"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
In recent years, our local council (Kerrier, in west Cornwall) has
been taking garden waste at local waste recycling sites. They take
it
away to a central depot where it's shredded and composted. But it's
disposed of locally, rather than being made available to the public
(spread on a nearby farmer's fields, I believe, with whom they have
some sort of arrangement). When I rang them to ask if they had any
plans to bag and sell it, they replied that they would really love
to,
but new regulations from DEFRA relating to foot-and-mouth mean that
they would have to get it all regularly tested, which makes it too
expensive to justify (tested for F&M presumably, although why garden
waste should carry it is beyond me! Perhaps DEFRA are worried about
animal contamination).

I'm amazed and disappointed. What do other councils do? Is this
testing thing just an excuse, or does it really have to be done? And
if so, what's the logic?

My council, North Yorkshire CC, sells such compost at a number of
sites at £2.50 per 50 litre bag. This is the first season I am trying
it, so I cannot really comment except to say that it is really
thoroughly composted with a nice friable texture. I am trying itout
as a mulch, to be gradually hoed in as the season progresses.

I think more ppl would buy ours if it were not so expensive :0(