Yorkshire and the Humber Region
Composting throughput and capacity 2007
1.0 Introduction
The Landfill Directive has targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill and it is envisaged that additional composting capacity will be needed to help meet these targets. It is important to establish the throughput and capacity at existing facilities in order that we can plan for the new capacity that will be needed in the region. Furthermore, the Government is required to supply information to the European Commission on all exempt sites, including composting.
This report provides information on the throughput and capacity of permitted and exempt composting sites in Yorkshire and the Humber in 2007 and summarises the information according to sub-region. Although home composting is carried out by significant numbers of households in the region, it is not included in this report as it currently does not contribute to diversion from landfill as measured by the landfill allowances for biodegradable municipal waste. In addition, sites licensed solely for the composting of sewage sludge are not included in this report.
The work was carried out jointly between the Environment Agency and Resource Efficiency Yorkshire.
2.0 Methodology
Sites which carry out composting activities are normally permitted by the Environment Agency. Alternatively, if they meet the right criteria (e.g. compost less than 1000 cu m at any time), then they may register an exemption. The methods used to obtain information from composting sites were as follows:
· Permitted sites: These sites routinely send in annual returns to the Environment Agency detailing the types and quantities of waste input to the site. Capacity information is not provided, however, and has been estimated using either the permitted tonnage or information supplied by the operator.
· Exempted sites: These sites do not normally send in annual returns and so a separate study was carried out in 2008. The study comprised a telephone survey of all operators of composting sites registered as exempt with the Environment Agency. Detailed information was obtained on inputs, capacity, methods used, types of waste, destination of product and obstacles faced by operators who would like to increase their throughput. Summary information only on input and capacity is provided in this report, but more detailed information can be found in a separate report.
3.0 Findings
3.1 Operational sites
The number of operational composting sites and their distribution according to sub-region is shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Number of composting sites in Yorkshire and Humber 2007
Site type / North Yorks / South Yorks / West Yorks / Humber / Yorks.and HumberPermitted / 3 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 21
Exempt / 29 / 26 / 46 / 17 / 118
Total / 32 / 30 / 52 / 25 / 139
· There were 139 composting sites in the region in 2007 and these are well distributed amongst the sub-regions.
· There were around five times as many exempted sites as permitted sites. It should be noted, however, that this is a continuously evolving situation, as some exempted sites expand and change to a permit.
3.2 Inputs
The input to composting sites according to sub-region in 2007 is shown in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Input to composting sites in Yorkshire and Humber 2007
Site type / North Yorks / South Yorks / West Yorks / Humber / Yorkshire and HumberPermitted / 25,548 / 80,480 / 50,786 / 293,735 / 450,549
Exempt / 18,634 / 11,275 / 33,597 / 37,420 / 100,925
Total / 44,182 / 91,755 / 84,383 / 331,155 / 551,474
· Over ½ million tonnes was input to all composting sites in the region.
· Around a fifth went to exempted facilities.
· The major source of waste into composting sites was local authority green-bin kerbside collections, civic amenity sites and other sites they own. Significant amounts also come from industry and sewage works.
3.3 Capacity
The total capacity of composting facilities in 2007, according to sub-region, is shown in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Capacity of composting sites in Yorkshire and Humber December 31st 2007
Site type / North Yorks / South Yorks / West Yorks / Humber / Yorkshire and HumberPermitted / 79,999 / 145,271 / 237,720 / 353,816 / 816,806
Exempt / 36,515 / 20,657 / 25,378 / 85,748 / 168,298
Total / 116,514 / 165,928 / 263,098 / 439,564 / 985,104
· There was a capacity of almost one million tonnes in the region at 31st December 2007.
· All sub-regions have some composting capacity; the Humber sub-region had most.
· The most common form of treatment was pile or windrow, but there is also in-vessel composting and anaerobic digestion.
3.4 Who composts
Composting was carried out by a wide range of companies involved in general waste management, local authorities, water companies, farmers and community groups, and the scale of the operations varies enormously from very small operations, say at allotments, to large-scale commercial operations.
