Sludge May Appear to Be Organic, But Is It Healthy?

For the past decade , the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) and the waste management manufacture have been promoting the employment of process sewage sludge for farm and garden . similarly , in community across the res publica , waste treatment plants are compost or otherwise cover their sewerage sludge and tender it as a soil amendment .

The idea of rejoin the nutrients in human waste material to the dirt is not novel . For thousands of year , Taiwanese farmers gather up “ night soil ” to fertilize their fields . Unfortunately , these days human is n’t the only affair that gets flushed down the drain . Schools , hospital , dry cleaners , and industry of all sorts direct their wastewater to the same sewerage treatment industrial plant . Pesticides , PCBs , dioxins , radioactive wastes , asbestos , heavy metals , and rock oil compound are among the pollutant found in guck once the municipal waste has been treated . Of these pollutants , the EPA has set standard influence only a handful of contamination : the heavy metallic element arsenic , cadmium , Cr , copper , lead , hydrargyrum , zinc , nickel , atomic number 42 , and Se .

These standard , however , do not appear adequate to protect human health or the health of agrarian lands , according to Cornell ’s Waste Management Institute . Some of these fleshy metals are toxic to flora at high-pitched levels , and certain metals — notably lead , cadmium and mercury — are toxic to beast . Heavy alloy can kill soil organisms vital to the decay of leaf litter and can harm beneficial N - fixing bacteria . Unlike the constitutional components of guck , heavy metallic element do not disintegrate . They remain in the dirt , accumulate to level that finally make the soil unfit for farming or gardening .

Be Wary of Compost Packaging

Just as you should n’t judge a book by its natural covering , you should n’t buy a bag of compost based on the packaging . Charlotte Hartman , coordinator of the National Sludge Alliance ( a grassroots web of husbandman , community of interests grouping , and person concerned about the risk of ooze ) , notice that a number of commercial bagged plant food blends and compost mixes use guck .

• The wording on the software can be confusing . view out for the Holy Writ “ biosolid , ” a euphemism coined in the 1970s that refers to the strong matter recover from sewerage intervention . And do n’t be fooled by intersection claiming to be a “ natural organic fertiliser ” or “ the original organic ” compost , as these damage do n’t prevent them from containing sewerage sludge .

• In addition , companies often run out to clearly identify the production as a sludge Cartesian product . Many of the blends bear earth - favorable figure : Earthlife , EKO Compost , SoilRich , and ERTH Food .

• While a ooze - based fertilizer can not be labeled “ organic”—sludge is turn out from the National Organic Standards — it can still wear the “ natural constituent N ” recording label and drape itself in earthly concern - well-disposed promotion . append to that a recycling symbol and a large gold seal from the U.S. Composting Council and you may confuse even the professionals .

• Equally unimpressive are claims that a product meets the lenient EPA requirement to modify as a class A “ Exceptional Quality ” compost .

• To help organic gardeners identify compost of high quality that have passed “ constitutional ” scrutiny , Rodale ’s Organic Gardening has conjoin with Woods conclusion Laboratories to test and recording label products with the “ Rodale ’s Organic Gardening Compost Quality Seal . ” Any product wear upon this recording label must undergo tryout for food , heavy metals , pesticide residues , and more .

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