The WyeCycle System
For community composting
December 2004
Fully revised and updated July 2006
A practical guide to small scale, cost effective composting of
domestic and trade waste
WyeCycle Limited
2a Briar Close
Bramble Lane
Wye
Kent
TN25 5HB
01233 813298/ 813303
info@wyecycle.org
Copyright WyeCycle 2004, 2006
1) Introduction
WyeCycle is a not-for-profit community business, based in the village of Wye, Kent.
Established in 1989, WyeCycle operate a wide range of waste reduction initiatives in
the neighbouring parishes of Wye and Brook. Activities include multi-material
kerbside collections, furniture reuse, WEEE and HHW collections, biodiesel
production, and promotion of waste reduction through co-ordination of the Wye
Farmers Market. Kerbside residual waste production by the 1100 households served
by WyeCycle is an average of 250kg/hh/yr. A comprehensive service is also provided
to around 40 trade premises; pubs, shops, schools etc.
Kitchen and garden waste has been collected for composting since 1990, initially as a
Wye College research project. WyeCycle's experience in handling the organic
fraction of the waste stream, led us to put forward 'Seven Golden Rules', as follows.
Seven golden rules
for success with the organic fraction
November 2001
1. Treat kitchen and garden organic material as two separate waste streams, from collection to
processing to use of the end product.
2. Collect all kitchen organic material; meat, dairy produce etc, as well as peelings and tea bags.
3. Collect kitchen organic material weekly.
4. Do not provide wheeled bins for garden organic material; use sacks.
5. Do not collect garden organic material free of charge.
6. Ban garden organic material from the residual waste stream.
7. Do not collect the residual waste stream weekly.
All of the above 7 rules are in place in Wye, thanks to the active support of Ashford
Borough Council and Kent County Council.
Over the years various methods have been employed to compost catering waste,
including open windrows, housed windrows in shipping containers, and a batch
system using 1000litre tanks. Continued refinement and improvement have led to the
system currently in place, described in detail in this guide. Garden waste has always
been composted using a simple static pile system; no shredding, turned monthly,
sieved and sold after 12 months.
2) Bins and bags
Residents are provided with both a 10 litre caddy and a 25 litre bin for storage of
catering waste. The caddy lives in the kitchen, lined with a biodegradable bag (sold at
cost to residents through a village store). The full biobag is placed in the larger bin
that lives outside, which is then placed at the kerbside weekly for emptying.
Residents are asked to put all catering waste into their caddy; meat, fish, cheese etc as
well as peelings and tea bags. Cardboard unsuitable for recycling - dirty pizza boxes
etc - is also encouraged.
For residents who have use of a communal bin area, the caddy is provided along with
a 120 litre wheeled bin in the bin area. This is emptied weekly, alongside 240 litre
wheeled bins for paper, glass and tins.
To encourage householder participation, and to secure funding for WyeCycle's work,
an important partnership has been formed with Ashford Borough Council. Whereas
the rest of the borough receives a weekly residual waste collection, Wye and Brook
now receive a fortnightly collection. WyeCycle then receive a collection credit equal
to the money thus saved - see chapter 5 - and householders who don't want their food
waste sat around for two weeks must make use of WyeCycle's weekly collection.
Trade premises such as restaurants, pubs and schools, are also provided with 120 litre
bins for their catering waste. As this waste tends to be both wetter than that from
domestic properties and loose rather than in biobags, a thick layer of shredded paper
(from our office collections) is put in the bottom of each bin. This soaks up excess
liquid, so helping reduce anaerobic smells, and keeps the bin cleaner.
For garden waste to be collected, residents must tie a WyeCycle tag to each bag. Tags
- luggage labels stamped with 'WyeCycle' - cost 50p, available from the same store
that sells the biodegradable bags. Builder’s bags must have 3-4 tags, and are only
collected if of a legal weight (ie 25kg per collection crew). Many residents use farm
feed bags - the bags we have supplied compost in - which are returned for reuse. Tags
are ripped off the bag and dropped in the garden waste to be composted. Branches,
Christmas trees etc are all collected, so long as they have a tag tied to them.
