Turns out Levington Organic Farmyard Manure is not Organic

[Spazturtle]

Founds lots of pieces of plastic in the 3 bags I recently purchased, turns out it does say on the bag that it contains council collected garden waste.

This was all in a single handful of manure:

It seams incredibly misleading to claim that it is organic since they have no control over what chemicals people use in their garden and what they put in their brown bin.

Any of you had your own disappointing experiencing with supposedly high quality compost & manure? And what compost & manure do you recommend as being good and reliable?

Although it's not like I can go to the garden centre to get anything else anyway

[veggiechicken]

How can Farm yard manure contain council collected waste?
Seems wrong on all counts!

[toomanytommytoes]

Not manure, but this is a sample of what I found in a delivery of topsoil from a 'reputable' supplier. What sort of sifter did they put this through?

Gro-Sure and J Arthur Bowers manures I've never had any problems with. Gro-Sure and New Horizon peat free don't contain green waste. Aldi peat free had a few bits of plastic in.

[SarrissUK]

I'm pretty sure that it's against rules of trading - to be allowed to say it's organic, you have to follow strict rules. It doesn't sound like it follows any kind of trading rules - it's not manure if it comes from people's gardens!! I'd report it to Trading standards and any other that want to listen

[Jungle Jane]

Every bag of compost I've bought has a little bit of plastic & some stones or bits of wood,it’s like when the bags are weighed at the end they add a few stones or lightweight material to make them all weigh the same. They should use pennies instead so it’s exciting

[ameno]

I'm pretty sure that it's against rules of trading - to be allowed to say it's organic, you have to follow strict rules. It doesn't sound like it follows any kind of trading rules - it's not manure if it comes from people's gardens!! I'd report it to Trading standards and any other that want to listen

Not true, unfortunately.

Organic farming has very strict rules, but the rules for what can be branded as "organic" when it comes to gardening supplies are virtually non-existent. As long as it has no artificial substances directly added, it can be branded as organic. What happens further up the chain doesn't matter.

And you'll also find that most bags of "manure" are only 30-70% manure. Just as most bags of "topsoil" contain very little actual topsoil, and most of them are mostly a mixture of fine sand and cheap compost (usually green waste compost).
This is all within current regulations.

[smallblueplanet]

Not true, unfortunately.

Organic farming has very strict rules, but the rules for what can be branded as "organic" when it comes to gardening supplies are virtually non-existent. As long as it has no artificial substances directly added, it can be branded as organic.

Yeah, it's the con that the unscrupulous companies use! The difference is between Organic as in certified by whichever organisation, and organic being made up of organic substances...

[Penellype]

If "manure" ie well rotted farmyard manure comes straight from the farm and is not carefully sifted it will contain bits of plastic. Think about what it actually is. It is likely to consist of rotted straw and animal waste, probably with bits of hay in it. Hay and straw are harvested from fields using baling machinery which rolls up everything in its path. I've found all sorts of stuff in hay (we don't use straw at the stables but it will be similar) including plastic rubbish which has blown into the fields, along with bits of barbed wire, the odd tine off the turning machinery and all sorts. Some of the plastic in the op's picture look like bits of plastic bag or haylage wrapping, which are commonly found in hay.

I'm not excusing it, and I think the whole "organic" thing is something of a con anyway, but if you buy any sort of manure you can expect bits of rubbish in it due to the sheer amount of litter there is around everywhere.

[goosander]

I used to think that organic was also a con. The estate were I fish is divided in 2 by a busy road. The bit I fish is normal farming and the other side is completely organic and has been for many years. To me the interesting thing is the organic has dozen of hares and song birds while the normal farming area has very little nowadays. That is why I think it might not be the con after all. Hares are the same as us and eat the same food except we eat bread where they eat wheat/barley grass etc. [this on about 40,000 acres]
Bob.

[SarrissUK]

Oh, I love the organic movement and I can absolutely see how much better for the environment it is compared to modern farming. I am willing to pay extra for that in the shop, knowing it's responsibly grown.

But it makes me angry when non-food stuff can be labelled organic and not have to meet any criteria. Who thought that was a good idea?? If it can contain anything, then it's not organic and it should be against the law to market and advertise something as such.

[Penellype]

Just to be clear, I wasn't saying that it is a good idea to cover everything with chemicals and I don't use them on my crops. I agree that gardening/farming without chemicals is much better for wildlife. I just think that the way "organic" is portrayed is often very misleading, particularly as there doesn't seem to be a standard definition of what it actually means. I also think that it is sometimes used as an excuse to increase the price.

[goosander]

From what I have seen of organic farming it is like going back 40-50 years but using modern machinery. The yield is much the same but were as now the fields are ploughed as the combine moves out they are left or under sown with a green crop.
Bob.

[burnie]

The adding of council waste to compost seems to have been going on for some time, but I wasn't aware it is now being added to manure. There is an old adage that you do not apply both at the same time, how can that be avoided if they are mixed together at source? Sounds like the trades description act needs applying here.