Compost use continues to grow

Increased use is raising awareness of the product’s benefits, as well as issues over product guarantees, he says.

Introduced in 2002, the British Standards Institute’s PAS100 - Publicly Available Specification - for composted materials, which sets minimum standards to which all compost products must adhere if they are to be sold and supplied for use in agriculture or horticulture, has recently been reviewed and updated by WRAP, BSI and the Association for Organics Recycling (AFOR).

This, says Dr Tompkins, gives potential buyers/users reassurance comparable with that for any other bought-in crop input.

“The quantity of biodegradable material processed annually into compost has increased almost ten-fold over the past decade,” he says.

Market focus

“More than 2.5m tonnes of compost were produced in 2007/08, and almost 1m tonnes of that were produced to PAS100.

“The use of compost in agriculture and field horticulture has doubled in the past five years. This now represents the most significant single market focus for composts, taking nearly 50 per cent (1.25 million tonnes) of all production in 2007/8.”

Compost produced to quality standards is claimed to offer a number of potential benefits to arable soils, including maintenance and enhancement of organic matter, improved drainage, reduced erosion risks, improved ease of cultivation leading to lower fuel use, and provision of elements in varying levels according to compost type, including nitrogen, potash, phosphorus, sulphur, and magnesium.

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