information sheet

compost regulations

If your feedstock includes food scraps:

}  ou must be able to prove your compost meets the NSW Food Waste Compost Exemption before it is applied
Y
to land otherwise you and your end user are breaching the POEO (Waste) regulation. You must provide your
customers with written proof the compost is covered by the NSW Food Waste Compost Exemption.
} If you are composting on a potentially contaminated site (e.g. landfill) you must test your compost for
chemical and heavy metal contamination so that you and your buyers are aware if there are any restrictions
on its use or sale.
} T he tests and testing methodology for demonstrating pasteurisation and for chemical and heavy metal
contamination are outlined in the NSW Biosolids Guidelines.
}  ustralia has a voluntary Compost Standard. Compost that meets the AS4454 compost standard is nice, but
A
compost that meets pasteurisation/pathogen reduction thresholds outlined in the NSW Food Waste Compost
Exemption is compulsory.
} In our experience of continuous composting over three years, if you follow the Groundswell Composting Process
faithfully and take care with the sampling methodology, you should have no problems meeting the regulations.

Key documents:
Important:
}  SW Food Waste Compost Exemption available at: 
N
www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/waste/ex08foodcompost.pdf
} E nvironmental Guidelines – Use and Disposal of Biosolids Products, NSW EPA, 2000 (referred to as ‘the Biosolids
Guidelines’) available through publications at www.environment.nsw.gov.au
} AS4454 Australian Compost Standard.

What tests should we do?

You MUST do these tests:
NSW Biosolids Pathogen Reduction Test (also referred to as a ‘microbical stabilisation’ test).
NSW Biosolids Chemical Contaminants and Heavy Metal Tests.
It is DESIRABLE that you do this test:
AS4454 Compost Standard – compliance test.
It is SENSIBLE if you also do this test:
Compost Analysis that includes a general analysis (some overlap with AS4454) plus available and total nutrients,
Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), Exchangeable Cations, Cation Balance and suggested amendments. This is the
test that will be most helpful to farmers and other end users. It does not have a regulatory use. We used SWEP
Laboratories1 for these tests. It makes sense to use a laboratory that your farmers or end users trust.

www.swep.com.au
1
 Pasteurisation/Pathogen Reduction/Microbial Stabilisation
Pasteurisation ensures weeds, seeds, spores, pathogens and diseases are no longer present in the
compost. Pasteurisation occurs at 55–70 degrees c2.

The Food Waste Compost Exemption states:

Pasteurisation means a process whereby the food waste and/or raw mulch, source separated garden
organics, forestry and sawmill residues and urban wood residues, are treated to significantly reduce the
numbers of plant and animal pathogens and plant propagules. It must undergo:
a) Appropriate turning of outer material to the inside of the windrow so that the whole mass is subjected to a
minimum of 3 turns with the internal temperatures reaching a minimum of 55°C for 3 consecutive days before
each turn, or
b) An alternative process that guarantees the same level of pathogen reduction as required by ARMCANZ, and the
elimination of plant propagules.
Because we do not turn our compost three times, we do not demonstrate pasteurisation as a result of process so
we need to demonstrate it though option b: ‘an alternative process that guarantees the same level of pathogen
reduction as required by ARMCANZ, and the elimination of plant propagules’.
ARMCANZ means the Australian Guidelines for Sewerage Systems – Biosolids Management 3, published in 1995 by
the ARMCANZ Water Technology Committee, Canberra. If you are in NSW, the NSW Biosolids Guidelines trump the
ARMCANZ guidelines from a regulatory perspective, so we must look to the Biosolids Guidelines for our pathogen
reduction test.

The pathogen reduction test, outlined in the Biosolids Guidelines is:

Stabilisation Grade A Microbial Standards
Parameter Standard
E-coli <100 MPN per gram (dry weight)
Faecal coliforms <1,000 MPN per gram (dry weight)
Salmonella sp. Not Detected/50 grams of final product (dry weight)
MPN = most probably number

Depending on your situation, you may decide it is easier or preferable to demonstrate pasteurisation by process
(option A). In this case, you can successfully add a third turn and inoculation phase to the Groundswell Composting
Process prior to the maturation phase, or after screening. Follow the same process for Groundswell Information
Sheet – Reprocessing to address a High E-Coli Result. Accurate temperature records would need to be kept as proof
of pasteurisation.

Elimination of Plan Propagules

In theory, a composting process that produces sufficient heat to achieve pathogen reduction will also eliminate
plan propagules (seeds or spores). You can do your own plant propagule test, get an agronomist to do it or pay for
it to be done by a laboratory (as an optional extra in the AS4454 text). The methodology for the plant propagule
test is outlined in Appendix M of the AS4454 Compost Standard.
You need to be able to demonstrate that no seeds survive your composting process, so do the tests regularly and
keep good records.

2
www.recycledorganics.com/infosheets/3pqc/IS3-06.pdf
3
Now known as: National Resource Management Ministerial Council Australian Guidelines for Sewerage Treatment Systems – Biosolids Management, Nov. 2004

For updates and more information on the Groundswell project go to: www.groundswellproject.blogspot.com

Written by Simone Dilkara, 2010. Graphic design/illustration by Carolyn Brooks The Groundswell Project
was assisted by the NSW
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Government through its
Attribution 3.0 Unported License and can be reproduced Environmental Trust
providing the Groundswell project is acknowledged as
the original source.