Composting groups have urged the government to take action over the levels of contaminants found in green waste collections. The collections, which go to form compost used by industry, often contain high levels of non-biodegradable contaminants, which groups have said are costly to remove.

At the beginning of the month, the Association for Organics Recycling met with Defra officials to explain that current levels of contamination are hampering efforts to create compost which meets industry standards.

Furthermore, earlier in the year, horticulture enterprises claimed the government is not doing enough to facilitate the replacement of peat. Although it is an incredibly useful growing medium peat carries a vast environmental cost, leading many nations, especially in Europe, to begin phasing out its use.

However, growers in the East of England said that growing mediums with a recycled garden waste base contained damaging levels of chemicals used by domestic gardeners on their plants which had not broken down whilst the organic compost was being formed. Some said that, after disastrous attempts at growing commercial vegetables with the new mediums, they had been forced to give up and return to growing with peat.

AfOR representatives told Defra officials during their meeting on 2nd May that the level of contaminants received in green waste is currently “unacceptably high.” They called for local authorities to begin reporting the quantities and types of contaminants sent for recycling at biowaste facilities and adopt a “carrot and stick” approach to reduce the amount of contaminants arriving at waste sites. At some sites, levels of contaminants that cannot be recycled are as high as 25 per cent.

The European Commission is currently developing new quality guidelines for compost, which will determine when compost is rich enough not to be considered waste. There is a pressing need to develop viable alternatives to peat for growers, as the industry contributes heavily to pollution and new statistics have painted a bleak picture of its effect on wetland ecosystems and the wider environment.

The government last year set up a task force to facilitate the transition to a post-peat industry, through research and development of promising alternatives. However, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation today warned that the UK’s peat resources, most of which are in Scotland, are in a worrying state of degradation.

The FAO has launched a new global initiative to protect global peat resources. The Organic Soils and Peatlands Climate Change Mitigation Initiative’s first report reveals "Over 80 per cent of UK peatlands are in a degraded state due mainly to past drainage, fire and grazing."

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