Ban 'Green' Waste being dumped on our Countryside!!

Countryfile - Tom Heap discovers a problem with using green waste as fertiliser.

2015-05-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

Countryfile Feature,

bbc 1 24-5-15 - 7pm, - it was great to see that countryfile have acknowledged the harm that green waste is having on the environment - however i feel they do not know the true extent - it seems the environment agency think these are odd cases of private composters, which they are not.

Its not just the household waste that poses the problem but all the commercial waste including council wasted from home renovations.

Please look through the back posts of this blog to see the environmental problem we face.

If you have found an issue with Green waste please do write to - bbc.co.uk/countryfile as requested.

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Thank you to all at countryfile and to those that have pushed for the issue of contaminated green waste, please continue the great work or all our farmland will be contaminated forever.

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Household waste disguised as hay bales dumped in Essex

2013-04-14T05:11:00.000-07:00

I have been reading a news article on the BBC website which concerned me a lot. Just makes you wonder what would have happened to that waste if the Environment Agency hadn't got wind of it.

Full Story

The new petition should be live very soon.

2013-04-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

|Great news Steve,

I see another 4 local farms to me have taken the wast on, i have seen at least 2 fields stockpling at least 1 - 2000 tons of the waste ready for spreading when the crops come off in August until then it will just stay piled up,

I will be visiting the sites with my camera and video as soon as the rain has washed the fresh waste revealing its contents. seems the problem is getting worse even after all the efforts,

the problem is weneed more people to get onboard to expose the problem before it is to late,

most land in the south staffordshire area is now contaminated,

only last week i drove past a field that had be "Green" Wasted last year and i could see all the metal and glass shining in the sunlight the field hadge had loads of plastic along the one side that had blown out of the waste as it had weathered,

its not good at all and needs to be recognised s a problem.

New Petition to start

2013-04-07T05:16:00.000-07:00

As many of you will know the last petition finished on the 5th March 2013 with 1,516 signatures. Although the numbers were disappointing it still high-lighted to many the vast problem and large fight we have in getting this practice stopped. It also resulted thanks to stuE with a debate being heard in Parliament.

Recent rallies suggest that this problem is still ongoing and that we can't sit on our laurels so today I have launched a second petition to be launched on the HM Government website. Hopefully we can use this to bring even more peoples attention to this issue.

A link with be posted once the petition has been approved, which should be within 48 hours.

Green Waste debate hits house of commons!

2012-12-17T17:00:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday 12th December Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester brought up the issue of the Green Waste issue that is blighting the British Countryside.

In a well balanced argument he put forward his concerns, which metal detectorists have been voicing loudly over the last 12 months or more. This was brought to his attention by Mt Stuart Elton, known as stuE on many metal detecting forums.

A transcript is below:

Bob Russell (Colchester, Liberal Democrat)

The nation owes a debt of gratitude to its metal detector enthusiasts. As I will explain, individually and collectively they have identified a serious environmental disaster that must be averted.

At first glance, the concept of spreading garden waste across farmland seems to be an excellent idea—more “green” than burying it in landfill sites. The idea has been taken up with enthusiasm by councils across the country, encouraged by a combination of financial incentives and regulations to reduce, if not eliminate, landfill. Indeed, local authorities, spurred on by Government targets, compete against one another to see who can collect the most recycling materials. In principle, that is a worthy objective, but it has led to unintended consequences in the collection of so-called green waste from gardens. Once households had their own compost heaps. I still do. That is one basic we should go back to.

It is those serious, environmentally damaging consequences that I shall highlight this evening, in the hope that action will be taken with immediate effect by central and local government to prevent any further damage to the soil and water courses as a result of the contamination caused by discarded materials mixed in with what is often wrongly described as green waste and spread on food-producing fields.

I was first alerted to this worrying situation on 7 June this year, when a constituent, Mr Stuart Elton, attended my advice bureau. Metal detecting is his hobby. What he told me appalled me. Nowadays, when he and fellow metal detecting enthusiasts, with the permission of the land owner, go out looking for buried treasures from the past they are more likely to find a wide variety of metal, cut, crushed and mashed among the rotting green waste. That is not so much a needle in a haystack, but rather the contents of a scrapyard strewn across fields.

