestic resilience, governments are heavily subsidizing capacity. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in December 2024, the agency invested $517 million across 76 projects to expand independent fertilizer production, including facilities utilizing nutrient recovery technologies.

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Key Market Challenges

The regulatory inconsistency regarding the "end-of-waste" status of recovered materials creates a significant barrier to the Global Nutrient Recycling Market. When recovered nutrients, such as digestate, lack a defined legal product status, they are frequently categorized as waste by default. This classification imposes complex compliance requirements and restricts cross-border trade, effectively confining these materials to local agricultural application rather than facilitating their entry into the broader supply chain as standardized commercial fertilizers. As a result, nutrient recovery companies face operational uncertainty that discourages the necessary capital investment in advanced processing infrastructure.

This legislative ambiguity directly hampers the scalability of the market and limits the widespread commercial distribution of recycled products. The restricted commercial potential is evident in recent industry utilization rates, which show a lack of value-added processing. According to the 'European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform', in '2024', 'only around 16% of digestate is processed into fertiliser products', with the remaining majority confined to local use. This low conversion rate underscores how regulatory hurdles stifle the transition of nutrient recycling from a niche activity into a robust, globally traded industry.

Key Market Trends

The commercialization of struvite precipitation technologies is actively transitioning from niche pilot demonstrations to widespread industrial deployment, specifically within municipal wastewater treatment facilities. This trend is characterized by the adoption of fluidized bed reactors that recover phosphorus as high-purity magnesium ammonium phosphate, effectively converting problematic mineral deposits into marketable, slow-release fertilizers. Utilities are integrating these systems to generate new revenue streams and ensure operational continuity, moving beyond simple compliance with discharge limits. According to the German Federal Environment Agency, in November 2025, over 50 large-scale phosphorus recovery plants were operational across Germany, recovering more than 20,000 metric tons of elemental phosphorus annually to support domestic agricultural needs.

Simultaneously, the formulation of hybrid organo-mineral fertilizers is emerging as a critical value-added strategy to bridge the performance gap between synthetic and organic inputs. Manufacturers are increasingly fortifying nutrient-rich recovered matrices, such as digestate or compost, with targeted mineral supplements to create standardized, prescription-grade pellets that offer the agronomic precision of chemical fertilizers alongside the soil health benefits of organics. This approach directly addresses the challenge of nutrient variability in waste-derived products, thereby expanding their marketability to conventional farming operations. According to Hello Nature, in December 2024, the company invested USD 50 million to open a new bionutrient facility in Indiana specifically designed to produce 150,000 tons of these advanced organic biosolutions and fertilizers annually using recovered feedstocks.

Segmental Insights

The Hydrological Cycle segment is currently recognized as the fastest-growing category within the Global Nutrient Recycling Market due to the escalating global necessity for sustainable wastewater management and water reclamation. This expansion is primarily driven by stringent environmental regulations enforced by institutions such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which mandate rigorous nutrient removal standards to mitigate water pollution and eutrophication. Consequently, the increasing adoption of technologies that recover resources directly from aqueous systems to address water scarcity is fueling the rapid development of this market segment.

Regional Insights

Europe leads the global nutrient recycling market due to strong regulatory support for sustainable agricultural practices. The European Commission has established frameworks such as the Circular Economy Action Plan, which promotes the recovery of raw materials from waste to minimize environmental impact. Additionally, the EU Fertilising Products Regulation creates a clear legal structure for the production and trade of recycled organic fertilizers, reducing reliance on mineral imports. These government initiatives encourage the adoption of bio-based alternatives across member states, ensuring Europe maintains a primary position in the international sector.

Recent Developments

• In May 2025, EasyMining, a subsidiary of the Ragn-Sells Group, and its partner Gelsenwasser celebrated the groundbreaking of the world’s first full-scale phosphorus recovery plant in Schkopau, Germany. The facility is designed to utilize the proprietary Ash2Phos technology, which recovers over 90 percent of phosphorus from incinerated sewage sludge ash while separating pollutants. Once operational, the plant aims to produce high-quality calcium phosphate for use in fertilizers and animal feed, thereby reducing Europe's reliance on imported phosphate rock. This construction milestone underscored the growing industrial scale of nutrient recycling technologies in meeting future resource demands.
• In May 2024, Cinis Fertilizer commenced production at its first commercial facility in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, establishing a new source of environmentally friendly mineral fertilizer. The plant utilizes a fossil-free production method to recycle residual waste streams from the electric vehicle battery manufacturing industry and the pulp sector into water-soluble potassium sulfate. By repurposing these industrial by-products, the company aims to reduce the carbon footprint associated with traditional fertilizer production. This event represented a major operational breakthrough for the company, moving from the construction phase to the delivery of circular nutrient solutions for the agricultural industry.
• In May 2024, ICL Group introduced Puraloop, a new granular fertilizer product created using recycled phosphorus, to support the circular economy in agriculture. The product was developed by processing phosphate-rich ash, obtained from the incineration of sewage sludge, into a high-quality nutrient source for crops. This launch highlighted the company's strategic focus on addressing the global depletion of phosphate rock reserves by integrating secondary raw materials into its production processes. The initiative demonstrated the commercial viability of recovering essential nutrients from waste streams to produce standard-compliant fertilizers for mainstream agricultural use.
• In April 2024, Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies secured the world’s first organic certification for a recovered nutrient product, marking a significant regulatory milestone in the sector. The company achieved registration for its Crystal Green Pearl fertilizer under the European Union’s rigorous organic legislation and the Dutch Input List. This granular fertilizer, which is derived from recovered nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen found in wastewater, was approved for use in certified organic farming across several countries, including Austria and the Netherlands. This development allowed the company to offer a sustainable, high-efficiency alternative to conventional phosphate fertilizers within the organic agriculture market.

Key Market Players

• Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc.
• Nutrient Recovery & Upcycling LLC
• Cambi ASA
• Veolia Group
• BioHiTech Global
• DVO, Inc.
• Smithfield Foods, Inc.
• Elemental Enzymes, Inc.
• Suez Group
• BPC Instruments AB

By Type	By Method	By Application	By Region
Gaseous Cycle Sedimentary Cycle Hydrological Cycle	Bio Composting Anaerobic Digestion Nutrient Recovery from Wastewater Cover Cropping & Mulching Aquaponics Others	Wastewater Treatment Food Waste Management Biogas Production Forestry Residue Biobased Fertilizer Others	North America Europe Asia Pacific South America Middle East & Africa

Report Scope:

In this report, the Global Nutrient Recycling Market has been segmented into the following categories, in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below:

• Nutrient Recycling Market, By Type:

• Gaseous Cycle
• Sedimentary Cycle
• Hydrological Cycle

• Nutrient Recycling Market, By Method:

• Bio Composting
• Anaerobic Digestion
• Nutrient Recovery from Wastewater
• Cover Cropping & Mulching
• Aquaponics
• Others

• Nutrient Recycling Market, By Application:

• Wastewater Treatment
• Food Waste Management
• Biogas Production
• Forestry Residue
• Biobased Fertilizer
• Others

• Nutrient Recycling Market, By Region:

• North America
• United States
• Canada
• Mexico
• Europe
• France
• United Kingdom
• Italy
• Germany
• Spain
• Asia Pacific
• China
• India
• Japan
• Australia
• South Korea
• South America
• Brazil
• Argentina
• Colombia
• Middle East & Africa
• South Africa
• Saudi Arabia
• UAE