Concern over potential for “two-tiered” compost market

That is the concern of the National Farmers' Union, which is concerned that a two-tiered composting market could be the result of the protocol being developed by the Environment Agency and WRAP.

Expected to be finalised later this Spring, the protocol will mean that organic waste composted to the PAS 100 standard can be declared a “product” for compliant composters. This would mean the use, storage and sale of compost no longer being constrained by legal waste controls (see letsrecycle.com story).

The NFU is supporting the development of the protocol, but in its response to the formal consultation that concluded in December, it warned that for on-farm composters operating under waste management licence exemptions there would be “little incentive” to invest in complying with the protocol.

This was particularly the case since licence exemptions mean on-farm composters cannot sell their product, so would see none of the compost marketing benefits from the protocol, it said.

The Union said in some respects the extra red tape involved in complying with the PAS100 standard to meet the protocol would cancel out the reduction in red tape that is the protocol's aim.

And, it said if on-farm composters are not protocol-compliant they could miss out on local authority contracts – despite producing compost “that is safe and often of comparable quality to the PAS100 specification”.

It said: “Local authorities might begin to view Quality Protocol-compliant compost as a best practice option to aspire to and hence begin to specify QP-compliance in their contracts.

“This might result in contracts being re-directed from exempt, on-farm sites to those that are QP-compliant. A possible effect of this might be that some segments of the on-farm composting sector potentially lose out their tonnage,” it added.

Although the Union does recognise the opportunities for local authorities opting for protocol-compliant composting operations to sell processed material, it suggests such a move could have a “huge effect on on-farm composters” which make a “significant contribution” to composting as a whole.

APEX
Elsewhere in the consultation on the protocol, the waste management industry trade body ESA voiced opposition to the intention for the protocol to be based on a single composting standard, the PAS100 standard developed by WRAP and the BSI.

The Environmental Services Association called for composters meeting the Apex standard – which was developed by industry, including ESA members SITA UK and Veolia Environmental Services – to be included within the protocol.

Stephen Wise-Merry, general manager at SITA's organics department, explained that the difference between the two standards was mainly administrative, and said if Apex is included in the protocol “it will be important to ensure that the two paperwork systems tie up.”