That led me to write to the president of the National Council for Metal Detecting, Mr John Wells. I was keen to learn more about the matter, both from a metal-detecting perspective and because of the obvious pollution and environmental consequences that my constituent had drawn to my attention. In due course, Mr Wells travelled from his home in Coventry to have a meeting with me at the House of Commons, which in turn led me to apply for tonight’s debate.

There was a time when the world of archaeology was variously sniffy or even hostile to those engaged in metal detecting, claiming that such activity was harmful to archaeological sites and discoveries. Quite often landowners were oblivious to what was going on. That is no longer the case. The National Council for Metal Detecting and its members have an excellent record of partnership working with all interested parties and have been responsible for some breathtaking finds that have added to the sum of our knowledge of the past. As I represent the first capital of Roman Britain, I am delighted to report that in Colchester we have an excellent metal detectors group, whose members epitomise best practice. It is currently full, with 100 members, and has

a waiting list. As recently as 30 November, its chairman, Mrs Sue Clarke, was reported in the Colchester

Daily Gazette

as saying:

“Colchester is a great place to be part of a metal-detecting group. There is so much history around here. There is never a boring rally.”

The term “rally” in this context refers to members, with the permission of a landowner, going as a group to search for artefacts.

To get back to the subject of my debate—the consequences of the contamination of green waste—I hope that the Minister will acknowledge that the serious environmental and pollution issues literally cannot be covered up any longer. Not everyone in the green waste industry is up to the job, whether we are talking about deliberate deceit or failure to comply with the strict regulations. The Minister’s briefing will, I trust, include accounts of people being prosecuted for spreading pollutants and other contaminated material along with so-called green waste.

One example that I have been told about involves a company called Vital Earth GB Ltd, which, in August this year, was fined £75,000, with costs of £13,535, at Derby magistrates court for offences under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The compost delivered by the company to a farmer was found to be contaminated with mixed waste, such as plastics, paper and metals, including kitchen knives, bottle tops and cigarette lighters—not at all environmentally friendly, and not friendly to those engaged in metal detecting, either. The compost quality protocol states that if quality compost is mixed with other waste materials, the resulting mix will be considered to be waste, and will therefore be subject to waste regulatory controls. Spreading it across England’s green and pleasant land is not what should happen to it. After the court hearing in Derby, an Environment Agency official said:

“This is a serious environmental crime. By depositing controlled waste Vital Earth have fallen significantly short of their environmental duties. We will not hesitate to prosecute in such cases.”

Perhaps the Minister could state how many prosecutions there have been under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 against those who have contaminated fields with compost that contains contaminated materials. This serious crime of pollution, which affects fields growing crops for human and animal consumption, and watercourses into which the pollution leaks, is a matter that needs to be addressed with the utmost urgency.

Mr Elton told me that a colleague contacted him to say that

“a farm near Colchester is covered in the stuff and is virtually undetectable. How long will it be before the whole of the Colchester area is affected?”

This afternoon he e-mailed me to wish me luck with the debate, and added:

“Although it was my metal detecting interests that brought me to this problem originally, having seen the dreadful state of some of the treated fields I believe everyone would want to stop this non-biodegradable rubbish turning our countryside into one big landfill site.”

I have been provided with other eye-witness accounts that include references to finding, in “green waste” on fields, medical waste, such as bandages. Another metal detector enthusiast observed that

“many local historical sites are becoming saturated in aluminium and making it extremely difficult to recover metallic artefacts

such as coins and brooches and that side of things whilst not as important as the food we eat or environment we live in...will affect our national heritage and academic learning from the past.”

Mr Alan Charlish, from the west midlands, reports that

“Despite the known problems of contaminated compost we in the UK are allowing the stuff to be spread across our fields without, it seems, any form of control. It is not only the obvious contamination that we as metal detectorists see all the time, such as old batteries, various metals, plastics, etc, it is also the unseen chemicals that are going in.”

He added:

“Left much longer the problems will become irreversible. The fact is that despite the claims that screening takes place there are so many contaminants that are entering the food chain via local authority recycling schemes.”

As if those problems were not enough, I have been advised that we must now add ash dieback to the unwelcome ingredients in green waste, because leaves from infected trees are apparently finding their way on to farmers’ fields. I understand that last week, a soil conference conducted by the all-party group on agro-ecology was held at the House of Commons. Various speakers discussed the need for good soil and protection of the environment.

