"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
Went to a friend's garden yesterday with a group of keen gardeners and
several people were there who have regular supplies of manure delivered
(weekly by trailer!)

They were saying that after June it will be illegal to sell manure by the
load and not only that the poor riding school owners will not be able to
store it on soil, (must be on concrete) and mustn't be allowed to drain
into public water systems (though it doesn't anyway). EU directive
apparently.

As I understand it the manure must be stored on concrete and have a tank for
the run off to drain into. Or it must be taken away by a licensed
contractor. If you chose to lay concrete and suitable drainage you will be
charged up to nearly £500 per year for keeping the manure on your own land,
depending on how many tons you have. If you are a business it is treated as
toxic waste, if you only keep your own horses on your land it is regarded as
household waste. It is actually just another stealth tax. Considering the
absolute pigs ear that defra made (and are still making) of introducing the
totally useless horse passports, I don't have a lot of faith in them.
Personally I'd rather eat something grown in a bit of horse manure than
something that's genetically modified and covered in pesticides.



What on earth will gardeners be able to do, to get trailer loads after
June and worse, what one earth will riding schools do with all that dung!

Perhaps a Club could be formed which gives you free access to the manure?

I have a very large pile of manure, up to 2 years old, that you are welcome
to come and help yourselves to. I'm in South West Surrey, e-mail for
details but remove the spam trap.

Sue


How will this affect other supplies of compost?

Does anyone know?

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Amersham Gardening Association
http://www.lancedal.net/aga/