Following press reports claiming that the Agency saw home composting as dangerous and illegal, in a statement today it said: “Anyone with a compost heap in their garden can continue what they are doing as far as the waste legislation is concerned and no fine is applicable.”
The trouble began yesterday when the Guardian ran a story headlined “Compost Criminals Risk 5,000 Fine”. “The Environment Agency says the age old practice is a danger to the public,” said an article by environment correspondent Paul Brown. It continued: “Fungal spores produced as the compost breaks down could infect the neighbours, the agency has decided.”
The article cited regulations that require a compost heap to have a licence and an environmental risk assessment if it is less than 250 metres from a dwelling or workplace. There is a penalty of 5,000 for any heap without a licence, it added. Only at the end of the article was there a note that householders do not need the licence.
Furore
The furore continued today in the Metro newspaper, which has almost a million copies distributed daily in London and other cities. A news story claimed the Environment Agency had said that recycling was “a serious health danger” and repeated that heaps within 750 feet of a workplace need a licence.
The Environment Agency today hit back: “Reports in the media that householders need licences for their compost heaps are absolute rubbish. EU regulations require that commercial scale composting operations must be controlled and regulated, but these rules were never intended for householders.”
Commenting on the whole affair, which threatens to cast a shadow over Compost Awareness Week, Nick McAllister of the Community Compost Network said: “There are some glaring factual inaccuracies in a lot of the press coverage of what's going on. I am certainly worried that the public may be put off home composting, given that the Metro article mentions infectious fungal spores.
Fungi
“It's true to say that there are some fungi which infect compost heaps but with proper composting knowledge you reduce the risks. People need articles with an educational aspect instead of scaremongering.”
But he insisted that Composting Awareness Week, which ends on Saturday, would not be tarred by the reports. “It is not all negative publicity. If you look at the article in the Daily Mail today, it is a good article promoting composting.
The Composting Association said it was concerned about the impact of the stories. “Some of the facts presented have been inaccurate and misleading,” it said. “Very large compost heaps do require a licence but this does not apply to most domestic heaps which are less than 1000 cubic metres.”
Barbara Young, chief executive of the Environment Agency, emphasised that it positively encourages garden composting: “If everyone composted their own kitchen vegetable and garden waste, we could halve the 29 million tonnes of household waste going to landfill sites each year.”
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