This system is far easier for residents than one based on wheeled bins or
paper/biodegradable sacks, where storing the bins/bags is an issue and cramming
unwieldy items into them difficult. Providing wheeled bins for garden waste seems
particularly nonsensical; either too big or too small for the season and the garden size,
always cluttering the property, expensive, slow to empty, prone to contamination,
can't 'breathe' meaning money is spent collecting water…
There are two reasons for charging for garden waste collection. Firstly, collecting
garden waste free of charge is a massive disincentive to home composting. WyeCycle
collected garden waste free for a decade, and on introducing a charge saw collection
rates fall by around 30% as people (re)started home composting. Secondly, a free
collection is not free at all but a highly regressive form of taxation. People living in
big houses with big gardens generate 10 times the amount of garden waste as people
in flats/ small terrace houses, yet the waste element of their council tax is nowhere
near 10 times as high. A free collection of garden waste is a very effective way of
getting the poor to subsidise the semi-professional gardening habits of the early-
retired middle classes.
3) Collection
Catering waste bins are emptied at the kerbside into 1000 litre IBC's (intermediate
bulk container) mounted on a low level trailer. Small amounts of garden waste are
added throughout the round; just enough to ensure that all three IBC's are full at the
end of the round. Garden waste is collected in a tipping trailer, the average load being
1t. With an average bag/ bundle of garden waste weighing 10kg, each trailer load
equates to £50 of tag sales.
Both catering and garden waste trailers are taken to WyeCycle's yard, an old
brickworks midway between Wye and Brook. Wheeled bins of catering waste from
communal bin areas and trade premises are collected in a panel van, with full bins
being swapped for empty ones.
4) Processing
a) Garden waste
Garden waste is composted in a simple static pile system. Incoming material is
heaped up, each heap taking a month to build in the summer or two-three months in
winter. Nothing is shredded; a process considered to be noisy, expensive, dangerous,
time-consuming, and a distraction from the real process of composting. Shredding
can also be contrary to safe, effective composting; if shredded too vigorously garden
waste heaps can become both anaerobic and a potential source of leachate.
Heaps are turned on a monthly basis, with the first 6 months being away from the
roofed area of the barn to allow rainfall to aid the process. After 6 months heaps are
moved under cover, to ensure compost is not too wet to allow for easy sieving.
At 9-12 months, sieving takes place over home made frames. Compost is sold bagged
(£100/t) and in bulk (£15/t). Reject material from sieving is added to incoming
garden waste, the compost stuck to it containing all the micro-organisms necessary to
kick start the composting process.
b) Catering waste
Full IBC's of catering waste are picked up with the rotating pallet forks on the tractor,
and emptied into a Keenan mixer wagon. A mixer wagon is a machine commonly
used by livestock farmers for mixing together silage, corn, minerals etc for feeding to
cattle. The Keenan is one of the commonest makes of mixer wagon in the UK, and is
especially suited for use as an in-vessel composter as: 1) It mixes using paddles rather
than augurs, meaning the mixing action is less abrasive and so less inclined to create
an anaerobic mush. 2) Its discharge door is set some way up from the floor, meaning
the floor itself is a sealed unit so preventing leakage. 3) Its popularity means second
hand machines and parts are readily available.
Keenans come in a range of sizes, with the updated version - the Keenan Klassik -
having new features such as knives. Designed for helping break up big bales of silage
and straw, these knives would prove useful for splitting biobags. At present
WyeCycle have three older Keenans, each with a capacity of around 3t. All new
Keenans are fitted with load cells to allow for accurate measurement of feed rations.
Having functioning load cells allows weight recording for the payment of recycling
credits, as well as providing information on weight loss throughout the composting
process.
In addition to catering waste collected at the kerbside, the Keenan is also loaded with
material collected from trade premises and communal bin areas. Large quantities of
cardboard are also added - pretty much all the cardboard collected via the kerbside
recycling scheme - to ensure optimum composting conditions.
Having two tractors allows the Keenan to be left in gear (pto drive off the tractor)
whilst catering waste and cardboard are loaded. The paddles rotate at 10-12 rpm,
scooping material from the floor, lifting it and allowing it to fall in on itself. This
ensures a thorough mixing of materials, with biobags gradually splitting as the
material is agitated. If only operating one tractor, material needs to be loaded a little
at a time with mixing taking place in between loads to break the cardboard down and
create more space.
At our current scale of operation - around 3t of catering waste per week - we fill a
Keenan every 7-10 days. Once full the machine is left for a couple of weeks, being
put in gear every few days for around 5 minutes to aerate and ensure that all material
is exposed to the most active part of the process.
