Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of adopting restrictions similar to those in Switzerland on the spreading of biomass ash on fields.

Defra has not made an assessment of the potential merits of adopting restrictions similar to those in Switzerland on the spreading of biomass ash on fields.

Waste and agriculture are devolved policy areas, so this response only covers England. In England you can spread waste to land to improve soil health. This can help reduce the need to use manufactured fertilisers and quarried soil conditioners.

Spreading waste to land must be controlled by an environmental permit, regulatory position statement, low risk waste position or waste exemption to protect the environment and human health. It must result in agricultural benefit or ecological improvement, and be waste recovery, not waste disposal.