You must prevent Japanese knotweed on your land spreading into the wild. Soil or plant material contaminated with non-native and invasive plants like Japanese knotweed can cause ecological damage.
You do not have to remove Japanese knotweed from your land, but you could be prosecuted or given a community protection notice for causing a nuisance if you allow it to spread onto anyone else’s property.
Many non-native plants cannot be composted because:
- They’re usually persistent
- They’ll survive the composting process
- They usually infest areas where the compost is used
