Composting your waste

If your business produces biodegradable waste such as food, garden waste, paper and cardboard, you can send these for recycling into compost. The composting process produces energy which powers the facility and can also be sold.There are strict rules on food waste containing meat and fish. You must not include food waste for composting if it is contaminated. Compost from contaminated meat is believed to have caused the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2000. For more information, read about food waste and animal by-products on the NetRegs website

You must ensure that the composting business has the necessary permits to handle food and other biodegradable waste and to produce compost. You can get further advice from the Environment Agency.The cleaner the waste you send for composting, the higher the quality of compost and the greater the benefit for the environment. High-quality compost is used for gardening and farming and low-quality for top soil to cover landfill sites. Agricultural compost from waste can replace chemical fertilisers, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the energy needed to produce and distribute these fertilisers.

Composting facilities on or close to farms provide farms with less expensive fertiliser and cheaper power. Some farms and food firms are licensed to operate composting facilities and can earn extra income from this business.The Environment Agency and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) have produced a quality protocol for compost. This sets out the criteria for the production of quality compost from different types of biowaste such as food and garden plant waste


AD takes place in a closed container, excluding oxygen. A clean, non-smelly method, it produces compost and methane and carbon dioxide gas, which is used to power the plant. MBT also involves heating the waste but with this option oxygen is present.Spreading waste on landSome wastes such as paper or sewage sludge can be spread on land. However, you should check what restrictions apply with the Environment Agency before doing so.