Quality Protocol on anaerobic digestion of biodegradable waste
SOURCE: CIWM, NOVEMBER 2008
The farming community has attacked the EA for its alleged decision to categorise farm-based digestate as waste, arising out of the draft Quality Protocol (QP) on anaerobic digestion of source segregated biodegradable waste. They comment on the unfair treatment meted out to the digestate as compared with the lighter controls on spreading raw manure.
In truth, their fury is misplaced. The real culprit that draws a distinction between digestate and raw manure is the Animal By-Products Regulation 1774/2002 (ABPR). It allows the spreading of raw manure, but generally prohibits the spreading of manure-sourced digestates that meet the definition of “organic fertilizers” or “soil improvers”. Those limitations persist regardless of the waste status of the manure or the digestate.
The interface between ABPR and waste law is interesting, especially since faecal matter will be entirely excluded from the scope of the new Waste Framework Directive (WFD) when used in farming or the production of energy from biomass. As such, digestate produced from manure will be outside the WFD (but still subject to ABPR), rendering the whole QP initiative irrelevant.
Pending implementation of the new WFD farmers would be best advised to use the legal tools already available to them for demonstrating that neither the raw manure nor the digestate are intended for discarding and that they are therefore not waste.
AUTHOR: Vincent Brown
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