Temperatures recorded are 50-60degC for several days. This could be increased, in
an attempt to meet the temperature requirements of the ABPR, by experimenting with
turning frequency and ingredients, and by insulating the body of the Keenan. Having
no particular desire to meet these temperature requirements, however - see chapter 6
- WyeCycle are happy with the temperatures achieved.
Each of the three Keenan's on-site are emptied in rotation. After this time, the
catering waste can be regarded as 'semi-composted'; ie it has been through an active
composting phase of relatively high temperature but still needs to go through a longer
maturation phase at lower, falling to ambient, temperature. For this to take place the
material is discharged from the Keenan and formed into a housed windrow in a 40'
shipping container. This windrow is moved periodically, every few months, from
one container to another for a period of 12 months. After this 12 month process a
mature, stable compost is the result.
Adapting the Keenan:
- An overhanging lip must be constructed out of scaffold boards around the top edge
of the Keenan, to keep vermin out; never underestimate the agility of rats.
- A breathable membrane (see resource list) is then used to cover the Keenan, to keep
birds off but allow moisture vapour to exit.
Only suitable for small, rural schemes?
WyeCycle use three small, second-hand Keenan’s (2xEasyFeeder100, 1xEasyFeeder
80) because they suit our current tonnage and budget. Keenan’s with double the
capacity of ours are available, so any project with a higher tonnage would get bigger/
more machines as appropriate.
For an urban project, the kerbside collection vehicle would probably consist of IBC’s
mounted on a milk float or flat bed truck. This could be alongside similar containers
for paper, glass etc.
An interesting recent development is the launch by Keenan of a mixer wagon with an
on-board engine, removing the need for pto drive from a tractor. Such machines –
whilst doubtless expensive – present further possibilities for urban areas where space
is at a premium.
5) Costings
As WyeCycle's composting operation is part of our overall activities, with much
shared use of labour and equipment, accurate costings are impossible. The following
is an attempt, but it should be noted that several figures are arrived at by apportioning
WyeCycle's total budget for rent, office costs, vehicle running costs etc.
Budget for The WyeCycle System, handling 150t/yr of garden waste and 150t/yr of
catering waste/ cardboard.
Expenditure
Capital costs
Tractor (inc. fore-end loader and attachments) 5,000 *
Second tractor (optional, solely for pto drive to Keenan) 2,000
Keenan mixer wagon; 3 @ £3,000 9,000
Trailer x 2 1,000
Shipping container x 4 4,000
Van 2,500*
Total 23,500
Revenue costs
Labour - Project management (one fte) 16,000
- Assistant (part time) 5,000
Rent/rates/utilities/office/promotional 4,000*
Vehicle and machinery costs - fuel/tax/insurance 2,000*
- repairs/maintenance 4,000*
- depreciation 2,000*
Bins and bags 2,000
Misc. 5,000
Total 40,000
* 50% of total cost as only used for composting operation 50% of time.
Income
Recycling credits
- disposal credit; £45/t x 225t domestic sourced material 10,125
- collection credit; 60p/ household/ fortnight 8,580^
Garden waste tags 5,000
Compost sales 5,000
Trade waste charges 5,000^
Grant aid 10,000
Total 43,705
^ 50% of total income as also due to other materials
Discussion on budget
An initial cash injection of around £20,000 is needed for capital equipment, making
start-up costs of around £25,000 to allow for labour etc in the lead-time to collections
starting. This £25,000 for the community sector will typically come from grant aid in
one form or another, although as composting of municipal waste becomes more
widespread it will become commonplace for these sums to be borrowed against
business plans or invested from private drawings.
Operating costs of £40,000/yr against earned income of £30,000 leaves a 25% deficit
to be raised each year through grant aid. Over time this need for grant aid is being
eroded, due to increases in landfill disposal costs and legally binding recycling targets
for local authorities. A combination of an increase in charges for garden waste
collection, an increase in the collection and disposal credit from the local authority,
and an increase in trade waste charges, are all being used by WyeCycle to erode this
need for grant aid.
Operating costs of £40,000 for a project handling 300t/yr equate to a cost of £133/t.
There are two responses to this. Firstly, to increase participation rates by households
and businesses to lower the unit cost. Secondly, to say to a local authority setting up
its own kerbside collection scheme for catering waste and garden waste " What,
actually, is the true cost of this project: Collection costs, processing costs,
development costs, advertising costs, officer costs, on-costs of those officers, capital
equipment depreciation, the rental value of council land provided free to the
composting operation?" When set against the true cost of alternative disposal routes
in this manner, this system presents a cost-effective option.