3.5 Destination of compost
Operators of exempted sites currently have no option but to apply compost produced on their site to their own land, but permitted sites can sell or otherwise move compost to other locations. In 2007 no PAS100 certified compost was produced in the region,(???? Check this is still the case???)however some locations produced compost conforming to the APEX standard, which was sold off-site.
3.6 Spare composting capacity in Yorkshire and Humber
A comparison of input and capacity throughout the region gives a picture of spare capacity, see Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Input and spare capacity at composting sites in Yorkshire and Humber 2007
· Overall, 56% of the capacity was utilised.
· All sub-regions had over 70,000 tonnes spare capacity.
· It is important to note that the spare capacity illustrated in Figure 1 is, however, a likely maximum, as not all of the capacity may be currently available due to planning and operational constraints.
3.7 Geographical distribution of capacity
It is not economically viable to transport either compostable waste, or the final product, long distances because of their relatively low value. The most appropriate infrastructure is, therefore, a network of facilities of local significance, thereby minimising transport costs. A more detailed geographical analysis of input and capacity is therefore necessary. Both permitted and exempted sites are shown in Figure 2 below, with an indication of input and operational capacity.
Figure 2: Permitted and exempted composting sites 2007
4. Other Issues
There are a number of other relevant issues to be addressed in considering composting as part of a regional waste strategy:
4.1 Meeting targets for recycling and landfill diversion of biodegradable municipal waste
By 2009/10 the region must be diverting 641,000 tonnes per year of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfill compared to 1995 levels, by 2012/13 this rises to 1.03Mt per year, and by 2019/20 to 1.26Mt per year. This diversion can be delivered by composting, incineration, anaerobic digestion, autoclave, and mechanical biological treatment (MBT).
4.2. Local authority collection of green waste
Many local authorities have now invested in green waste collections to help achieving landfill diversion targets. Table 4 below shows the number of households with green waste collections.
Table 4 Number of households with green waste collections
Source: RAY interviews with local authority heads of waste management 2005/6
Local authority / Total households / Total households with green waste collection / CommentsCraven / 25,000 / 10,700 / No plans to expand
Hambleton / 38,000 / 38,000
Harrogate / 68,000 / 10,000
Richmond / 21,000 / 11,500
Ryedale / 23,000 / 23,000
Scarborough / 56,000 / 24,000 / To collect from all by 09/07
Selby / 33,000 / 20,000 / To collect form all by 09/07
York / 82,000 / 58,000
North Yorkshire Totals / 350,000 / 200,000
Bradford / 350,000 / 200,000
Calderdale / 85,000 / 0
Kirklees / 650 / 170,000
Leeds / 310,000 / 20,000
Wakefield / 141,000 / 84,000
West Yorkshire Totals / 805,000 / 205,000
Barnsley / 100,000 / 52,000
Doncaster / 130,000 / 77,000
Rotherham / 110,000 / 51,000
Sheffield / 220,000 / 45,000
South Yorkshire / 560,000 / 225,000
East Riding / 144,000 / 1,200
Hull / 115,000 / 5,000
North Lincolnshire / 70,000 / 68,000
North East Lincolnshire / 70,000 / 42,000
Humber totals / 400,000 / 115,000
4.3 Landfill diversion targets for commercial and industrial waste
Waste Strategy for England 2007 includes an objective to increase the diversion of non-municipal waste from landfill and to secure better integration of treatment for municipal and non-municipal waste. The strategy indicates that the Government will be setting new national targets for the reduction of commercial and industrial waste going to landfill. Clearly, composting and other treatments for organic waste could make a significant contribution to meeting those targets. The need for composting capacity in the region should take into account demand from these other waste streams.
Other factors which will increase the need for composting and other treatment capacity for non-municipal wastes are landfill tax, now £40 per tonne and rising to £48 per tonne next year, and the need for pre-treatment of waste prior to landfill.
