"WRAP’s capital support will enable us to increase WLC’s processing capacity by almost 100 per cent. As a result it will become the largest capacity in-vessel plant in Europe"
Roger Hughes, Commercial Director of The Composting Company
Banbury, England, UK: Eight compost production sites across the UK are reaping the financial rewards thanks to funding and business advice from WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), announced the organisation recently.
The funding is being ploughed into new or improved in-vessel processing facilities at a number of sites in order to enable the composting of both kitchen and garden waste.
WRAP is forecasting that the eight compost sites could increase their compost production capacity by up to 120,000 tonnes per year overall. This would take the UK’s overall capacity to in excess of 3.5 million tonnes.
There has been considerable publicity in recent times with WRAP research indicating that around one-third of food that is purchased at the supermarket, is thrown away - much often unused. This is thought to occur for a number of reasons including poor food storage at home and offers such as “two for the price of one”.
The end result is that food waste is an important component of residual household waste, prompting local authorities to increasingly separate this waste for special treatment.
WRAP says that local authorities and commercial enterprises are finding themselves increasingly under pressure to find ways of minimizing food waste to meet landfill targets and so are turning to the collection and processing of food waste to meet their obligations.
Key area for development
WRAP, along with the composting industry, sees food waste processing as a key area for development over the next few years – with the knock on effect of reducing greenhouse gases (landfilling food waste generates the powerful greenhouse gas methane) and helping the UK meet Landfill Directive targets.
Municipal food waste must be processed in accordance with the Animal By-products Regulations (ABPR) which includes the need for enclosed composting in distinct stages.
West London Composting Ltd
West London Composting Ltd is a family-run business based in Harefield, West London already benefiting from WRAP support and currently working towards certification to the industry standard, BSI PAS 100, and the Quality Protocol for Compost. The company has been composting kerbside collected garden and kitchen material from Hillingdon, Hertfordshire, Harrow and Brent for the past four years and currently has a composting capacity of up to 50,000 tonnes per annum.
The company is investing approximately £2.7 million on improvement and expansion of its current compost production facility. WRAP funding support to the tune of £670,000 will double the number of composting vessels on site from 16 to 32, as well as expanding the maturation area. The in-vessel system is being supplied by The Composting Company Ltd (TCCL).
Roger Hughes, Commercial Director of The Composting Company said:
“WRAP’s capital support will enable us to increase WLC’s processing capacity by almost 100 per cent. As a result it will become the largest capacity in-vessel plant in Europe.
“The expansion of the original plant built by TCCL 4 years ago enables even more of London’s biodegradable waste to be recycled into quality compost products for use in agriculture, horticulture and by the public. WLC experience high demand from agriculture for their product and it has been used consistently by farms over the past four years with excellent results. The WRAP grant will enable WLC to process the food inputs into a high quality soil conditioner that will allow them to sell even greater quantities of bagged product through retail outlets.”
Other firms that have benefited are Cumberlow Compost Services in Hertfordshire, Countrystyle Composting in Kent, MF & AL Bennion in Gloucestershire, and four Scottish sites; Keenan Recycling Limited in Aberdeenshire, Gray Composting Services Limited in Fordyce, Scottish Water Waste Services in Cumbernauld and Levenseat Organics Limited in Forth.
Further information
WRAP supports companies that produce and sell quality compost through the provision of capital support, consultancy, advice on training, and through the leasing of equipment. A new capital grant programme has been launched that offers funding to companies looking to invest in Anaerobic Digestion/Thermophilic Aerobic Digestion and in-vessel technology, with the aim of increasing the UK’s processing and manufacturing capacity for quality recycled products from food waste rich feedstock.
The programme will be run as two individual competitions, one for projects in England and Northern Ireland (OBI078) and the other for projects in Scotland (OBI079). A separate grant programme for investment in AD facilities in Wales is run by the Welsh Assembly Government. For more information contact Sarah Burns at WRAP, sarah.burns@wrap.org.uk.
To register or find out more about the competitions email
organicscapitalsupport@wrap.org.uk. The closing date for the competitions is 30th June 2008 at 1.30pm.
For more information on compost or WRAP’s capital grant programme, visit www.wrap.org.uk/composting. Or call the freephone helpline on 0808 100 2040.