§ Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domerasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the amount of kitchen waste being composted has increased or decreased since 1999; and whether the amount of waste being disposed of by this method is satisfactory. [HL4467]
§ Lord WhittyThis information is not available centrally.
The Government strongly support composting as a way of getting value from biodegradable waste by improving soil quality and replacing non-renewable products such as peat. We are actively encouraging the composting of green waste—at home, at municipal civic amenity sites when separately collected by local authorities.
The Animal By-Products Order, as amended, makes it an offence to allow livestock and poultry to have access to any catering waste, including domestic kitchen waste, which contains meat or most other products of animal origin, or which originates from premises which handle such products. In effect this prohibits the land spreading of composted kitchen waste. We have commissioned a risk assessment on the risks to public, animal and plant health from the land 11WA spreading of composted catering waste and will review the order in the light of that assessment. The risk assessment will be made public.