In addition to drawing the Minister’s attention to that meeting, I wish to advise him of the magazine “Digging Deep” which is published by the National Council for Metal Detecting. In issue 9 Mr Wells sets out the concerns of his members about the problem that is the subject of my debate.

I sense that what I have told the House this evening is only a snapshot of a major national scandal. The UK is the fourth largest producer of cereal and oilseeds in Europe, with cereals grown on more than 70,000 farms. There are more than 42,000 beef and dairy farms in England and Wales.

In his article Mr Wells states:

“Green waste is biodegradable waste that can be composed of garden or park waste, such as grass or flower cuttings and hedge trimmings, as well as domestic and commercial food waste. The differentiation green identifies it as high in nitrogen, as opposed to brown waste which is primarily carbonaceous.

This definition identifies those elements that when composted singly or together form nitrogen rich material that when added to existing soil serves to enrich and aid development of plants and crops.”

Thus, in theory, the spreading of green waste on farmland is sensible. Sadly, the reality is different. As Mr Wells so rightly observes:

“The so-called green waste now being spread upon fields cannot be classed as green waste. A high percentage of the content is not compostable and needs to be controlled in exactly the same way as refuse going to landfill or incineration plants.”

In his article he explains how things go wrong in the collection of garden waste, its onward transfer to a contractor, and the manner in which it is then processed and finally spread on fields. Frequently, at each stage, there are failures, the consequences of which are catastrophic.

Elsewhere Mr Wells writes:

“Farmers, in the belief that they are doing the right thing for the community, are being conned, and have their land contaminated with plastic, aluminium, glass and all kinds of other products, containing chemicals and substances which not only destroys the appearance of the countryside but also puts at risk the health of wildlife, our waterways and our human beings.

Thousands of tonnes of this toxic rubbish, containing syringes, bottles, gloves, toys, glass—some of which will not decay for hundreds of years—are being tipped on the fields each year.”

I conclude with a rallying cry from the president of the National Council for Metal Detecting, which I am confident will be echoed by every environmental campaigner in the country:

“The dumping of green waste on farm land is not only ruining our hobby, it is also contaminating the land for decades to come. If this continues, metal detecting in this country will become a thing of the past. The dumping of this material is nothing short of legalised fly-tipping—and has to be stopped.”

I invite the Minister to promise the necessary action to do just this.

Link to this Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 12 December 2012, c419)

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8:17 pm

Richard Benyon (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Natural Environment and Fisheries), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Newbury, Conservative)

I am grateful to my hon. Friend Sir Bob Russell for raising this worthwhile subject. He shows why there is a need to achieve a balance between encouraging the recycling of waste of all types and securing protection for people, animals and the natural environment.

No one should challenge the idea that it is right to encourage the treatment of green waste to produce valuable compost or soil conditioner. We strongly support measures that encourage the recycling of green waste. Over the past 10 years we have invested about £7 million in helping to develop new markets for quality compost. The composting sector in the UK has grown tenfold in the past five years as European and national legislation has encouraged local authorities to collect biodegradable garden and kitchen waste for processing into useful products, rather than consigning it to landfill. Let us not forget that organic waste sent to landfill produces methane, which has strong climate change effects. Composting is now a key component of many local authorities’ waste strategies, as my hon. Friend pointed out, as they work to improve the sustainable management of their waste.

The demand for composted products has continued to increase. The industry turned over an estimated £226 million in 2008-09, 36% above the figure for 2007-08. Agriculture is the most important single market for compost, accepting 1.8 million tonnes of a total production of 2.8 million tonnes in 2010. Green compost, when produced to the right quality standard and used in the right way, benefits agriculture, particularly on arable—cropped—soils. It replaces fertilisers or the use of peat and other material, thus conserving natural resources.

However, we must ensure that compost is produced to the right quality standard. That starts by ensuring that we keep green waste separate from other waste and avoid the introduction of contaminants, be they physical ones, such as pieces of metal, or less obvious ones, such as oil, rubber and residues found in street sweepings from the public highway. We need to ensure that the composting process is carried out in an environmentally sound manner and does not result in the production of polluting leachate that escapes into water courses or odours that cause a nuisance for those living nearby. The Environmental Agency has an important role in regulating composting and other waste recovery operations.

