Report of the Composting Development Group

Report of the Composting Development Group on the development and expansion of markets for compost

The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions has published this report produced by the Composting Development Group.

The Group was set up in November 1997 with the following remit:

to examine the problems and obstacles associated with marketing waste-derived composts to various sectors
to develop proposals for overcoming the barriers
to make recommendations to central and local government and the composting and waste industries as appropriate.

This document presents the Group's final report to the Ministers for the Environment.

The Group adopted a two-stage approach, namely that of considering general issues which might affect the marketing of compost to potential outlets before examining individual market sectors.

The general issues highlighted were:

the lack of recognised standards for compost
health and safety
information and education
MAFF Codes of Good Agricultural Practice
waste management licensing and planning legislation
financial support for composting markets.

The second phase examined the individual markets identified - agriculture, land restoration, landscaping and horticulture - in greater detail and also considered four additional areas which could potentially provide outlets for compost or the composting process, namely silviculture, biomass crops, bio-remediation and use of compost by-products as fuel.

The overriding conclusion was that the principal hindrance to more widespread use of compost was the general negative perception of it as a product. The key problem in this respect being the lack of nationally accepted standards for both the product and the process. As a consequence, the Group's principal recommendation was that work on the development of such standards be undertaken as soon as possible, particularly in view of the prospective EC Directive on composting. This formed the basis of the Group's first set of recommendations.

In addition to this, the Group also concluded that greater publicity and information are required to improve public perception of compost and that a comprehensive programme should be put in place to bring this about. It recommended that a small steering group be set up to develop and oversee such a programme.

The report notes that the key to targeting individual market sectors is to secure the participation and co-operation of professional institutes and trade associations, such as the Landscape Institute, the British Association of Landscape Industries and the Horticultural Trade Association.

The Group therefore recommended that more substantial contact and discussions with these bodies take place.

Although potentially the largest sector, the agriculture sector is difficult to exploit and better information and education are needed in order to do so. The Group notes that MAFF and the National Farmers Union (NFU) will be the key players in this respect, but it did look at areas where the market potential for compost might be greatest, such as those with soils which are vulnerable to erosion or which have a generally low organic matter content.

The land restoration sector offers a potential market for compost as a means of creating or rejuvenating top soil, but the total land restoration area is small in comparison with that used for agriculture and horticulture, and the market will therefore be limited. With this in mind, the Group proposed greater innovation amongst compost producers, eg the use of temporary on-site schemes utilising mobile equipment.

Regarding the four other sectors examined - silviculture, biomass crops, bio-remediation and the use of compost by-products as fuel - the Group concluded that they offered scope for expansion, but that a great deal of preparatory work was required.

Finally, the Group looked at the role of local authorities in composting. It concluded that local authorities had two principal roles, namely:

as promoters of centralised composting schemes and home composting
as users of compost from centralised facilities.

The report emphasises the Group's opinion that the latter role has yet to be exploited sufficiently and also notes that, whilst some of the recommendations are specifically directed towards local authorities, many of the others may also be applied to them, such as the use of compost for landscaping. It recommended that local authorities' attention be drawn towards this possibility.

The following were amongst the Group's specific recommendations:

two types of standards should be introduced, one for the process and another for the product. The Government and the composting industry should ensure that there is adequate publicity to persuade composters to adopt and comply with the standards once they have been implemented
the industry should create a standards certification body at the earliest opportunity. The Environment Agency should take note of the need for a processing standard and incorporate the preparation of good practice guidelines into its work programme
the Composting Association should circulate its guidance on health and safety at composting sites widely. There is also a need to continue work on potential environmental impacts of composting
the Group's report should be circulated to local authorities in England
MAFF should issue separate guidance to farmers on applying compost to agricultural land, in conjunction with the NFU, the Composting Association and the Organic Resource Agency
the Government should consider avenues for directing Landfill Tax Credit Scheme funds towards support for marketing composting, and should consider re-introducing funding for group marketing initiatives in collaboration with appropriate bodies
the composting industry should hold meetings with potential large-scale distributors of compost, such as DIY and horticultural retailers, in order to encourage them to stock it
the DETR and the water companies should explore the potential for making householders aware of compost's water retention properties when providing guidance on combating water shortages
the Government should encourage county planning officers to set site-specific conditions on restoration projects for increasing the organic content of soil
he Highways Agency should be invited to commission research into the use of compost in highways development.

The annexes to the report provide details of the Group's terms of reference and membership, submissions to the Group, the Composting Development Group's comments on a draft Planning Policy Guide (PPG) 10, a map showing areas to which compost could be usefully applied and a list of useful contacts.