Regulatory framework for composting

The valorization in agriculture of fertilizing materials and growing media is governed by two fundamental principles:

• The valorized materials must have agronomic interest
• The valorized materials must be harmless to humans, plants, animals, and the environment

Moreover, in the case of a product being placed on the market, two additional fundamental principles are added to the previous ones:

• The products must be consistent (in composition and in relation to the announced content: invariant from one batch to another, homogeneous within a batch, stable during storage)
• The products must refer to an official technical document

The placement on the market can be done by two different ways:

• Approval of the product by the Ministry of Agriculture (or, failing that, a temporary authorization for sale (APV) or importation (API)). This is the basic rule for market placement. However, the procedures are long and costly. Therefore, an alternative route is provided for long-standing known products.
• Compliance with standards made mandatory by decree or meeting the regulatory provisions taken in application of European directives. The methods of obtaining the concerned products (raw materials and manufacturing processes) are described as precisely as possible. Thus, any new product must go through approval to be placed on the market.

Furthermore, within the framework of the rules for placing on the market and using fertilizers and amendments made from animal by-products, operators must take into account the restrictions to the current French standards imposed by Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002. A joint note from DGAL/DGCCRF is to be developed soon to specify for each denomination appearing in the NF U standards, the requirements of the community regulation. The DSM standards made mandatory for a fertilizing material or a growing medium are the following (non-exhaustive list): NF U 44-051: Organic Amendments. It does not apply to organic fertilizing materials containing more than 3% of one of the major elements N, P₂O₅, K₂O or with (N + P₂O₅ + K₂O) greater than or equal to 7% on raw material, which are considered as fertilizers. The new version of this standard NF U 44-051 also concerns organic amendments complemented with fertilizers (previously covered by standard NF U 44-071). It was made mandatory (decree of August 21, 2007). NF U 44-071: Organic Amendments with Fertilizers, for which the respective contents of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P₂O₅), and potassium (K₂O) are less than 3%. It will be repealed as soon as the implementation deadlines of the new NF U 44-051 have expired (to allow for the sale of old stock products and sachets). NF U 44-095: Organic Amendment Containing MIATE (agronomically beneficial materials from water treatment). Applies to finished products usable as is containing materials from the physical, chemical, or biological treatment of water, and to mixtures of these materials with one or more fertilizers. The finished products must have respective contents of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P₂O₅), potassium (K₂O) less than 3% on raw material with (N + P₂O₅ + K₂O) < 7% on raw material. In the case of NF U 44-095, the decree making it mandatory is accompanied by a second decree relating to the checks that must be carried out by the person responsible for placing the product on the market (decrees of March 18, 2004). NF U 42-001: Fertilizers, regardless of their physical state. Fertilizers containing organic fertilizing materials are called:

• Organic fertilizer (where all the fertilizing elements have an organic, animal, or plant origin)
• Organo-mineral fertilizer (a mixture of organic and mineral fertilizers. This mixture must contain at least 1% nitrogen of organic origin)
• Organic nitrogen fertilizer (entirely of animal and/or plant origin containing only declared organic nitrogen) 7% on raw material, which are considered as fertilizers.

The new version of this standard NF U 44-051 also concerns organic amendments complemented with fertilizers (previously covered by standard NF U 44-071). It was made mandatory (decree of August 21, 2007). NF U 44-551: Growing Media with and without Fertilizers, for which the respective contents of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P₂O₅), and potassium (K₂O) are less than 2.5%, 2%, and 2.5% respectively, and provided that the sum of these contents (N + P₂O₅ + K₂O) is less than 5% (% by dry product weight).