Green Waste.

[Captainpugwash]

This subject was mentioned a our local club meeting last Friday night. My own view is that the government are encouraging farmers to use it as a way to ease the use at landfill sites or perhaps there is a shortage of these sites. What an easy option for them, to spread it accross the countryside.

[omegamike]

It's a European directive - once again another mad cap idea by the idiots in Brussels. Ill thought out and badly implemented. As long as they are drawing their £300 a day allowances they would rubber stamp any crazy idea put in front of them!!

[Garry J]

It's a European directive - once again another mad cap idea by the idiots in Brussels. Ill thought out and badly implemented. As long as they are drawing their £300 a day allowances they would rubber stamp any crazy idea put in front of them!!

Its something we,re gonna have to get used to, our own MPs dont give a toss, the government dont give a toss, There are some farmers still out there who wont entertain it.

[dave the ferret]

I wonder what Natural England and Defra have to say on the subject,let me guess nothing to do with us mate.......

[jcmaloney]

You can report it to the Environment Agency who have a duty to investigate. The problem is that the "rules" say it SHOULD be clean but it isn`t. Unfortunately its as much within the hobby that its "nothing to do with us". Report it, follow it up, keep reporting it.

[Davidhod]

It's not a European directive (yawn, here we go again).

It's a combination of landfill tax and self imposed targets for re-cycling and composting. If Europe knew what crap was going on some of the fields, and that farmers were being payed to take it, some farmers would be being chased for non-compliance on subsidies.

[omegamike]

But correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm sure I'm not, there have been a number of summits recently world wide and European that we have signed up to and we have a legal obligation to meet targets outlined in the MOA's. Brussels is the major player as far as the UK is concerned as they are the ones who control the farming subsidies and implementation of Environmental and Farming Directives. 19 years in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office I can assure you Europe play a lead roll in our farming industry and they are the one's always behind the implementation of anything remotely connected to re-cycling, green waste, nuclear waste, or any other waste for that matter! It all stems from the big "E" and it's something we can do little about if anything

[fertler]

We can always get out of the EU! Sooner the better. Every one else signs up and then fails to enforce, we sign up and over-enforce! It's a politicians gravy train! Barrie.

P.S. Don't get me going on the EU!

[omegamike]

Tell me Barrie...... what are your thoughts on the EU at the moment

[fertler]

Tell me Barrie...... what are your thoughts on the EU at the moment

Not telling you so there!

Barrie.

[Davidhod]

So, where is this European Directive that says we must spread nails, plastic, foil, hinges, handle fittings and any other old crap on our fields?

There isn't one. Although there are (very sensibly) targets for recycling and composting. The problem is not with the idea, we produce too much waste and it must go somewhere. The problem is with the implementation, lack of oversight and enforcement and the greed of private industry, this is what allows all the crap to get through. As for the whinge "none of the others enforce" this is a problem of us not enforcing.

[omegamike]

There is a threshold (%) of contaminants allowed in green waste. not sure what it is now but when I was in the FCO i remember a figure of 10% and it probably hasn't changed since I left. Incidentally I was a Communications & Cypher Officer and part of my job was to distribute information on every single subject that hit my screen with everything from Terrorism to Bananas! I'm certainly not an authority on green waste but I know everything revolves round European legislation - FACT! You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I saw. It would make this 'green waste' topic look like a teddy bears picnic. Don't kid yourself that they don't know what's going on, they do. And not to put too finer point on it...... they really couldn't give a toss because they will be well within guidelines. I'm not having a pop at you Dave, merely pointing out that we lost control of our farming industry to European control a long time ago and this includes what we spread on our fields. I wouldn't be at all surprised that most, if not all, recycling companies are European owned! It's a problem that will never go away as long as the UK is part of Europe. You just have to turn on your TV most days to see an example of European bureaucracy gone mad! unfortuneatly green waste is one of them

[Davidhod]

Lets just agree that the current level of contamination in green waste is a BAD THING.

I'm not sure we'll solve the whole Europe problem on here, it could go on longer than the E-trac/Deus thread

[omegamike]

Oh god forbid still trying to get those CTX threads out of my head, never mind the Etrac/Deus threads

and YES it is a bad bad thing what they are allowed to do with so called 'green' waste - personally I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel but on a positive note a couple of my farmers are going over to liquid fertiliser and paper waste fertiliser, which can't be a bad thing? it pong's a bit but I can put up with that.

[Cumbrian Fox]

Who on here is best at putting a statement together for our local paper? They have been in touch on our club facebook email with this

Hi Dave, I'm a reporter with the Evening Mail and we're really keen to have a chat with you about the dumping of waste on local fields and possibly setting up a picture. Can you message me your number, or give me a call on xxxxxxx Regards, Ross.

At the moment I sent this back to them.
I have to be careful with the way we put this across remember that farmers are the ones that allow us to do what we do, and without the true facts in place it could be perfectly legit what they are doing,I dont want the club being seen in a bad light by farmers/local landowners by bringing this to the attention of the press, I will look into this through the contacts I have local to me in the farming community.

what will happen is the evening mail will report it, saying that its coming from furness finders..the farmers will play hell and demonise detectorists and stop us from enjoying our hobby by refusing us permission to search the land. So I can see this been a catch22 situation. If we report it we lose land, If we dont then we keep searching fields with crap on them..

It would be better to bring to light the fact that the public are going to end up eating our own rubbish without mentioning detecting found the problem. Any help would be appreciated in a fact based letter. That does not demonize us detectorists..

Thanks in advance.

[fertler]

Be very, VERY wary about the press! Some are OK but anything you say or write is likely to be edited - a process over which you have no control and may well be used in a misleading way. Bad news sells papers so they say! Much the same has been true, in the past, with radio and TV. Over the past 30-odd years i've been there and got the T-shirt! But then, I'm a suspicious old git.......

Barrie.

[omegamike]

Also be wary of what you say - the last thing you want is for your local 'permission' to get wind of the complaint about what he's putting on his land quite legally and legitimately..... quickest way to loose your permission I recon and you would only have yourself to blame? If you tell the reporter to keep your name out of it don't expect them to stick to their word.

[Jeff Brown]

I don't know a lot about this subject, but I was wondering how this stuff gets spread on the fields.
Do the farmers get it transported to their farmyards, load it on to a manure spreader and spread it on the fields?
Maybe it's not possible to see what's amongst the waste, or do the farmers know that there is a load of crap in there?
How about showing the farmer what the detector picked up, what a load of rubbish he is spreading on his fields.
Maybe he is not knowingly breaking the law, illegally disposing waste on his fields.

If the farmers do know what they are spreading on their fields, that makes matters even worse.