6) "You can't do that"
1) Planning permission
If you collect a bag of garden waste from your neighbour and compost it on your
property, you need planning permission to operate a waste management site. It is
against this background that you will quickly develop a healthy scepticism of the way
in which planning law is at odds with the principles of environmental protection.
It is important to explain from the outset the scale of what you are planning; it is
unlikely your case officer will have come across anything as small as what you are
proposing, being more used to landfill site and incinerator proposals. Get your elected
representative on board, they employ the officers on behalf of the public. Don't take
"no" for an answer.
2) Waste management licencing
The issue of waste management licencing has dominated the entire history of
community composting as we now define such activity. Since the inception of the
Waste Management Licencing Regulations 1994, it has been illegal for a group of
friends and neighbours to take their garden waste to a communal site, compost it, and
return the compost back to their gardens without the benefit of a waste management
licence. Clearly this law has been widely flaunted, to the extent that the Community
Composting Network - formed largely as a result of such legislative nonsense -
obtained some years ago an assurance from the Environment Agency that it was OK
to ignore this 'import/export' law.
At the time of writing DEFRA are proposing to formally scrap this barrier to
community composting, and replace it instead with another barrier in the form of
charging for an exemption from requiring a waste management licence. Write to
Government - currently in the form of Elliot Morley MP - pointing out that such a
charge would appear to be somewhat at odds with a commitment to meeting
recycling targets, cutting greenhouse gas emissions etc.
The fact that the above paragraph appeared in the first edition of this guide in
December 2004, and nothing has changed more than 18 months later, tells you all
you need to know about Government commitment to sustainable development. Just
substitute Ben Bradshaw for Elliot Morley in the above.
Be nice to your local Environment Agency officers - they are only doing their job -
but as for planning, don’t take "no" for an answer.
3) The Animal By-products Regulations
Before looking for ways to 'bend' the ABPR, it is important to understand just what
an appallingly poor piece of legislation it is. Appendix 1 contains WyeCycle's papers
on the ABPR since it came into force on 1 July 2003. Read these papers now, to
understand the gaping flaws in the legislation.
You now have as good an understanding of the ABPR, certainly of its shortcomings,
as anyone in your local area. Knowledge is power, and you can now use this power to
do one of two things:
a) Just ignore it.
For anyone operating at a micro-scale and/or in an urban area (can you see any cows
from your window?), this is probably a sensible option. After all, millions of chicken
owners, allotment holder's etc – along with many local authorities - are ignoring it on
a daily basis; why should you be any different? What you clearly must do, however,
is ensure that in ignoring the ABPR you are operating in a manner which follows
sensible guidelines. The Community Composting Network has drawn up a draft set of
'Rules for Community Composting of Catering Waste' (appendix 2) which have been
submitted to DEFRA by the CCN for consideration. WyeCycle would recommend
following these rules, on the basis that they are readily achievable and provide at least
as great a protection to animal health as does the ABPR.
b) Conduct an independent risk assessment
The ABPR states that anyone wishing to compost catering waste outside of the rules
laid down may do so, so long as their process is subjected to an 'independent risk
assessment' conducted by a 'suitably qualified independent expert'. At the time of
writing WyeCycle have received DEFRA approval to put The WyeCycle System
through such an assessment, and we are at the early stages of seeing this work
completed. WyeCycle are not alone in following this route, and we remain confident
that once enough people stand up to the ABPR in it's current form it will become
increasingly difficult for Government to resist calls for fundamental changes to the
legislation.
7) Resource List
Bins and Bags
Peter Ridley Waste Systems. 01728 663395 www.peterridley.co.uk
Ecosac Ltd. 01630 639614 www.ecosac.net
Keenan mixer wagons, tractors, Shipping Containers, IBC's.
Farmers Guardian, Farmers Weekly, and your regional agricultural press all carry
adverts for second-hand equipment. A local reputable agricultural machinery dealer
will assist.
For Keenan repairs, Ian Cox is your man: 01367 850367
07711220656
Sundries
Fly traps: RedTop flytrap, Interhatch 01246 264650
Membrane (to cover Keenan): Syloguard Genatex, Milbury Systems 01275 857799
WyeCycle are able to source and supply machinery throughout the UK to match your
scale and budget; please contact us to discuss.
Community Composting Network
67 Alexandra Road
Sheffield
S2 3EE
0114 258 0483
info@ccn.org
www.communitycompost.org
Representing community composters throughout the UK. Members newsletter,
annual conference, training days, individual project support, lobbying of
Government. If you aren't a member then join today.
