SEPA consults on guidance and compost quality limits

The online survey, which will run until 29 June 2016, asks how the ‘food waste management chain’ – from waste producers to end users – on how to maximise efficiency across composting and anaerobic digestion.

And, SEPA is also inviting views on its current regulatory position with regard to compost and AD.

Organics recyclers are expected to take interest in the consultation, as only food waste managed in accordance with SEPA’s new guidance will fulfill the duty to segregate food waste and demonstrate compliance with duty of care.

Recyclers will also need to comply with the guidance in order to meet proposed waste acceptance criteria at food waste treatment facilities regulated by the enforcement agency in Scotland.

SEPA defines ‘high quality’ recycling as those AD plants that meet PAS110 compliant outputs, and in-vessel composting (IVC) of source segregated food waste where PAS100 standards are met.

Draft

The draft guidance states that in order to achieve high quality recycling, SEPA expects food waste treatment facilities to:

• Work with food waste collection service providers to ensure that material collected meets the facility’s waste acceptance criteria.
• Conduct a Pre-Acceptance Assessment on waste streams from individual collection service providers. This will include evidence that they are complying with requirements in section of this Guidance
• Understand a facility’s capability to remove primary packaging from food waste and use this to develop ‘critical limits’ for waste acceptance criteria.
• Inspect all incoming loads and reject food waste that is contaminated by non-food waste items that may compromise the facilities Quality Management System.
• Notify SEPA of rejected food waste loads, the carrier and the reason for rejection

Contaminants

SEPA is also seeking feedback on new weight limits for physical contaminants, including plastics limits, to 50% of those specified in PAS 100 and 8% of those specified in PAS 110 standards.

This will align physical contamination limits with Quality Meat Scotland standards – which the Agency appreciates may be “challenging” for some operators and are proposing a phased implementation.

Compost which exceeds these contamination levels will be regulated as waste and therefore presumed to be unsuitable for spreading on agricultural land.

With this in mind, SEPA is seeking comments from food waste producers, collection service providers, regulated food waste treatment facilities and farmers, contractors or land managers involved in the application of food waste to agricultural land.

Regulations introduced in 2014, and tightened in January require businesses producing more than 5kg of food waste per week to present the material separately for collection.