As has been graphically described, we do not want contaminated waste spread on land. We have in place quality protocols that are supported by publicly available standards—PAS 100 for compost and PAS 110 for the digestate for anaerobic digestion. Those specifications allow only source-segregated biodegradable inputs, including biodegradable garden and kitchen wastes collected from households. The PAS 100 specifications include stringent limits on physical contaminants, such as metal, plastic and glass, that can be present in the finished composts. Those limits were revised down from a total of 0.5% of dry weight to 0.25% in 2011. They are now the toughest in Europe. If those standards are met, the output is considered to be completely recycled and is no longer subject to waste management controls. Producing waste to those standards helps producers to guarantee compost that is safe to be marketed or spread on agricultural land as a quality product and helps to improve confidence in composted materials among end users.

Link to this Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 12 December 2012, c422)

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Bob Russell (Colchester, Liberal Democrat)

I must express disappointment at the Minister’s response so far. He is describing the theory, but the reality is what metal detecting enthusiasts from across England and their hobby group are telling me. What he describes is simply not happening out there in the field.

Link to this Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 12 December 2012, c423)

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Richard Benyon (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Natural Environment and Fisheries), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Newbury, Conservative)

I think that the point I was coming to might answer my hon. Friend’s concerns. I will say now what I was going to say later: the Government are in absolutely no way complacent about this. We might have the most stringent standards in Europe, but we want to see that we are enforcing them. Having the most stringent standards is just a factor on a piece of paper; we are concerned with outcomes. I want to assure him that we will follow up any cases where we believe there has been a failure to comply with standards, and I will move on to explain how the principle that the polluter should pay will continue to be a key component of what we do.

Of course, not all compost needs to be produced to such a standard. Lower grade compost and compost-like outputs can be legitimately used on land, for example as mulch. In those cases, the compost remains a waste and its use on land is subject to environmental permitting or registered exemption controls in the same way as the composting process itself. That is monitored and closely enforced by the Environment Agency. We are aware of cases of sham recovery where, under the guise of composting, some operators have seemingly been more interested in disposing of unwanted materials than producing a worthwhile product. Where such cases are identified, the Environment Agency will investigate and consider enforcement action in accordance, importantly for my hon. Friend, with its enforcement and sanctions guidelines.

The controls on compost spread to land are in place, but we are keen to guard more generally against adverse impacts resulting from the spreading of a wider range of waste and non-waste materials on land. For this reason, officials in the Department and in the Environment Agency have set up a joint project to look at the impacts of other materials spread on land and whether we have the right controls in place. Nobody has total possession of all wisdom in this regard, and we are happy to take up any cases that we hear about from hon. Members,

local authorities, or members of the public and organisations such as the one that my hon. Friend mentioned. In doing so, we will need to be absolutely clear about the rationale for any further intervention and avoid unnecessary or disproportionate regulation. We believe that there are sanctions in place that can deal with every one of the cases that he raises. If that is not happening, we as Ministers want to know why, and we look to him and others to provide cases that we can take up with the Environment Agency, which we will do with vigour.

Link to this Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 12 December 2012, c423)

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Tessa Munt (Wells, Liberal Democrat)

Will the Minister consider the fact that it is possible to look at the outcome as opposed to the process and perhaps offer some facility for the Environment Agency to recognise the integrity of agricultural and food-producing land and to offer some protection for that land? We already protect water voles and all sorts of other things in a number of different ways. If we looked to the protection of the land, any offence on it could be worked against by the Environment Agency rather than trying to classify every assault on the land.

Link to this Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 12 December 2012, c424)

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Richard Benyon (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Natural Environment and Fisheries), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Newbury, Conservative)

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. What Government have to do is to create standards, and we do that in accordance, in the main, with European designations on such matters. However, that is a very prosaic and rather unambitious reason to do it. We also do it because we want to do so. We want to see a healthy environment. We want our food grown in a healthy way, and we want to be mindful of the health of the consumer and, of course, the impact on the environment. We are very concerned with outcomes, so we are genuinely worried when we hear such issues raised. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester, we are in no way complacent. We take our responsibilities very seriously. We are absolutely desirous of having good outcomes from all the measures that are in place. Many people say that far too many regulations are imposed on our food-producing industry and that we need to try to rationalise them, but we do not do that at the expense of the health of our environment or the consumer.

