Digestate Standard

There are currently no standards for digestate in the UK, similar to PAS 100 which is applicable for compost. There is now a digestate standard in place in Scotland, which was developed by the Renewable Energy Association (REA) in association with Reading University and SEPA.   The Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), in association with the REA is currently developing a Digestate Standard and a Quality Protocol for digestate to apply to the England.   It is hoped that this Standard and Protocol will be completed by April 2008 and be fully operational by June 2008. The idea behind the standard is to ensure that the biofertiliser produced by AD is recognised as a valuable and hygienic source of nutrients and organic material, and also to reassure food certification bodies that digestate can be of a consistent and verifiable quality, and to give them confidence that they can apply their quality label to food grown using digestate as a fertiliser. The standard concerns: feedstock controls, management systems for AD plants and operators, quality criteria for digestate products and also the labelling requirements. As part of the development of the Standard a risk assessment (conducted by Cranfield University) and a financial impact assessment (conducted by AEA Technology) are currently being undertaken.