Biofertiliser Certification Scheme reports record membership at the end of its tenth year

Posted: 6 December, 2017. Written by Georgia

Biofertiliser Certification Scheme reports record membership at the end of its tenth year

• The Biofertiliser Certification Scheme is available to assure the safety and quality of digestate and assist operators in raising their profile within the environment sector
• The Scheme was set up in 2007 and is celebrating its tenth anniversary
• The Scheme is announcing a record 67 AD plants registered as of December
• AD operators can begin the New Year with a competitive edge by signing up to the scheme, which covers the process straight through from input to digestate quality

This Christmas, anaerobic digestion (AD) plant operators can give themselves the gift of a competitive edge in the New Year by signing up to the Biofertiliser Certification Scheme (BCS). This well-established scheme, now reporting a record 67 participants as of December, can reduce costs for operators and covers the process straight through from input all the way through to digestate quality. The Scheme was set up in 2007 and is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

BCS certified digestate is widely recognised as high quality and safe by environmental regulators. It thus offers an opportunity for AD operators looking for a reliable market for the digestate they produce. The BCS is reporting a significant growth in membership, having grown from 3 plants in 2011, which was its fifth year of operation.

The BCS assures the quality of anaerobic digestion processes and anaerobic digestate. It is an independent certification scheme based on the BSI PAS110:2014 quality standard for all types of AD operations.

It is essential that farmers, land managers, farm assurance schemes, retailers, and consumers can be certain that anaerobic digestate spread to land is consistently safe and of good quality. The BCS quality assurance standards provide all stakeholders with these essential guarantees by certifying that the production process is appropriate and well-managed, based on a robust quality management system, that it is sourced only from permitted feedstocks, and that it has been produced in a hygienic manner.

Virginia Graham, Chief Executive of Renewable Energy Assurance Limited (REAL) said:

“This year AD operators can give themselves the gift of a competitive edge for the New Year by signing up to this scheme that covers the process from production to end-of-waste. This holiday season we’re celebrating the Scheme’s tenth anniversary, and in that decade the AD market has changed completely.

It has been a privilege to see the growth of a successful AD industry assisted by a successful quality assurance scheme that provides reliable routes to market for digestate.

Throughout the life of the BCS we have ensured that the scheme is robust by working closely with UKAS, certification bodies and laboratories. We look forward to driving the development of the BCS further as this thriving industry continues to grow and evolve.”

David Collins, former Senior Biogas Advisor to the Renewable Energy Association (REA) said:

“When REAL set up the Biofertiliser Certification Scheme ten years ago, it was to give confidence to farmers and other users that food grown on soil, using quality digestate as a fertiliser, was safe for consumption and compliant with the stringent demands of their buyers. That hard won trust from an initially sceptical market was built gradually through rigorous third party inspection and a well-run scheme.

Cheaper compromises in certification have always been available but while trust takes years to build, breaches in quality have an immediate and disastrouseffect across the entire industry. I celebrate the first ten years of the Biofertiliser Certification Scheme and its central role in building the biogas industry and I look forward to its continued future success.”

Bryan Lewens, FACTS and WAMITAB Qualified Landspreading Advisor said:

“I managed the use of digestate on land for agricultural benefit for 12 years and was highly appreciative of the efforts that went into developing and then reviewing the PAS110/ADQP.

Managing digestate under "Waste regulations" was costly and complicated to administer. The ability to market digestate as a product that met a standard gave farmers added confidence to use digestate as a fertiliser.

The work done by WRAP in providing guidance on its use and the comprehensive risk assessments carried out on a wide range of hazards has also been a great help in allaying any concerns farmers may have had.”

Digestate is a nutrient-rich organic fertiliser that can be spread to land to confer agronomic benefit to soil and improve its physical quality, thus displacing the use of expensive and polluting chemical fertilisers.

Most AD plant operators use the biogas they produce to generate clean electricity. Although, some plant operators go further and clean up the biogas in order to inject it into the gas grid. They can track the flows of this biomethane through the grid by means of the Green Gas Certification Scheme (GGCS) which assigns guarantees of origin to each unit of biomethane injected and each unit taken out and sold to households, institutions or corporate customers.