Community Recycling Network
Trelawney House
Surrey Street
Bristol
BS2 8PS
0117 942 0142
info@crn.org.uk
www.crn.org.uk
As for ccn, only for community recycling rather than composting.
WyeCycle would be pleased to help you develop your project; please contact us to
discuss.
WyeCycle Limited
Unit 2a, Briar Close
Bramble Lane
Wye
Kent
TN25 5HB
info@wyecycle.org
01233 813298/ 813303
www.wyecycle.org
Appendix 1
Comments on the ABPR
26 February 2004
With reference to the risk assessment upon which the ABPR is based:
1. The Glossary states, quite rightly, that source separated garden waste should be classified as
catering waste as it could (and does) also contain food. A local authority kerbside collection of
garden waste serving 10,000 households will contain more catering waste than a community based
kerbside collection of catering waste serving a few hundred households.
Why is the ABPR being applied to one and not the other? (12)
2. In 182 pages, no reference can be found to any risk to human or animal health surviving a
composting process of 365 days, irrespective of the temperatures achieved.
Do DEFRA accept that an in-vessel retention period of 365 days presents no more risk (and
probably less of a risk) than the high speed processes being approved under the ABPR? (13)
3. The section on home composting (p 173) states in its entirety:
A formal risk assessment for home composting has not been undertaken here. However, there is
scope for more effective meat exclusion by home composters, thus minimising the amount of meat
being composted. Although the temperatures may be lower, the composting process may be
performed for longer time periods, thus allowing for effective pathogen destruction. Furthermore,
the home produced compost is probably used in the garden of the composter and there(fore) is not
spread to land for animal grazing. The risks to animal health from home composting are therefore
likely to be very low.
However, by-pass could occur through wild animals and birds removing meat from the compost
heap. It should be pointed out that (this) is no different to feeding scraps of kitchen waste
containing (meat) to wild animals.
Community composting of catering waste, where the process is in-vessel and where the resultant
compost is returned to the households providing the raw material, is therefore the safest form of
composting there is. It removes the risk of wild animals raiding home compost heaps and removes
the risk of applying compost produced from catering waste to farmland.
Can DEFRA explain, then, why community composting is the one level of
composting to be hardest hit by the ABPR, with home composting being ignored and
all prescribed rules being aimed at accommodating high throughput large scale
systems? (14)
Comments on the ABPR Guidance Notes
WyeCycle
17 May 2004
WyeCycle have previously pointed out the fundamental failings of the ABPR. Here we offer some
thoughts on the latest attempt by DEFRA to clarify the rules, as published in their 'Guidance on the
treatment in approved composting or biogas plants of animal by-products and catering waste. June
2004'.
Section 3.16 Home composting
In this section, an effort is made to distinguish between premises that can and cannot compost
outside the ABPR.
A table appears as follows:
EXAMPLE CAN REG 16 NOTES
APPLY?
Detached Yes Premises with access to garden.
house, family
Terraced Yes As above.
house, family
House or Yes Although the building itself is split into different
block of flats flats, those flats that include access to the garden
split into may compost on the premises under Regulation
separate 16.
bedsits/ flats
Allotments No Allotments are not on the same premises as the
owner’s house, so waste would have to leave the
premises to get to the allotment. As such this is
not permissible.
Guest house Yes Essentially the same as a family house (above).
Garden flat Yes If in a shared block or house, access to the garden
with own is exclusively restricted to the garden flat
garden residents, then only they may compost their own
kitchen waste in the garden. Kitchen waste from
other residents within the building could not be
composted in the garden (since if they have no
right of access to the garden, it cannot be
considered to be on their premises).
University No Generally speaking campus accommodation does
campus not have individual gardens but access to
communal grounds. This is not considered to be
within the scope of Regulation 16.
Prison Yes The prison is a single premises and composting
under Regulation 16 is permissible (subject to
livestock restrictions as usual). Note that if staff
accommodation is on the site (e.g. a governor’s
house) this is a separate premises. In this
instance, prison kitchen waste could be composted
and used only on the prison premises, and the
kitchen waste from the governor’s house could be
composted and used only on the governor’s
premises.
Hospital Yes Like prisons, the premises itself is a single and
self-contained premises. If staff accommodation is
on the site, it will be treated as a separate
premises.
