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
Permitted
Exempt
Total


3
29
32
South Yorks
West Yorks
4
26
30
Humber
6
46
52
Yorks.and
Humber
8
17
25
21
118
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
Permitted
Exempt
Total



North Yorks
25,548
18,634
44,182
South Yorks
80,480
11,275
91,755
West Yorks
50,786
33,597
84,383
Humber
293,735
37,420
331,155
Yorkshire
and Humber
450,549
100,925
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 greenbin 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 31 st 2007
Site type
Permitted
Exempt
Total
North Yorks
79,999
36,515
116,514
South Yorks
145,271
20,657
165,928
West Yorks
237,720
25,378
263,098
Humber
353,816
85,748
439,564
Yorkshire
and Humber
816,806
168,298
985,104

There was a capacity of almost one million tonnes in the region at 31 st
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.
500,000
450,000
400,000
350,000
tonnes
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
North Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
input
West Yorkshire
Former Humberside
spare capacity
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
Craven
Hambleton
Harrogate
Richmond
Ryedale
Scarborough
Selby
York
North Yorkshire Totals
Bradford
Calderdale
Kirklees
Leeds
Wakefield
West Yorkshire Totals
Barnsley
Doncaster
Rotherham
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
East Riding
Hull
North Lincolnshire
North East Lincolnshire
Humber totals
25,000
38,000
68,000
21,000
23,000
56,000
33,000
82,000
350,000
350,000
85,000
650
310,000
141,000
805,000
100,000
130,000
110,000
220,000
560,000
144,000
115,000
70,000
70,000
400,000
Total households with
green waste collection
10,700
38,000
10,000
11,500
23,000
24,000
20,000
58,000
200,000
200,000
0
170,000
20,000
84,000
205,000
52,000
77,000
51,000
45,000
225,000
1,200
5,000
68,000
42,000
115,000
Comments
No plans to expand
To collect from all by 09/07
To collect form all by 09/07
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