Home composting moves closer to full LATS acceptance

Speaking to letsrecycle.com this week, the Waste and Resources Action Programme's principal waste analyst said a model to estimate the contribution of home composting to landfill diversion was now complete.

Home composting could soon feature more prominently in council campaigns

The document has now been sent to Defra, which is expected to issue a consultation soon.

Dr Julian Parfitt explained that the calculation – which could see “millions” of tonnes of green waste counting towards local authority recycling rates – would now be discussed with stakeholders.

Following the consultation, Defra officials will determine exactly how the model can be incorporated into local authority waste calculations, including the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme. Other details, such as what councils will have to prove to claim landfill diversion from home composting, will also be discussed in the consultation.

Dr Parfitt explained: “The model has to be agreed across the whole of the UK. Most people are behind it, but are worrying how we would cope with some of the complexities involved as it is not about the model alone, but who should qualify to use it. It is not enough for councils to give householders a composting bin – they must not neglect support and communications.”

LATS
The government's Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) forces waste disposal authorities to meet ever-decreasing annual limits on the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill.

”People have the idea that calculating home composting diversion is straightforward, but it's not that simple. “
– Dr Julian Parfitt, WRAP

Defra has made the assumption that about 68% of waste going to landfill is biodegradable, in order to simplify the calculation of LATS achievements. However, this means only 68% of any reduction in landfill tonnages are registered against LATS limits. Yet waste diverted by home composting is 100% biodegradable, and therefore the full benefits of this diversion activity are not currently accounted within the LATS target system.

Dr Parfitt believes some councils have shunned home composting promotions because of this LATS anomaly, concentrating instead on centralised composting collections. But, he said these councils may recognise the cost benefits once the new model is taken up by the LATS scheme, which could happen after next year's review of the scheme.

Dr Parfitt said: “The sort of diversion levels that my model predicts make it the most cost effective thing to do with green waste – making considerable savings for local authorities. It's a sensible way to account for home composting diversion.”

“Complicated”
WRAP's research, which included a survey of 20,000 people, estimated that households which were “new recruits” to composting diverted 220kg of waste a year from landfill.

Meanwhile, “enhanced existing” composting households divert around 60kg of extra waste a year, the study claimed.

Dr Parfitt said: “We've built the model up from a complicated set of figures at household and national levels. People have the idea that calculating home composting diversion is straightforward, but it's not that simple.

“I'm trying to account for what hasn't been put into the municipal waste stream and therefore exclude people that have been composting for years,” he explained.