Final decisions to be made today on new compost quality standard

Posted: 7 March, 2018. Written by Georgia

Final decisions to be made today on new compost quality standard

• Steering Group meeting takes place today for the revision of BSI PAS 100 Specification for composted materials
• Members of the Steering Group represent the composting industry including compost producers, markets, and environmental regulators
• Controversial or contentious proposals were discussed prior to this meeting during workshops held in January and February 2018
• New compost quality standard BSI PAS 100:2018 will be published soon

The quality standard for composted materials is undergoing a formal revision process. The project was initiated in May and is now drawing to a close with the final Steering Group meeting taking place today. The meeting is being hosted by Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd (REAL) and the British Standards Institution (BSI).

The Steering Group will be signing off the proposals for the next version of PAS 100. Members of the Steering Group were carefully selected to represent the industry as a whole including the compost producers, markets, and environmental regulators.

Since the revision began, individuals have provided over 300 comments in total through formal stakeholder engagement and public consultation. The public consultation on the draft version of PAS 100:2018 ended on 12th January 2018. Following this period, REAL, as sponsors for the revision, set up a series of workshops and meetings to discuss controversial or contentious issues. The workshops provided an opportunity for all interested parties to attend, raise their views and have a full and frank discussion about each topic, with the aim of achieving general consensus by the end of the workshop.

The revision has been based on an extensive consensus building process and the updated standard requirements will benefit the organics recycling industry, as the last version was published in 2011 and industry has experienced noticeable change in 7 years. The new version – BSI PAS 100:2018 – is due to be published this spring. The final countdown for a new compost quality standard begins now.

Jenny Grant, Technical Author for the revision of PAS 100 said:

“It was great to see lots of comments during the public consultation and following that, extensive discussions with the review panel. I’m looking forward to the Steering Group discussions and finalising the revision of PAS100.”

Janet Gascoigne, Accreditation Manager, UKAS said:

"UKAS is pleased to be working with REAL to develop an accredited certification scheme for composted materials. The revision of PAS 100 is a key step in this process and we look forward to publication of the revised specification.”