We have covered a lot of ground in the remarks made by my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester and the intervention by my hon. Friend Tessa Munt. I understand the attraction of metal detecting as a hobby, because a lot of people in my constituency do it. It is not only a good way of getting out into the countryside and doing a worthwhile activity; it is part of our agenda of more people having access to the countryside. It is also, as my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester points out, a fantastic way of collecting and identifying some extraordinary artefacts. We have all heard some of the wonderful stories that have happened in recent years, especially in and around the ancient Roman city of Camulodunum, now of course Colchester. I appreciate the frustration of the members of the National Council for Metal Detecting and note its recent petition on the subject. I particularly note the concern of those in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and I agree that we cannot accept the inappropriate spreading of what is alleged to be green waste, or the wilful damage to our environment.

The Government have a fundamental duty to continue to support and encourage the recycling and recovery of

waste so as to conserve natural resources. We also have a responsibility towards the established principle in modern society that the polluter pays. That is an important sanction against the kind of pollution that my hon. Friend has described, and I reaffirm that if he can bring us evidence of this kind of thing happening, perhaps from his contacts in the National Council for Metal Detecting, I can assure him that there will be no lack of will among Ministers or those in the Environment Agency to take up those cases.

I hope that I have managed to reassure my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester and the House that there are good regulatory systems in place, and sanctions that should be working. There are also quality protocols which, if complied with, can add immensely to helping our environment. Where they are not being complied with, the perpetrators can be punished.

Question put and agreed to.

House adjourned.

Response from my MP

2012-09-08T03:36:00.003-07:00

2012-08-30T11:01:00.004-07:00

Click here

A COMPOST manufacturer has been fined £75,000 after supplying a farmer with material littered with plastic, kitchen knives, bottle tops and cigarette lighters.
The Environment Agency said the compost should actually have been classed as waste because tests showed it had an average contaminant level of between six and 10 times the permitted limit.

2012-07-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

E-Petition reaches 1000 votes,

Well done to all that has taken the time to sign it, the only way we can make a change is to keep chipping away.

Environment Agency on look out for illegal 'Green' Waste!

2012-06-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

The Environment have been warned to be on the look out for 'Green Waste' that isn't...........Green. Sadly farmers are either buying (or in some cases given) this waste to use on Agricultural Land, and it is illegal to do so. The toxins in the glues are damaging to both land and nature, and could find themselves into local streams.

More to follow.......................

MDF Green Waste on Agricultural Land Illegal!!

2012-06-30T12:16:00.001-07:00

Green waste containing treated MDF, Fibreboard, Woodchip, Metals, etc cannot be used on agriculral land under exemption U10, U11 and U13

Mulch

Codes

Waste types

020103, 191207, 200201

Untreated wood and plant matter

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Business/U12_Use_of_mulch.pdf

Spreading of plant matter to confer benefit

Codes

Waste types

020103, 020107, 020304, 200201

Plant tissue only

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Business/U13_Spreading_of_plant_matter_to_confer_benefit.pdf

Spreading waste on agricultural land to confer benefit

Codes

Waste types

010102, 010408, 170504, 020106, 020401, 020399, 020199, 100101, 170506, 020199, 190599, 190604, 190812

Chalk only

Farmyard and horse manure only

Soil from cleaning and washing fruit and vegetables only

Milk from agricultural premises only

Ash from wood chip boilers produced pursuant to an operation described in the paragraph numbered U4 in this chapter only

Dredging spoil (other than those mentioned in 170505) generated from the creation or maintenance of habitats, ditches or ponds within parks, gardens, fields and forests only

Spent compost from the growing of mushrooms only

Compost produced pursuant to a treatment described in the paragraph numbered T23 or T26 of Chapter 2 only

Digestate produced pursuant to a treatment described in the paragraph numbered T24 or T25 of Chapter 2 only

Waste consisting of biobed or biofilter material produced pursuant to a treatment described in the paragraph numbered T32 of Chapter 2 only

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Business/U10_Spreading_waste_on_agricultural_land_to_confer_benefit(1).pdf

THE LEGISLATION

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2010/9780111491423/schedule/3

NCMD meet to discuss Green Waste

2012-06-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

For the benefit of members from the OGM on 24.06.12;

1:There is to be a Parliamentary Debate concerning "Recreational Access to the Countrside" as such the NCMD(as members of SARA, Sport & Recreational Alliance) have been invited to,and have submitted, a briefing note as to what restricts members from accessing the countryside in pursuit of their hobby and to make recommendations thereon.
Top of the list; Contaminated Green Waste. The summary line of the three paragraphs is as follows;

"The dumping of such material is nothing short of legalised fly tipping and is unacceptable. It has to be stopped.

