The surprise advice came today from Terry Coleman, waste strategy manager at the Environment Agency at a session on composting at the IWM conference in Torbay.
Mr Coleman said the Agency was seeking urgent talks with the newly formed Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs over the matter. It stems from strong concerns within the now-defunct Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foods that use of the kitchen material could cause problems if it was contaminated by meat and fish products.
The Agency’s recommendation that collections stop comes under the Animal Byproducts Order 1999 and also applies to kerbside collection of garden waste with kitchen waste.
Dr Jane Gilbert, head of the Composting Association said: “This is a knee-jerk reaction. There does need to be proper controls on schemes with material composted in an auditable fashion with proper controls in place.”
Lee Robinson of consultants Enviros said: “I think they (the Environment Agency) are mad and will kill it stone dead if they follow it through. The EA has potentially overreacted to some of the bad things that have taken place in composting.”
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