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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND TECHNICAL SERVICES BY THE DEPUTY OF ST. MARY
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 12th SEPTEMBER 2011
Question
In view of the cost of the composting operation of around £800,000 per annum, would the Minister -
- provide details of the quality control and/or accreditation scheme(s) now in place for the compost made by TTS and state when this was set in place and how it is carried out;
- state whether the compost is currently sold through all island garden centres and, if not, why not?
- state whether the compost has been sold through all island garden centres for the last 3 years consistently and, if not, why not?
- provide sales figures for the compost over the last three years, both to retail end-users and to trade users?
- inform members what plans TTS has for selling this compost in the future? Answer
- The compost made by TTS is Soil Association Approved'. The Soil Association issued the current certificate of registration on 14th February 2011 and this is valid until 31st March 2012. A Soil Association Inspector visits the TTS composting site annually to conduct an inspection and audit operations. The compost produced by the States of Jersey has continued to meet this standard since composting was conducted by the Agriculture and Fisheries Committee.
- TTS Compost (otherwise known as Genuine Jersey Soil Improver') was withdrawn from local garden centres in 2009 as it no longer provided the department with value for money as the cost to produce, package and deliver the product significantly exceeded the revenue it generated. There was also an impact on the operation as it required a 4 month maturation period to produce, affecting the department's capacity to process the tonnages that arrive on site every day. Compost for agricultural use is produced in a third of this time. There is also a link between the longer processing time and the generation of site odour which the department has been working hard to monitor and control.
Recent improvements to the site and operation have alleviated some of these issues hence steps now being taken to increase availability of Soil Improver product.
- TTS Compost has not been for sale in garden centres since March 2009. Soil Improver is still available to the domestic market however via commercial users of the La Collette composting facility who purchase the product in bulk bags or loose and manage the onward delivery to householders.
- As full year figures for 2011 are not yet available, sales figures for TTS Compost (Soil Improver) 2008-10 are shown below:
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
Retail sales (litres) | 262,400 | 86,400 (Jan-Mar) | 0 |
Trade sales (litres) | 1,032,000 | 975,000 | 2,165,000 |
Total litres sold | 1,294,400 | 1,061,400 | 2,165,000* |
* 2010 figure includes large batches produced for projects such as the EFW landscaping works.
- TTS is currently running a trial with HMP La Moye to produce 40 litre bags of TTS Compost (Soil Improver). This is now for sale to the general public at the household green waste site at Bellozanne with the aim of increasing availability to a number of TTS recycling sites. Working with HMP provides an excellent solution to identifying meaningful work for the prison community and maintaining reasonable production costs a partnership that both sides are keen to sustain and expand.
Sales to trade customers continue to be strong and work is underway to identify more large volume outlets for the product such as engaging with landscaping projects like the Town Park development. The indications are that sales of compost to trade customers and domestic sales through small bags on TTS waste sites will expand the output to beyond historic levels yet maintain cost efficiency.