Shopping No A shopping centre is not single premises, but is
Centre made up of many different premises.
Garden shop Yes An individual premises within a shopping centre
in shopping could compost its own kitchen waste for use on the
centre garden which forms part of the shop.
Office block Yes Similar to block of flats (above). Those premises
within the block that have legal access to the
garden or green area may compost under
Regulation 16.
Caravan park No Similar to a university campus, the caravan park
gives access to community areas rather a garden
as such.
Village with No There are multiple premises within a village and
village green the green is a communal area.
So:
-Prisoners can compost (as long as the governor doesn't join in) but students can't.
-If you live in a block of flats you can compost but if you have an allotment you can't.
-Environmentalists planning their holidays need to take care; if you stay in a guest house your food
waste can be composted but if you stay on a caravan park it will have to go to landfill for the rats
and seagulls.
For crying out loud. What has this got to do with animal health? (15) Who is going to police it? (16)
Where is any of the logic? (17) Is no one embarrassed and ashamed that public money is being
spent dreaming up this nonsense? (18)
Section 3.17 Summary table of waste streams
It is stated here that the following definition applies:
Domestic kitchen waste:
Waste arising in kitchens, including domestic kitchens, is considered category 3
catering waste (where meat or products of animal origin are handled on the premises)
So, you can in fact set up a kerbside collection scheme for kitchen waste and compost it outside the
ABPR, so long as you are only collecting from vegetarian households. (the ABPR doesn't cover
milk, so you won't need to be vegan). (19)
This blatantly contradicts section 3.16, where no distinction between meat-included and meat-
excluded households is made. So, if the governor is veggie, he/she can after all contribute to the
prison compost heap. (20)
Are the state veterinary service/ trading standards in training to raid the kitchens of households
participating in such kerbside schemes, to check they really are all vegetarians? (21)
Section 7.2 The use of external heat in approved premises
This section states in its entirety:
The use of external heat in composting or biogas plants is permissible, provided that
the time/ temperature treatment standards set out in the Regulations are met
What does this mean exactly? That you can collect food waste, heat it to 70 deg for an hour, and
then put it through whatever form of composting process you care to choose, in-vessel or
otherwise? (22)
The composting methods employed by WyeCycle present far, far less of a risk to animal health than
such a process, yet we do not meet the requirements of the ABPR.
On the TV last week was yet another documentary about the appalling standard of public sector
food, this time in hospitals. DEFRA should be spending their time and our money on preventing
problems occurring in the first place, by insisting on high quality, locally produced and freshly
prepared food for our children and the sick. Instead they have embarked on a programme of
victimising the individuals, businesses and community groups who are preserving the few inches of
topsoil upon which all life depends; composters! (23)
Appendix 2
Rules for Community Composting
of Catering Waste
Fifth Draft September 2004
1. Community groups, following this methodology, can only handle catering waste as defined in the
Animal By-Products Regulation 2003.
2. All catering waste must be processed in-vessel, and remain in-vessel until it has been transformed
into compost.
Additionally, the in-vessel period must either: a) include a period of 60 deg C for 2 days/ 70 deg C
for 1 hour, or B) be for a period of not less than 150 days.
3. All sites must be registered with the Environment Agency, as required under the Waste
Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (as amended).
4. No catering waste may be composted on premises at which livestock (ruminants or pigs) are
present.
5. No compost produced from catering waste must be used on land to which livestock (ruminants or
pigs) have access. Full records must be maintained to demonstrate that this takes place.
6. For every 10t/yr of catering waste processed, a sample of resultant compost must be tested by an
approved laboratory for salmonella at regular intervals. For example, a project processing 40t/yr
must carry out a salmonella test every 3 months. The sample for testing must be taken from the end
of the in-vessel process, i.e. when the composting process is complete but before the compost is
placed in the open. Samples tested and the results must be kept for a minimum period of two years.
7. A HACCP plan must be produced and maintained, relevant to the scale of the project, showing
how operational procedures are conducted to minimise risk to animal health, human health and the
environment.
8. Failure to comply with any of the above will be deemed an offence under the ABPR 2003, and
may result in the project being referred to Trading Standards as such.
Glossary
In-vessel systems are defined as being contained in such a way that makes them demonstrably rat
proof and bird proof.
The definition of a composting process is based on its ability to receive either a waste management
license or an exemption thereof from the Environment Agency.
Note: In drawing up these rules, the CCN have drawn heavily on the original risk assessment
conducted on behalf of DEFRA.