Compost Illegal in UK

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Compost could be a heap of trouble By Charles Clover, Environment Editor (Filed: 02/05/2002)

THE ubiquitous television gardener Alan Titchmarsh advocates composting and the Government, it was thought, was all for it.

But in the middle of National Compost Week, it has been discovered that throwing potato peelings, teabags or cauliflower leaves on your heap can be illegal.

Composting kitchen waste, as good gardeners have done through the ages, can violate regulations designed to prevent the spread of animal disease.

In 1999 the Government drew up new rules to prevent the spread of highly contagious diseases, such as swine fever and foot and mouth, by scraps of meat - a real fear since the last outbreak of swine fever was blamed on a rambler's ham sandwich.

The regulations forbid the spreading of compost made from materials prepared in the same premises as meat on land where livestock are likely to graze.

Livestock, for the purposes of the regulations, include wild birds. So any gardener who spreads compost made from kitchen waste on land accessible to birds is theoretically guilty of an offence if he or she does not dig it in.

The implications of the Animal By-Products Order 1999 have been discovered by the National Trust, which has been trying to find out what it needs to do to make its many compost heaps comply with the law.

Yesterday the trust announced that it had had to stop using "green" vegetable waste from its catering outlets as a result of the 1999 Order.

Tamzin Phillips said: "It presents us with some interesting challenges. We cannot compost the leaves off the cauliflowers, the teabags or the coffee grounds."

Only vegan households would not be acting illegally in composting their kitchen waste under the trust's interpretation of the law.

An embarrassed spokesman at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the regulations were never intended to cover compost. A "risk assessment" was being carried out on compost this month, after which the department would look at the regulations again.

Peter Ainsworth, the Tory environment spokesman, said: "This is another story of staggering incompetence. My advice is to carry on composting. It is good for the environment."

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Why was it again that some think that everything from Europe (EU) is better than it is here???

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), May 03, 2002

Answers

A few years back, the EPA supposedly did a study to find the source of high nitrate levels in our American waterways. They claimed that most of the nitrates came from backyard composters. I say it is literally b.s. Obvioulsy they are looking out for the interest of big business.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), May 03, 2002.

Sounds like gross ignorance is international in scope.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), May 03, 2002.

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