Industry welcome for draft compost quality protocol

The quality protocol, which opened for consultation last week (see letsrecycle.com story), will set out what composting processes have to be achieved so that resulting compost products are not classed as a “waste”.

” It will hopefully open the market up for investment, encourage composters to use the material on farmlands and also remove the uncertainty in the industry about selling the end product “
– Trelawney Dampney, Eco Composting
It will mean once compost is produced, it will no longer need a waste management licence or exemptions to store, transport or use.

Chairman of the Composting Association Trelawney Dampney is confident that the protocol “will be a fantastic drive for all composters to aim for the standard.”

Mr Dampney, who runs the Eco Composting business in Dorset, said: “It will hopefully open the market up for investment, encourage composters to use the material on farmlands and also remove the uncertainty in the industry about selling the end product.”

Peter Mills, contracts director at New Earth described the protocol as a “very big step”. He said: “Fundamentally if means the EA will now view finished compost as a product – this will be a fundamental step forward for the industry. It will lead to an improved perception of product, it will be that much easier to set up end user arrangement with farmers and growers, it will save costs for the industry and hopefully open up new markets for the industry.”

Mr Mills added a note of caution that the Environment Agency would have to ensure that the protocol is not undermined. “It must be enforced vigorously –with rigorous analysis and routine inspections of compost producers,” he said.

Standard
PAS100 is the standard specified by the protocol, which compost needs to meet in order to be classified as a product rather than a waste.

Some companies believe that many composters will take up the PAS100 purely for marketing and branding purposes as the protocol will help to remove the “waste” stigma from their product.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Harry Waters, sales and marketing director at Oxfordshire-based Agrivert, said the protocol would “generally be a good thing”. However he questioned the significance of the protocol's effects with the limited number of composting businesses achieving the PAS 100 standard.

“At the moment, the protocol will only affect a small sector as there are relatively few PAS100 composters. There are around 34 PAS certified composters and as many undergoing specification,” he said.

Savings
Composting firms have welcomed the potential cost savings from the protocol, in that sites used to store composted material or farmers' fields used for land-spreading will not require licences or exemptions.

Michael Fishwick, environmental director at Preston-based TEG Environmental, said: “Of all the years I have worked in the composting industry this is the first time I have seen anything sensible on de-classification.”

“The protocol is beneficial to us as an organisation as we are aiming for PAS100, and a lot of cost has been incurred for the scheme. However, if we are no longer incurring exemption expenses we will end up having a cost advantage,” Mr Fishwick said.

Costs
But composters are aware of the additional costs that the new protocol system will bring, for example the additional soil sampling to assess the amount of nutrients in compost as well as the detailed record keeping in order to comply with the quality protocol.

Mr Dampney said: “You will be unable to spread compost &#39ad; lib' onto agricultural land, you will still have to get a trained economist to certify if the compost is good for the soil or prove its agricultural benefit. Also, composting now has to be part of a managed plan and you will have to keep detailed records.”

However, Mr Dampney said costs saved from applying for exemptions would outweigh the new restrictions.

The composting sector has been given until December to put forward comments on the proposed quality protocol. Mr Fishwick said TEG Environment would be calling for clarifications on the position of food waste treatment within the protocol.

He said: “They seem to have excluded food waste from the categorization. We must make sure the protocol is as comprehensive as possible as it could cause problems in the future.”