This document is a constructive road map with clear objectives and actions for local authorities, organic processors, policy makers and regulators that puts in place actions that will reduce contamination of feedstocks for organic processors, increase recycling rates, increase feedstock supply and protect the environment.
The organics processing industry has grown from the building of the first industrial compost and anaerobic digestion sites in the 1990s to an industry that treats and recycles millions of tonnes of waste and other materials today, with inputs coming from household, non-household, commercial and industrial sources.
In the future, we expect the industry to grow further still, utilizing both existing capacity and new capacity to treat waste diverted from disposal routes under the proposals that are part of the Resources and Waste strategy (RWS) in England and Beyond Recycling in Wales.
The industry is faced with the exciting opportunities that are brought to the fore by potential increases in feedstock supply, recognition of the importance of the circular economy and the need to value our resources, increasing demands for renewable energy and an increasing awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy soils for food production as well as for delivering healthy ecosystems.
For it rise to these opportunities, the sector must remain a trusted and welcomed option for waste treatment that delivers valuable products. Recent times have seen the questioning of some current practice in the sector and it is now critical that a series of challenges that threaten to undermine the ability to deliver are addressed.
These challenges can be summarized as:
- The absolute need for quality – quality inputs, quality operations and quality outputs.
- The need to reduce emissions of ammonia from the generation, spreading and use of digestates from AD.
- The need to fully value the products the organic sector produces.
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DownloadA roadmap for the Organics sector
PDF, 1.93 MB