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Anaerobic Digestion
About Biofertiliser Certification - Assurance from the experts
Organic Farmers & Growers is pleased to have been selected as a provider of inspection and certification services to the Biofertiliser Certification Scheme for anaerobic digestion by Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd.
With anaerobic digestion growing and developing as an effective form of waste management, certification for the resulting digestate allows it to be treated as a product (biofertiliser) rather than a waste that attracts disposal costs.
With a long and respected history in the inspection and licensing of organic food and farming, OF&G focuses on delivering an efficient and friendly service that rigorously meets the demands of the certification programme.
Operators signing up to the scheme with OF&G in 2012 can take advantage of a 50 per cent discount on charges for the first two years, plus other benefits. Full details are on our price list (see below).
OF&G is the only certifier in the UK able to offer programmes for both anaerobic digestion and composting.
Why is certification necessary?
Biofertilisers produced in the anaerobic digestion process can be a useful, cost-effective and sustainable source of soil nutrients.
However, their use on the land needs to be regulated to ensure that the public, farmers, food producers and end retailers can have confidence in the safety of the process.
Where digestate is produced to the British Standards Institution’s Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 110 quality standard everyone can have confidence that its use as biofertiliser is safe and has been checked by an approved body.
OF&G provides the inspection and certification of biofertiliser to PAS 110 and the Anaerobic Digestion Quality Protocol (ADQP) under the Biofertiliser Certification Scheme (BCS). This is done on behalf of Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd, a subsidiary of the Renewable Energy Association.
To achieve successful certification, facilities producing the digestate will need to meet the requirements of the BCS with regard to inputs, processes and the biofertiliser produced.
The benefits of going through this process are that the digestate resulting from anaerobic digestion can safely be used by farmers as a good source of sustainable fertiliser.
The Biofertilier Certification Scheme website states:
The PAS110 for digestate, derived from the anaerobic digestion of source-segregated biodegradable materials creates an industry specification against which producers can verify that the digested materials are of consistent quality and fit for purpose. If a biogas plant meets the standard, its digestate will be regarded as having been fully recovered and to have ceased to be waste, and it can be despatched to the customer under the symbol “Bio-fertiliser”.
Applying for the BCS with OF&G
If you are ready to complete your application, please follow the links below to download the relevant application form, price list and our Technical Leaflet. All are in the Adobe PDF format and will open in Adobe Reader.
If you would like an application pack posted to you, containing all of the above, please contact us.
How it works
The process of gaining certification is straightforward. We describe the likely steps below, to help operators understand what to expect.
You can also see the full details of PAS 110, the Quality Protocol and Scheme Rules in this section of the BCS website (or here for Scotland). You will also find a flow diagram which reflects the information below, but in greater detail.
Call us
As a first step, and to ensure the smoothest possible process, we would always encourage prospective clients to contact our technical team prior to application. This provides the opportunity for a brief discussion about your needs and the requirements of the certification scheme. It helps us to assess your state of preparedness for the application and subsequent inspection and means that we can build a better picture, for you, of the likely timescale to certification, should the process be successful. The link to our contact details is above.
Application
When you are ready to apply you can go ahead and download the application forms and complete all of the relevant information. When this is submitted to us our certification officer will review the application and once they are happy that all necessary details are available, will arrange for an inspection. Again, this is to ensure the inspection can be carried out efficiently for your benefit.
Inspection
An inspector will visit your site at an agreed time and date. They will assess your facilities against the inspection criteria and will send their report to OF&G for scrutiny by our certification officer.
Possible compliance issues identified
The good news is that you do not automatically pass or fail an inspection. If the inspection identifies issues that would prevent the issuing of a certificate, the certification officer will issue a ‘compliance notice’ outlining those deficiencies. This gives the applicant the opportunity to correct these matters. When the certification officer is satisfied that any non-compliances have been addressed they can move on to issuing the certificate.
Certification
With all of the above steps satisfactorily completed, you will be certified!
AD & Compost Newsletter
OF&G now publishes a composting and anaerobic digestion-focused newsletter. Click on the links below to find our latest issue, as well as older editions.
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