Proceedings

Plastics in compost and digestate from source segregated foodwaste

1. Current knowledge of plastic contamination in composts and digestates
2. Current options for managing plastics
3. Contextualising the risk (presence of plastics in soils, limits in other countries)
4. Workshop
WRAP, Defra, Environment Agency, SEPA, Natural
Resources Wales, REA, ADBA, CIWM, BBIA, NFU, Local
Authorities

Numerous polymers found: PE, PET, PS, PL, PP, PVC, ACR • Compost: Complete degradation of compostable plastics has been demonstrated • Digestate: No studies on the fate or presence of compostable plastics Multiple fragment sizes investigated, focused on >1mm for technical reasons • <1mm portion may be as important as >1mm plastic level and more significant in impact Various presentational formats • Number of particles per sample • Weight per unit weight; wet or dry • %; wet or dry • Area (of film plastics) in cm2