The Environment Agency has confirmed its intention to develop a quality protocol for residues from the treatment of waste through anaerobic digestion.
The announcement yesterday also said five further materials - steel slag, incinerator bottom ash, uncontaminated topsoil, gypsum and paper mill ash – would have protocols developed.
The Agency wants to cut red tape for anaerobic digestion plants Once finalised, the protocols could mean the materials gain the status of "products", rather than being treated as "wastes", which means they are subject to the restrictive legal controls for managing, storing, transporting and using waste as a resource.
The move to produce a protocol for anaerobic digestion – the treatment of organic wastes by bacteria in controlled conditions – fits in with the government's new waste strategy, which seeks to encourage use of the technology (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Agency believes the new protocols – being developed under the second year of its Waste Protocols project – could save around £150 million a year by helping to increase the amount of material diverted from landfill.
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