In an interview with letsrecycle.com, Ms Gilbert said that a lot of the work in composting so far has been developing markets for high quality products. But, as composting rates increase, she said it would be important to find sufficient markets for lower quality material from local authority collections.
Ms Gilbert said: “There is a rapidly increasing amount of compost being produced and a lot of work is going into developing high quality markets, but the key pinch point will be for low-grade material and where that will actually go.”
The Composting Association is now seeking clarifications on types of material that can be spread on land. The agricultural sector could be an important market for low-grade compost, but the sector wants to know it is of acceptable quality, Ms Gilbert said.
Difficulties in developing markets are being exacerbated by the uncertainty surrounding how much low grade material is being produced because of commercial confidentiality.
Ms Gilbert said turning low-grade material into refuse-derived fuel was another possibility, but that there were also uncertainties as to the size of the market for RDF.
For the full interview with Jane Gilbert, chief executive of the Composting Association, see the letsrecycle.com features section.
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