Good environmental management begins with careful planning. When a poorly planned facility is up and running, there are limited available options for addressing environmental problems. It is recommended that poultry facility operators wanting to proceed with composting should develop a compost management plan (CMP). A CMP details how the proposed composting operation complies with your environmental management plan as well as other relevant policies and procedures (e.g. codes of practice for biosecurity, animal welfare and health and safety). A CMP should also identify potential hazards and critical control points.

The CMP must be regularly updated to reflect changes made to any part of the operation, following an established performance management process such as ‘plan, implement, monitor and review’.