Before reading this guide

This guide aims to assist communities to understand good practice and to assist in understanding current regulatory processes.  It is understood to be accurate at the time of writing (March 2022), however, before undertaking any project you should consult with the regulators SEPA and/or the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to ensure that your project complies with legal requirements.

A list of the SEPA offices around the Highlands, with phone numbers, can be found here.  The APHA can be contacted centrally to begin with and the contact details are here.

Important things to consider when sizing your project

It might be useful to think of there being four scales of composting project:

• Micro projects – business or education facilities – composting units less than 2m³ capacity (potentially a pile of just under 1 tonne of waste to begin with)
• Small projects – more than micro projects, and less than 100 tonnes of waste per year
• Medium projects – between 100 and 400 tonnes per year.
• Larger projects – more than 400 tonnes per year.

For this guide the three smaller scales of project above are considered to be appropriate for community projects.  Licences are needed for larger projects and these involve the need to set out a complex set of plans for the activities proposed. It is therefore recommended that community projects are kept below this size, removing a requirement for a waste management licence.  These projects instead only need to be registered under a waste management exemption – a much more straightforward process.

There are two types of exemptions you will need to think about:

Micro projects (less than 2m³): For these you need to complete what is called a Paragraph 12 Exemption – “Notice of intention to carry out small-scale composting (less than 2m³) at business or education facilities” – these are very simple to complete (two pages only) and there is no cost for registration. However, if the compost includes canteen waste you will need to complete a different Paragraph 12 Exemption instead, as described below.

Small and medium projects (more than 2m³ and composting less than 400 tonnes per year): Paragraph 12 “Form to register or renew an exemption (Composting)” – For projects less than 100 tonnes per year there is no charge for registering the exemption. Between 100 and 400 tonnes the first registration will cost £522 and then £415 each year after this.

Do you want to include food waste?  Important things to consider when deciding what type of waste to compost

If you only compost fruit and vegetable waste (peelings, leftovers, etc) and do not take food waste containing meat or other animal by-products (e.g.  eggs, egg shells, fish, shell fish or oil used for cooking meat etc) then your project will not need to be regulated by the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA).  If you do want to take such waste then you need to go through a checklist to understand if your project does need APHA approval and ongoing monitoring (see the Pdf at bottom of page for more details).

As background, the APHA enforces regulations on the use of meat or animal waste, referred to as animal by-products (ABPs) and provides guidance which is relevant for community composting projects – food/catering waste is defined as leftover food and cooking oil from any kitchen or canteen, including those at:

• Homes or offices
• Restaurants
• Caterers

Composting ABPs has the potential to create a complex and costly project, regulated by the APHA, which will be a significant barrier to most community projects.  The following key points should therefore be noted if you want to avoid this:

• Keep the quantity managed small – less than 10 tonnes.
• Prevent contact with farmed animals at your site – of both the waste input and where the compost is used.

Go to the Decision-Making Guide Overview for more information on how you will need to plan your community composting project.

You can also download the Legislation Pdf below which has information and links to guidance, exemptions, the waste carrier’s licence, and links to the appropriate forms.