UK – composting potential for growth

The UK agency Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has published a report "Assessment of the Demand for Green Waste Compost in the UK Landscaping Industry 2004/05", which does just that. The report was written by Joanna Barnsley, Ben Thuriaux and Simon Stephens (Associate) from consultants Arthur D Little.



The composting of source segregated green waste is an important component of the UK‘‘s sustainable waste strategy. The supply side for green waste compost is relatively well understood with work being undertaken by bodies such as the Composting Association, who produce the annual "State of Composting in the UK" report.



However, the demand side for green waste compost in the landscaping industry is less well understood, with assessment of the market and estimates of future evolution only recently studied by WRAP in 2004. This report builds on the work undertaken in 2004, providing an assessment of the market for green waste compost with a focus on the landscaping industry and associated activities. It also looks at trends identified since last year, providing a basis for future surveys of the market and providing insight not only into the current state of affairs, but highlighting changes in the market. In particular, there is focus on respondents who replied both to this year‘‘s and last year‘‘s survey, to allow more reliable evaluation of trends.



Over 11,000 questionnaires were sent out by post through British Association of Landscape Industries, BALI (Landscape Contractors), the Landscape Institute, LI (Landscape Architects) and John Turner Direct Marketing (JTDM), who provided wide access to universities and colleges, visitor attractions and local authorities. The responses to the questionnaire (411 total, including 67 specifiers and 344 users) represent an adequate sample size, and are comparable to last year (416 total, sent only to users).



The overall market for organic matter has grown since the 2003/04 survey, with the greatest increases being in the use of green waste compost where the market growth was much stronger than could be anticipated given the data produced in the previous survey.



Data show that specifiers use general specifications when instructing landscape contractors in the choice of product type. Despite this, respondents predict the highest growth in demand for organic matter products over the next three years will continue to be for green waste compost.



Users also predict that their demand for all organic matter products will increase, with the exception of peat and peat based products. There has been an increase in users producing organic matter internally, as opposed to acquiring products through wholesalers, local sourcing, waste producers or waste contractors. The authors expect this trend to continue as small-scale green waste composting becomes more mainstream, and awareness of the product and its uses grows further.



The total UK demand for green waste compost is estimated to be 876,000 m3 pa in 2004/05 and 926,000 m3 pa in 2007/08. Meanwhile, Total UK demand for organic matter is 3,196,00 – 3,552,000 m3 pa in 2004/05 and 3,260,000 – 3,623,000 m3 pa in 2007/08.



Delivered prices for green waste compost are shown to be relatively stable at around £15 per cubic metre for 2004/05. Taking into account the internal production (24% in 2003/04 to 27% in 2004/05) gives an estimated commercial market value of £6,688,000 in 2003/04 rising to £9,590,000 in 2004/05. Prices for green waste compost are highly sensitive to location and volume and therefore the average price may be skewed relative to the nature of the respondent samples, where we targeted larger users.



The estimated current total UK quantities of green waste compost used in its principal applications are provided in Figure 1, which shows that the product is well established for use in three main areas:<