The Environment Agency has revised its guidance on the treatment of digestate from anaerobic digestion. It now confirms that where the only waste feedstock in an AD plant is agricultural manure or slurry, the digestate will not be classified as "waste" if it is used as a fertiliser spread on agricultural land. The full briefing note can be found on the Environment Agency website....
The RPA has today released updated figures relating to 2008 SPS payments made as at 31st December 2008. Almost 70,000 customers have received full SPS payments totalling over £960 million (59 per cent of the estimated total fund). Further information is available on the RPA website.
From 1st January 2009, the new Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) designations came into effect which sees an increase from around 55 per cent to 70 per cent of land in England. Farmers however who wish to appeal a new designation may do so if: the land does not drain into water identified as nitrate-polluted, and/or the water to which the land drains should not have been identified as polluted (DEFRA website guidance) Any such appeal must be submitted by 31st January 2009. Further information...