Small composters whose sites are within 250 metres of neighbouring properties may soon find that they will no longer be eligible for standard permits, if plans go ahead to revise rules relating to environmental permitting.
Mike Greenhalf is organics project manager for Resource Efficiency Yorkshire (REY). He is part of a team of experts responsible for increasing Yorkshire and Humber's composting capacity and is working with food waste processors and composters processing garden and other green wastes. The current permitting review includes a proposal that composters accepting just 50 tonnes of green wastes per month should be required to have the same bespoke permit and bio-aerosol risk assessment as large-scale composters, depending on distance from their nearest neighbour.
This change could present serious financial challenges to one of our most diverse, successful and low carbon waste management sectors.
Requiring small composters to pay for bio-aerosol monitoring tailored to the needs of industrial-scale processors will increase their operating costs by several thousand pounds and push permitting out of the reach of many. Businesses may close and vital composting capacity may be lost.
The UK has worked hard to develop regulation that ensures compost is produced to high standards in safe working environments, and the permitting review is an essential part of the regulator's drive for continual improvement. There is no question that best practice is central to the industry's success. However, there is an argument to suggest that the rules used to achieve best practice should reflect risks and recognise a range of site factors such as scale, layout, topography, management regimes, and location.
A ‘one-size-fits-all' regulatory system may inadvertently endanger the future of small composters even though they operate safely.
Small composters, city farms, allotment associations and community composters are often the innovators in the organics waste management sector. They are complementary to the industrial scale processors, meeting local organic waste management needs, and producing composts for local use. Resource Efficiency Yorkshire is working with many composters keen to develop their businesses and divert more waste from landfill.
Permitting is necessary to environmental protection, but it can act as a barrier to business growth and development, if applied without consideration to risk and scale. With ‘green collar' jobs at stake, and an urgent need for more organic material to be composted instead of sent to landfill, environmental permitting needs to balance local concerns and national needs.
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