EHJ July 2003, pages 216-217 New European legislation, which bans the routine on-farm burial and burning of animal carcasses was introduced on 1 May 2003. Tracey Khanna looks at the implications

Last autumn, the European Union adopted a new regulation that lays down strict animal and public health rules for the collection, storage, handling, processing and use or disposal of animal by-products (ie whole or parts of animal carcasses and products of animal origin not intended for human consumption). The Animal By-Products Regulations, which came into force in the UK on 1 May this year, is a wide ranging piece of legislation that impacts on a number of different sectors, but one of its crucial measures is the change in rules governing fallen stock disposal.

The regulation bans the practice of on-farm burial or burning of animal carcasses, and from now on, the only legal method of disposal will be rendering or incineration. The only exceptions from the ban are for remote areas (parts of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the Scilly Isles and Lundy Island) and in emergency situations, for example during outbreaks of notifiable disease where there was a lack of capacity at rendering plants and incinerators, or where transportation of carcasses poses the threat of spreading the disease. Composting or bio-digestion of fallen stock will remain illegal under the new regulations.

While this ban will undoubtedly cause difficulties for cash-strapped farmers faced with the increased cost of disposing of fallen stock, local authorities are also facing a number of unpalatable prospects. There are fears that the new rules may lead to an increase in illegal disposal of carcasses, while the potential for nuisance from small on-site incinerators is also of concern. In addition, the associated costs of enforcing the ban might prove a burden to some local authorities.

Many farmers have argued that fallen stock has been buried on farms for years with little or no risk to human health or the environment. The National Farmers Union declared in February that: "On-farm burial is the most sustainable method of recycling organic material - using the remains of one generation to enhance the soil to sustain the next. The ideal solution would be for the proposed ban to be scrapped." However, in the light of the recent foot and mouth epidemic and BSE crisis, the Government maintains that the lack of scientific information currently available on the persistency of BSE and scrapie prions in soil, and the potential for pollution of water courses, justifies the ban.

The enforcement authority for the EU Animal By-Product Regulations is trading standards, which currently enforces the Animal By-Products Order 1999. However, there is concern that where fly-tipping occurs on private land, and where ownership of the animals cannot be identified and/or proven, responsibility for disposal then passes to the landowner. According to Defra, the Environmental Protection Act 1990 awards trading standards the powers to deal with accumulations or deposits which are prejudicial to health or a nuisance. This does not alter the fact, however, that appropriate action can only be taken subsequently if the owner of the carcasses can be identified.

If fly-tipping occurs on public land or highways, and ownership cannot be ascertained, then responsibility for disposal rests with the local authority. Similarly, where carcasses are illegally buried, local authorities will be faced with the task of arranging proper, legal disposal. It is this that looks set to cause environmental health departments a particular headache.

A potential and partial answer to some of these issues lies with on-farm incineration. While the situation regarding the use of incineration to dispose of fallen stock is very complicated, in theory, individual or groups of farmers could purchase their own incineration unit, "provided all of the relevant controls and requirements are met". The Government would seek to prevent fallen stock from other farms being brought onto a livestock farm for obvious bio-security reasons, so Defra says it would "expect incinerators to be on a site away from livestock holdings". But there are obvious policing difficulties inherent in such schemes.

Similar issues arise with regard to mobile incineration units. The potential benefits of mobile units include the disposal of diseased carcasses and other material without having to physically move them from the farm. On the other hand, it is recognised that mobile units also have the potential to carry disease between livestock holdings, unless stringent bio-security measures are adhered to. This means operation of units by a dedicated operator in line with detailed standards.

In giving oral evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on 14 May, Mr Elliot Morley, MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, said that there has been anecdotal evidence which suggests that there has been an increase in interest in on-site incineration in anticipation of the new regulations, particularly from groups of farmers that may wish to "collectively" have a larger incinerator which serves a number of operations.

All incinerators need approval and for units used for disposal of animal carcasses only, this falls to the State Veterinary Service. However, Jenny Morris of the CIEH has some reservations about this. "Most implications of these regulation fall on the State Veterinary Service," she says, "but you might ask what is their competence to approve mobile incinerators, and what is their knowledge of nuisance?" If other materials are to be burned as well, units need a licence from either the local authority or the Environment Agency, depending on the size of the plant. In addition, planning permission may be required for certain incinerators depending on capacity.

In an effort to alleviate some of the problems farmers may face, the Government has offered to assist the farming industry with the setting up of a voluntary scheme for collection and disposal of fallen stock. The proposed national fallen stock collection scheme would be open to all agricultural holdings and all species of livestock on such holdings. On payment of a subscription fee, members will be entitled to have their fallen stock picked up by an approved contractor, that meets strict bio-security standards, and taken away for disposal.

However, at the time of going to press, the scheme appears to have suffered a setback. Only around a third of the 111,000 livestock farmers approached to join the scheme earlier this year have joined up, or expressed an interest to join, making the scheme "non-viable". A Defra spokesperson told EHJ that the Government "still doesn't know if the scheme will go ahead and ministers are looking at ways forward at the moment. We would hope to make a decision by the middle of the June."

If a national collection scheme fails to get off the ground, it seems likely that there will be an increase in the use of incineration as a means of disposal. But, environmental health departments need not worry, according to Howard Price, principal policy officer at the CIEH, as on-farm incineration on the scale probable due to the introduction of the new rules is unlikely to pose a threat to human health or the environment.