Introduction
From your local house hold waste recycling centres, landscapers and gardeners, to your household green-waste recycling collections; we accept and handle approximately 40,000 tonnes of plant waste material per year; that is equivalent to the weight of 3,333 double Decker buses or 10,000 Asian elephants. This is transformed over a minimum of 8 weeks into a nutrient rich compost/soil-conditioner. Perfect for your garden, allotment or farm.
To provide you with an excellent and safe product we ensure vigorous procedures are followed. We are regularly tested to guarantee we deliver on this year after year. Which has made us a popular provider of high-quality composts to local councils, schools, farms, the National Trust and the Knepp Castle Rewilding Project.
PAS100 Compost is compost produced to standards laid down by the Composting Association's PAS100 accreditation Scheme and certified by the British Standards Institution. This quality management standard was established to ensure that production processes comply with strict standards and rigorous testing procedures. PAS100 compost is produced from trees, branches, small logs, garden trimmings, leaves, shrubs, plants and grass etc., by-products arising from domestic and commercial garden maintenance.
The Compost Process
Input specification
1) Spot checks are required on green-waste loads that are brought on to our site to check that all waste meets the scheme’s specification. If significant contamination is found these loads will be rejected.
Shredding
2) The green-waste is shredded in to smaller particles to increase the surface area and homogenise the constituents. This speeds up the composting process. These shredded constituents are then formed into batches to start the composting procedure. A batch is given its own unique code to ensure full traceability from start to finish.
Maturing
3) Each composting batch goes through a monitoring phase in which temperatures are checked and maintained to ensure all weed seeds and plant diseases are destroyed. If required water is added to retain optimum moisture levels throughout this phase and each batch is turned regularly to ensure aerobic (with air) digestion occurs. This phase consists of sanitisation for 2 weeks where the temperature must be between 60-80 degrees, and stabilisation for the rest of the 6 weeks where temperatures must be between 45-80 degrees.
Screening
4) Each batch will then go through a screening process. Any contaminants such as plastic, stone, metal etc. are removed and the matured compost is then screened to a size of 0-10mm (horticultural quality) and 10-25mm (agricultural quality). Any particles larger than 25mm “oversize” are then returned to the start of the process. This ensures that nothing is wasted.
Sampling and Testing
5) On completion of the process samples are taken on a regular basis and tested for any potential hazardous contaminants. Samples are rigorously examined to ensure there are no constituents that could affect the quality of the compost and be harmful to people and the environment. PAS100 testing involves various stages: tests for heavy metals, harmful bacterial and contaminants for example E. coli. It also goes through a plant grow response test to ensure it is not contaminated with any pesticide or herbicides– this involves a sample of our compost being used to grow tomatoes from seed; this test examines seed germination, and any germinated seedlings are then checked for any abnormalities at 14 and 28 days. If the sample fails because it hasn’t passed the above testing, we would then investigate as to why. Until we are satisfied and new samples have passed, we will not let a failed batch leave our site. Once all criteria have been met, we would then be prepared to let the batch leave. We are fully audited yearly by an independent company to ensure we follow all PAS100 regulations and guidance, ensuring traceability from the start to finish.
Collection and Delivery
6) After the composting process is finished it will be stored ready for collection and delivery well away from any materials currently working its way through the previous stages of composting.
If you are considering buying our compost then head over to https://heritage-products.co.uk/collections/compost-and-topsoil. We can also provide you with an analysis report that will include nutrients and sample testing certification.
For further information on PAS 100 see the compost Certification scheme website: https://www.qualitycompost.org.uk/
