Compost control can play a role!
At a time when the weekly bin collection is being debated, CIWEM believes composting is one option not to be overlooked. Composting plays a key role in helping local authorities and businesses to achieve targets to increase recovery rates and divert waste from landfill. In its new policy position statement, CIWEM calls for a clear regulatory footing for controls on composting treatment to produce quality materials whilst minimising environmental pollution and risks to human health.
Composting is a well-established natural method for treating, sanitising and stabilising organic materials such as green waste, fruits and vegetables, cardboard and wood. It is undertaken on both a small and large scale, ranging from home composting bins to centralised sites that compost thousands of tonnes every year from commercial, industrial and agricultural sources.
Applying compost to land is beneficial as it adds valuable organic matter, which improves soil structure, as well as adding valuable macro- and micro-nutrients and micro-organisms back to the soil to improve its health. Quality compost is also a good substitute for peat and other fertilisers, is an ideal material for soil building in brownfield development situations, can be used in urban areas for mulching and for absorbing water as part of sustainable drainage systems.
The environmental, operational and regulatory pressures influencing composting are dynamic and finely balanced. EU legislative trends are moving in the direction of increased regulation and cleaner composts derived from source separated waste streams to reduce risks to the environment and to health. Modern composting facilities have the capability to minimise emissions to air and reduce any health impacts from bioaerosols and those meeting the PAS100 standard can be guaranteed as reliable, safe and high quality and protect the natural environment from pollution when compost is applied to land.
CIWEM’s Executive Director, Nick Reeves OBE, says:
“The composting industry has grown rapidly in recent years. CIWEM recognises that standards are necessary to protect environmental and human health and provide further market confidence in the quality of the product. We support the efforts of both Government and the commercial sector to develop and implement quality controls and also urge the Government to set increasingly challenging recycling and landfill diversion targets to increase rates of recovery and recycling.”
The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) is an independent professional body and a registered charity, advancing the science and practice of water and environmental management for a clean, green and sustainable world www.ciwem.org