4.4 Sewage sludge/Municipal solid waste operations
Yorkshire Water currently uses green waste in the sludge phytoconditioning process (SPC) to produce an award-winning topsoil product. At 3 sites in the region; Mitchell Laithes (Dewsbury), Esholt (Bradford) and Aldwarke (Rotherham), Yorkshire Water processed around 30,000 tonnes of green waste in 2007. In the same year, eleven other Yorkshire Water sites processed approximately 50,000 tonnes of wood waste through SPC. This wood waste could be substituted by green waste to meet the processing capacity demanded by targets for diverting biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfill. Current expansion in the use of wood waste to generate heat and energy through biomass boilers may necessitate this substitution as wood waste value increases.
4.5 Costs and complexity of the waste management regime
The cost and complexity of the regulations is cited by many operators as a significant obstacle to increasing throughput. In particular, many exempt site operators deliberately limit their input, since expansion would mean that a waste management licence would be required.
I can put something in here about proposed changes to the exemption regulations
Several composters in the region with their own land available to apply their product to, run operations processing 5,000 tonnes a year or less of organic waste under a waste management licence exemption. This scale of operation can be carried out with purchase of a low-speed shredder, if existing suitable hard covering with drainage is available on the farm, and material handling duties carried out using standard farm equipment such as telehandlers, loading shovels and muck spreaders. Once operations of over 5,000 tonnes per year, requiring the presence of more than 1,000m3 of compost are carried out, then further equipment purchase is necessary, along with the achievement of a full waste management licence, which requires the site operator achieve technical competence
4.6 Low value of product – need to increase value – PAS 100
Most organic waste processing businesses gain the majority of their income from gate fees paid when waste is delivered to their sites. This means the value of the company depends on the speed with which that waste can be turned into compost and moved from the site, and compost is produced to reach the minimum quality for the market. This business model has in the past led to poor quality compost reaching the market that has damaged the reputation of organic waste-derived compost as a whole. Publicly Available Specification 100 (PAS100) has since been created to create confidence in a product that can increase crop yield by 7% when repeatedly applied to agricultural land (Wallace, 2006). Although not produced in the region in 2006, several producers in 2007 are in the process of certifying their compost. Once certified this will enable those producers to generate income through compost sales and, thereby increasing the competitiveness of their businesses and reducing their dependence on gate fee for financial viability
4.7 Quality protocol for source-segregated biowaste
Prior to March 2007 organic waste material remained a waste material, no matter how it was processed, until it was applied to land. Theoretically this meant that every gardener purchasing a 40 litre bag of compost created from organic waste and adding it to their raised beds would need a waste carriers’ licence to take it home, and a waste management exemption to apply it to their land. Practically this never happened, but even on a larger scale, this level of bureaucracy proved cumbersome for operators and regulators. To counteract this, the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the Composting Association and the Environment Agency combined to deliver the compost quality protocol. Compost produced under the compost quality protocol is no longer a waste as soon as it achieves the relevant certification (in this case, Publicly Available Specification 100 (PAS100)). This makes it a more marketable product, as it can be spread on land without the need to register with the Environment Agency for a waste exemption.
4.8 Land-bank – availability of land for compost
Recycling Action Yorkshire commissioned research into the agricultural landbank available for application of compost in 2006. The research estimated that over 600,000ha of agricultural land within the region was available, which equates to a market for approximately 14.5Mt of compost each year; more than adequate to accommodate the compost likely to be produced even by 2020. The Landbank report states, however, the adequacy of the landbank will be a local district (topography, proximity to water courses, access, roads etc) rather than a regional issue, as waste production tends to be concentrated in local areas. Current research funded by DEFRA into Agricultural Land and Organic Waste - A National Capacity Estimator: ALOWANCE, will provide a strategic tool for assessing the potential agricultural landbank available for recycling organic materials, which takes account of regulatory, land use and physical barriers, and ‘competition’ between different organic materials.
4.9 Regulatory aspects
Following the shift of green waste away from landfill, the Environment Agency has noticed a significant rise in the number of enforcement issues at composting sites across the country, and this takes up a large staff resource. Problems include odour, dust, concern over health effects, especially in relation to bio-aerosols, and contamination of products spread on land. This highlights the importance of identifying suitable site locations, and ensuring a high standard of operation.
May 2009