The UK Government has banned the burning of waste straw after the 1992 harvest. This adds weight to the increasing financial and environmental pressures on farmers to find useful alternatives for disposing of wastes. But is straw still a ‘waste’ product or will this new pressure shift the balance to make alternative upgrading processes financially viable. This is a world-wide problem, but the development of methods of waste disposal based on turning straw and other lignocellulosic materials into easily digestible animal fodder are potentially applicable also in the developing world.
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