2:An NCMD "Green Waste" sub-commitee has been set up to expand the current dossier of information that can be presented at all Parliamentary & associated working groups the NCMD take part in. Information can be sent by members through clubs via their regional reps, the NCMD forum or any committee members. We are looking for pictures & locations (to postcode only!).
It was also discussed that any member of the public can report incidences of CGW (spread or piled for future use) to the Environment Agency who are obliged to act on such reports. It is recommended that detectorists,where appropriate, discuss CGW contents with their farmers first rather than risk alienating the very people whose help we need to overcome this problem.

This just makes you want to cry!

2012-06-20T23:36:00.003-07:00

I've just received the latest photos from a metal detecting rally last weekend, where Green Waste had been dumped on the fields. Circuit boards, plastic, glass, medical waste

Countrysidewatch.co.uk and Toxiccompost Twitter

2012-06-19T14:42:00.004-07:00

For those who are as concerned as we are about the ongoing developments in the Toxic Compost being spread on the farmers fields, please follow our Twitter account and website.

Countrysidewatch

@toxiccompost

www.countrysidewatch.co.uk

Latest count 856

2012-06-10T08:26:00.001-07:00

Well the campaign is in full swing but we really need more people to contact their MP's and sign the petition.

The petition can be signed below.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/30392

Letters to organisations

2012-04-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

If anybody can help with any letters to MP's and organisations it would be greatly appreciated. As you can imagine it is very time consuming, and if everybody did a little, it would make life a lot easier.

You are welcome to join the team at www.countrysidewatch.co.uk

Emails sent today

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS)
Ramblers Association

The stories keep on coming..............

2012-04-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Sadly the stories keep coming in, and it is only a matter of time before it affects you. If you've signed Great - but can I ask for friends, family etc etc. Under 18's are allowed to sign!

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/30392

Large pile of “mashed” MDF with alloys & plastics in.

This gets used as bedding (mixed with hay/straw) to soak up the waste, that gives you this….

This is left to rot for a while then spread along with all the plastic & metallic waste. All the “bits” in the pictures are either plastic coated MDF, plastic waste etc etc.

A two hour detecting session yielded over 100 targets…….

As you can see some of it isn`t “small” !
Furthermore I have my concerns that the adhesives/toxins in the MDF will leach into the soil & crops grown in it. Nice things like Formaldehyde!!
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-common-household-toxins.htm

Need your help urgently

2012-04-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

The numbers on the petition are slowing. We need signatures from your family and friends. Under 18's are allowed to sign.

Here is the latest Video? Fancy a needle or Bio waste in your veg?

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/30392

656 and counting

2012-03-26T10:30:00.001-07:00

We now have 656 on the ban contaminated green waste petition. There is also a forum you can pop along and have a chat - and maybe help us.

www.countrysidewatch.co.uk

Thanks for your help.

600 and beyond....................................

2012-03-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

Great News is that we are now on 610 signatories on the petition, but still need lots more. Please don't rely on somebody else.

Around 6 MP's are involved now, and we have had communication back from DEFRA and WRAP.

There is also a forum, for anybody to discuss the issue. If you are interested, you are also more than welcome to join The Team.

www.countrysidewatch.co.uk

Get the under 18's to sign please!

2012-03-12T16:19:00.001-07:00

I've been making enquiries regarding younger people signing the petition, and here's the reply

Thank you for your message regarding e-petitions.

There is no bar to under-18s signing e-petitions. The only stipulation as to who can sign an e-petition, other than the citizenship/residency requirements is that we do ask that individuals who sign e-petitions use their own e-mail address when doing so.

Yours sincerely

Ben Sneddon
Assistant Private Secretary (Parliamentary Reform) to the Leader of the House of Commons

So please get your children to sign.

