| 原文摘要 | Examples of the existing and potential uses of biochar include application as a: soil amendment, constituent of fertilisers, soil remediation technology, water filter and animal feed supplement. Version 1.0 of the Biochar Quality Mandate (BQM) focuses only on the use of biochar as an addition to soil. Biochar has the potential to be used widely across the UK - by itself or as a constituent of other products. Whatever the proximate use, the end-use of biochar is as a carbon storage technology on timescales (100’s of years) that are relevant to carbon abatement. The goal of the BQM is to remove impediments to the widespread use of biochar by categsorising and providing, where possible, methodologies for quantifying the risks associated with the production and use of biochar. The BQM provides the criteria by which a safe to use, good quality biochar product can be evaluated with reference to the UK context. Biochar can be made from waste materials as well as from virgin biomass. Uncertainty as to whether producing biochar from a waste material can be classified as a waste recovery operation, and how to go about achieving end-of-waste status, are barriers to further biochar usage. Although ultimately this is a matter for the regulators, the BQM aims to provide guidance on such issues. Biochar (containing) products are at a very early stage of development and their regulatory and testing requirements are liable to change, even in the short term, hence it will be necessary for the BQM -and other regulatory guidance or standards which emerge to regulate biochar - to be updated as and when appropriate. |