United Kingdom - experience with implementing and promoting the quality protocols for compost and digestate
The leading industry standard for composted source-segregated biowastes, BSI PAS 100, has become well known within the UK’s waste management industry. It was developed in 2002 by Association for Organics Recycling’s (AfOR) with the British Standards Institution, with support from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Its scope allows composting of controlled, source-segregated, biodegradable wastes, and it includes minimum compost quality criteria. Its sustained promotion by AfOR and WRAP has strengthened demand for quality composts in horticulture, landscape, agriculture and other markets. Building on experience with PAS 100, an equivalent specification for anaerobic digestates, BSI’s PAS 110, was published in 2010.
Prior to 2007, compost derived from controlled biodegradable wastes was, in legal terms, still ‘waste’ even if compliant with BSI PAS 100. This meant that waste-derived compost could only be applied to land under waste regulatory controls, regardless of its quality. This placed significant administrative and legislative burdens on the composting industry and inhibited the recovery of controlled biodegradable wastes and their diversion from landfill for a number of years. In 2007 the Waste Protocols Project, a WRAP and the Environment Agency joint initiative funded by Defra, the Welsh Assembly Government and Northern Ireland Environment Agency Waste Protocols, delivered its first Quality Protocol for compost (CQP). This was followed in 2009 by the Quality Protocol for Anaerobic Digestate (ADQP). Independent certification of compliance with CQP / AD QP criteria is considered sufficient to ensure that the treated material can be classified as fully recovered and used without risk to the environment or harm to human health. The CQP and ADQP encourage businesses to transform controlled biodegradable wastes into valuable resources, rather than send them to landfill. Supply of compost and digestates as ‘products’ means that it is quicker and cheaper to apply them to soil and they are perceived to be of higher value as they do not carry the stigma associated with ‘waste’. AfOR's Compost Certification Scheme and the Renewable Energy Association Limited’s Biofertiliser Certification Scheme provide a framework for independent assessment and certification of compost and digestate compliance with, respectively, the CQP and the ADQP. WRAP’s market development initiatives, compost supplier directory, freely available lists of composters who make CQP certified composts, and the general awareness raising carried out each year during Compost Awareness Week have contributed to continuing strong compost market growth and promotion of PAS 100 and the CQP. AfOR has also carried out a number of initiatives to promote its Compost Certification Scheme and the composts certified under this scheme, and to encourage market demand for and use of CQP composts. Promotion of PAS 100, the CQP and AfOR’s Compost Certification Scheme has included supply of joint AfOR and WRAP press releases to media contacts. They communicated messages about the high quality of CQP composts, tonnes produced and locations where they are made, and highlighted the required independent assessment and certification under AfOR’s Compost Certification Scheme. Other notable initiatives include training courses, that include highlight of drivers in policy and legislation and emphasise the market opportunities associated with high quality compost products; inclusion of PAS 100 and CQP in assessment criteria associated with compost producers’ applications for capital support and equipment financing; and WRAP’s extensive R&D programme and programmes aimed at building confidence in the use of composts and digestates, which have led to increased confidence in quality compost and digestates. Thanks to these initiatives and industry recognition of the benefits of producing and supplying composts and digestates with ‘product’ status, 1.43 Mt per annum of CQP compost is produced from about 160 certified composting processes in the UK each year from – around 50% of the total output in the UK. PAS 110 digestate is a less developed product, estimated to comprise 106 Kt of digestate output in the UK (from four sites as of May 2012). With 11 operators now having either achieved PAS 110 or registered for the Biofertiliser Certification Scheme (BCS) and working towards it, it is forecast that output could reach ~322 Kt digestate by the end of 2012/13.
| Copyright: | © European Compost Network ECN e.V. | |
| Quelle: | Orbit 2012 (Juni 2012) | |
| Seiten: | 0 | |
| Preis inkl. MwSt.: | € 0,00 | |
| Autor: | Dr. Mariachiara Zennaro  Emily Nichols | |
| Artikel weiterleiten | Artikel kostenfrei anzeigen | Artikel kommentieren |
Diese Fachartikel könnten Sie auch interessieren:
Mineral Wool Waste – From on-site Analysis to Recycling
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (12/2024)
Mineral wool waste has become increasingly challenging to manage within the Austrian waste management system. At present, the only available option for mineral wool waste of unknown origin is landfilling, as there are no existing recycling options.
BVT in der Praxis: Saubermacher CPB-Anlagen als Fallbeispiel
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (12/2024)
Die Europäische Kommission veröffentlicht BVT-Merkblätter und BVTSchlussfolgerungen, die Verfahren von industriellen Tätigkeiten beschreiben und Standards für verschiedene Industriezweige, einschließlich der Abfallwirtschaft, festlegen.
Herausforderungen der europäischen Kreislaufwirtschaft
© Witzenhausen-Institut für Abfall, Umwelt und Energie GmbH (4/2024)
Die europäische Kreislaufwirtschaft steht an einem Wendepunkt. Um die ehrgeizigen Ziele des Green Deals umzusetzen, wird ein "Weiter so“ nicht ausreichen, wenn damit nur die Fortsetzung der bisherigen Recyclingbemühungen gemeint sind.
Erfahrungen mit dem Vollzug der Gewerbeabfallverordnung in Baden-Württemberg
© Witzenhausen-Institut für Abfall, Umwelt und Energie GmbH (4/2023)
Eine gut funktionierende Kreislaufwirtschaft mit möglichst hohem Recyclinganteil ist – neben der Abfallvermeidung – eine wichtige Voraussetzung, um die Transformation in eine nachhaltigere, ressourcenschonende und klimaneutrale Zukunft zu gestalten. Die ambitionierten Umweltschutzziele, wie sie etwa im Klimaschutzgesetz oder auf europäischer Ebene im Green Deal formuliert wurden, sind nur mit einer solchen Kreislaufwirtschaft zu erreichen.
Kreislaufwirtschaft konkret umsetzen
© Witzenhausen-Institut für Abfall, Umwelt und Energie GmbH (10/2021)
Klimawandel, Energiewende und Rohstoffversorgung – die großen gesellschaftlichen Aufgaben gelingen nur, wenn wir Rahmenbedingungen schaffen, die es ermöglichen, Kreislaufwirtschaft auch konkret umzusetzen. Die Unternehmen der Branche – ganz überwiegend mittelständische Familienunternehmen – stehen seit Jahrzehnten für Innovationen
und haben Deutschland zu einer der führenden Recyclingnationen gemacht.
Damit die Unternehmen die hochgesteckten Ziele aber auch tatsächlich realisieren können, bedarf es langfristig tragender Grundlagen und damit einer ambitionierten Gesetzgebung, wirkungsvollem Vollzug und Kooperationen mit der rohstoffverarbeitenden Industrie. Dieser Beitrag beleuchtet derzeitige Entwicklungen auf europäischer und nationaler Ebene und zeigt auf, wo die derzeitigen Herausforderungen und Potenziale zur Realisierung echter Kreislaufwirtschaft liegen.
