CS Waste Ltd

EU Landfill Directive and Waste Strategy:

The Landfill Problem

The UK currently produces 28 million tonnes of municipal waste every year - 83% of which ends up in landfill. Municipal waste includes all waste under the control of local authorities or agents acting on their behalf, and around 60% of the municipal waste stream is biodegradable. Biodegradable waste is mostly food waste, garden waste and paper, and this decays anaerobically in landfill sites to produce methane, a Potent greenhouse gas. There are many other problems associated with landfill including leaching (the leaking of potentially toxic liquids into soil and groundwater), litter, pests and the waste of valuable, recyclable goods.

The production of household waste is suggested to be increasing at a rate of 3% per year, although much of this may be waste diverted from other sources (e.g. commercial waste) rather than “new” household waste.

EU Legislation

The EU Landfill Directive sets targets for the reduction of biodegradable waste sent to landfill as 75% of the 1995 level by 2010, 50% of the 1995 level by 2013 and 35% of the 1995 level by 2020. This means that by 2020 the UK only needs to divert 40 per cent of household waste from landfill to meet the legal requirements of the Landfill Directive, as long as all of this is biodegradable waste. However, it will also need to divert other waste from landfill to meet targets within the Packaging Directive and also a new Directive on electronic waste. In practice this means around 55 per cent of waste will need to be diverted from landfill by 2020.

The Government's Waste Strategy

Targets for Wales

The National Assembly has set some Wales specific targets as follows:

By 2003/04 achieve at least 15% recycling/composting of municipal waste with a minimum of 5% composting and 5% recycling;
By 2006/07 achieve at least 25% recycling/composting of municipal waste with a minimum of 10% composting and 10% recycling;
By 2009/10 and beyond achieve at least 40% recycling/composting with a minimum 15% composting and 15% recycling.

We are able to recover certain materials that can provide a rich compost for land banks throughout Wales.

WHAT IS COMPOST?

Compost is made by a biological process which is the result of the biological action of micro-organisms on organic materials.

The biological degradation process of composting can be broadly described in terms of four stages of micro organism activity, characterised by different temperature ranges. (the mesophilic, thermophilic, cooling and the maturation stage)

Once matured, the compost is a brown, crumbly, soil like substance which contains all the elements and trace elements necessary for plant growth. Its structure is ideal for plant root generation and it has excellent moisture and oxygen retaining properties. Compost contains many beneficial micro-organisms that actively support plant health, minimising the need for insecticides and fungicides.

WHY USE COMPOST?

Composting is one of nature's ways of reducing waste and creating an alternative form of food for other plants and animals. The need to recycle organic waste has been increasingly recognised in order to provide a useable material rather than a waste product and also to minimise the amount of organic waste that goes to landfill.

ADVANTAGES OF USING COMPOST

Compost reduces costs.
The need to purchase soil improvers, composts and artificial fertilisers is reduced.

Compost improves soil structure.
Both water holding capacity and fertility are improved by adding humus to sandy soil whilst heavy clay soils gain improved structure and porosity.

Composting reduces the demand for landfill sites.
Apart from being offensive and unsightly, especially for people living nearby, landfill sites are expensive and have to be paid for either by industry or local council taxpayers. They produce unpleasant odours despite the greatest efforts of the managers to avoid them and can release greenhouse gases like methane.
Compost reduces the need for pesticides.

Compost reduces the need for artificial fertilisers.
By providing natural growth promotion, NPK fertilisers are less necessary and in agriculture, the run off of fertilisers into water courses are also reduced and nutrients from compost are less likely to leach out.

Compost Helps Suppress Disease.
Various scientific studies show that the addition of helpful micro organisms present in the compost help plants to fight disease and some of the effects are quite dramatic. Work done at the University of California (1994-2000) highlighted the suppression of Brown Rot in Peaches, End Rot in Onions and Avocado Root Rot.

Compost suppresses weeds.
When used as a mulch, a layer of compost will help suppress weeds by reducing the amount of available light.

Compost can eliminate digging
Compost used as mulch will be dragged into the soil by earthworms and this helps with soil aeration as well as providing the required nutrients and in shrubby borders it can remove the need to dig.

We also sell a variety of Soils & Compost, for more info, please get in touch using our contact details on the left.