WRAP calls for compost to be marketed more effectively

Speaking at the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management's annual exhibition at Torbay last week, WRAP special projects manager Anne O&#39B;rien said that currently around 60% of composting products in the UK are given away free or used as part of an on site development.

” We need to move away from waste disposal and begin seeing compost as a resource to sell.“
– Anne O&#39B;rien, WRAP
Ms O&#39B;rien explained that the industry needed to move to a situation where compost was seen as a product and marketed as such, rather than seen as a waste that needs to be dealt with.

Resource
“Compost is still handled with a largely disposal approach, which is gate fee centred,” she said. “People simply want to deal with it as quickly as possible, but we need to move away from waste disposal and begin seeing compost as a resource to sell.”

Maturing compost properly is also key to making compost a sellable resource, Ms O&#39B;rien said, explaining that if waste is forced through the compost process as quickly as possible it leads to a poor quality product, which is immature and can contain high contaminants.

“If the product is poor quality is will inevitably be seen as valueless. Ultimately you have no customer, just someone that is seen as an alternative disposal option,” she said.

When some composters are giving away the compost they produce, it can de-stabilise the market for those trying to sell a product, Ms O&#39B;rien added, suggesting that if compost is sold to residents, they see it as a product and can be much more accommodating to the idea of using it in their gardens.