Still awaiting a reply from Countryfile.....................will keep you informed

We've just hit 500 signatures

2012-03-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased to say that the campaign has just hit 500 signatures. This is a magnificent effort in only five days, but we need so many more.

And the bad reports keep coming in - these quotes were made by Metal Detectorists who are seeing this on a regular basis -

'It seems to be an increasing problem, i too have had a farm of 200 acres ruined due to green waste being ploughed in. Yes it annoyed me as i have scratched this permission off the list but clearly the bigger picture is the potential ecological impact; the fields are now just strewn with shards of metal, plastic, glass and gloop'.

'The stuff is horrible, they do it around here too and preferably plow it in deep straight away... for me such a field is soon out of bounds, digging up alu packaging at 30+ cm

'I had permission on some land my way and i will not be going back! Rubbish all over the fields, whole rip off tin lids and so many lemon squeezy bottles, the ones shaped like a lemon! This has to stop'!

'Last year the farmer spread tons of the stuff over the productive fields. He was told it was certified clean and Lancashire has lost what was a very productive site....its now full of foil, batteries, shredded aluminium...you name it its there. Prior to this the site had a lot of shredded cable on it but we were used to that and sort of put up with that.....its now ruined'.

"farmers should be made more aware of what is going on there land, its a disgrace what is going into the ground, there is 4 massive fields here stuff full of history, and a roman settlement on one part of it, its now completely undectable thanks to composted waiste,,which is mostly home base mdf bording shredded and mix with muck,,all them lovely finds are now lost in a mountain of,,screws,,pins,,copper wire, I tried to find out why this was alloyed ,but got nowhere"

A Statement from UK Detectornet

2012-03-09T11:14:00.002-08:00

The Administration Team, Staff, and members of UKDN wholeheartedly support the campaign started on this forum to highlight the contamination issues surrounding some of the green waste currently being spread onto agricultural land in the UK.

Although the principle of recycling green waste is a sound one, organic material being good for the soil, it is the contamination of some of this material with non-organic waste, such as metal, and plastic, that is extremely concerning.

A UKDN Team member, Steve Wright, has produced a video of this contaminated material having been spread on a field. This is typical of the material being spread, and being widely reported by detectorists across the country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDq9Ai_p7TI

Contamination of any description on agricultural land is severely detrimental for a myriad of reasons, including our own hobby of metal detecting, archaeological surveying methods, but of greatest concern must be the effect of this contamination on the wider environment, including flora and fauna on the farmland involved.

It appears that many processors are not following the government guidelines in preparing this material for composting the land on which it is to be spread. UKDN fully supports the call for tighter control, legislation, and enforcement, to bring this issue into line for the benefit of all concerned.

Please show your support, and concern, by signing the e-petition set up by another UKDN member and Moderator, Steve Rice, then follow the progress of this campaign on his blog.

http://bangreenwaste.blogspot.com/

A Statement from the NCMD

2012-03-09T03:10:00.000-08:00

Received today a statement from the General Secretary of the National Council for Metal Detecting

The NCMD is concerned at the growing number of reports from members of metal particles present in Green Waste.

The metallic objects are not only a cause for concern among detector users, but could in theory interfere with any future archaeological geophysical examination of sites contaminated with this type of waste.

Trevor Austin

General Secretary NCMD

An interesting article in The Daily Telegraph

2012-03-08T08:40:00.001-08:00

Still awaiting responses from a number of organisations. But whist surfing the web came across this excellent article by Louise Gray at The Daily Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/8840986/Recycled-material-to-replace-peat-poses-problems-for-gardeners.html

I've sent her an email: louise.gray@telegraph.co.uk Maybe others can too, to re-iterate just how bad this situation is. Also as Steve Wright has said - please send those photos. Comment on your experiences. We are upto 414 signatures, but there is a long way to go.

We have been promised a statement from detectorist.co.uk. As yet we have had excellent regional responses from the NCMD but no reply from The General Secretary. Is our email address correct? trevor.austin@ncmd.co.uk Also no response from FID. Members can you lobby them. We need as much help as we can get.

2012-03-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

I would just like to thank all those who are helping with the cause especially Ste, the creator of this blog without Ste this campaign wouldn't of even got off the ground, i think its going to be a long road but we need as many people to write their experiences as possible and send pictures of the contaminated waste in their area, Thanking you, Steve.