§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information she has collated on which EU member states exclude kitchen waste from the composting of municipal organic waste; and if she will make a statement. [80512]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Department has no specific information on the practices followed by other member states in relation to the composting of kitchen waste, although visits have been made to look at composting operations in Italy and the Netherlands. However, the new EU Animal By-products Regulation (expected to come into force in 2003) permits the use in composting/ biogas operations of catering waste containing meat and low-risk animal by-products. For plants processing only catering waste, the Regulation allows national standards to be set, provided they guarantee an equivalent effect in pathogen reduction to the treatment standard in the Regulation (70?C for one hour in a closed system).
The Department commissioned a risk assessment that looked at the animal and public health risks posed by the composting/biogas treatment of catering waste and spreading it on land. This work concluded that, provided satisfactory controls are in place, composting/ biogas treatment can be done safely.
We are therefore developing processes that will allow catering waste to be composted safely, based on the results of the risk assessment (without the risk assessment, we would be obliged to follow the EU standard, which would be more restrictive and, possibly, counter-productive). The aim is to get a draft statutory instrument out for public consultation by the end of November, and to amend the legislation early in the new year. The overall objective is to develop a set of rules that will allow composting of catering waste to take place economically, while fully protecting animal and public health.