CLASS A SEWAGE SLUDGE “BIOSOLIDS” COMPOSTS, MANY OF WHICH
ADVERTISE THEMSELVES AS BEING “ORGANIC”, ARE PROMOTED BY US
EPA and SLUDGE PRODUCERS FOR USE TO GROW VEGETABLES
Class A sludge biosolids can contain infectious human prions which are not inactivated
by sewage treatment: (Pedersen, Joel, et al)
http://sludgevictims.com/pdf_files/PRIONSINSEWAGEANDSLUDGE_PEDERSEN_ETAL.pdf
E. coli bacteria can survive thermal treatment of Class A sludge
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/em/c2em30373f
(Peccia, Jordan 2012)
“The City of Los Angeles looks at the PR problems associated with growing food in sewage
sludge ("biosolids"):

"Since farming is such a low margin industry, it would be unlikely that a farm would use
biosolids in the face of any public pressure. Any stigma attached to the farmer’s food
would lower the price they could charge for its produce. For this market to be effective
public protest and perception would have to be controlled. Segments of the public
may be particularly unwilling to allow biosolids used in production of their food.
(emphasis added) They are concerned about any potential contamination or diseases “

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Inland_Empire_Utilities_Agency#Sewage_Sludge_from_Inland_Used
_in_Kellogg_Garden_Products.2C_Scott.27s_Hyponex
http://www.synagro.com/services/granulite.html
To request specific information about how you may purchase or use Granulite
products, please contact SYNAGRO’s Florida-based Organic Product
Marketing Group at 1.800.573.5538.
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SYNAGRO –GRANULITE - Made through an advanced heat drying and
pelletizing process, Granulite offers a consistently high level of product quality.
Granulite’s particle sizing makes it ideal for use in fertilizer blends or for spreading
directly on crops. Granulite is unrestricted for use and can be applied to any crop
including:
Fruits
Vegetables
Pastures
Wheat
Sugarcane
SYNAGRO – SEWAGE SLUDGE BIOSOLIDS FROM ORANGE
COUNTY, CA. “ GRO-WELL “ SOLD IN WALMART UNDER THE
NAMES “OMNI” AND “NATURE’S WAY” – recommended to grow
vegetables . . . http://www.mesawater.org/pdf/Biosolids_Compost.pdf
MILORGANITE – MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, SEWAGE SLUDGE
BIOSOLIDS – recommended for home vegetable gardens
Milorganite is promoted as "ORGANIC NITROGEN FERTILIZER" for
use in growing VEGETABLES . . .
Milorganite FAQs
Jump to Can I use Milorganite for my vegetable garden?: Milorganite is
an excellent and safe ... including vegetables and other edible crops.
...
www.milorganite.com/home/faqs.cfm -
IOWA DAVENPORT
2
http://qctimes.com/news/local/ask-the-times/article_79c87088-7450-11e0ab7c-001cc4c002e0.html
. Any danger using on vegetables?
— Glenn, Davenport
A: No danger, says Scott Plett, the manager of the Davenport Compost
Facility, which has been making and selling compost since May 1995.
The compost is tested every month for pathogens, or disease-causing
organisms, and for heavy metals, and “we fall far below the limits” set by
the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Plett explained.
“It is safe for vegetable gardens,” he said.
OHIO, ELIDA
NUTRI-PEL
http://www.nutri-pel.com/PROPERTIES.php
Chemical Name: Activated Sewage Sludge (Dried Microbes) 91.5%
Appearance: Dark Pellets
“You can use Nutri-Pel for your vegetable gardens and stay at ease with children
around, as it is an excellent and safe fertilizer for all plants that grow
outdoors. Children and pets can safely go onto areas that have been fertilized with
Nutri-Pel. “
VIRGINIA APRIL 27, 2011
http://www.spotsylvania.va.us/filestorage/2614/147/2744/223/brochure5.pdf
The Livingston Compost Facility guarantees that all Livingston’s Blend Compost
(LBC)has been treated by a process to further reduce pathogens as defined by
the United States Enviornmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Livingston
Compost Facility in accordance with the requirements of the Virginia
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State Department of Health, The Virginia Department of Enviornmental Quality
and the EPA guarantees the metal concentrations are below the regulatory limits
established for exceptional quality biosolids.
Intended Uses:
Lawns
Trees
Flowers
Shrubbery
Vegetable Gardens
House Plants
WASHINGTON KINGS COUNTY
GroCo Safety & Quality
Apr 15, 2011 ... King County's Biosolids Management Program has
been recycling biosolids since 1973 to enhance soils ... lawns and in
weed-free hay and straw grown for livestock use. ... tomatoes and
carrots grown in biosolids compost ...
www.kingcounty.gov/.../Biosolids/GardenCompost/GroCoSafety.aspx
KENTUCKY – LOUISVILLE APRIL 2011
Sludgewatch admin
It is dangerous to promote dried sewage sludge for home
garden use.
Here is why:
1. Sewage sludge can regrow pathogens. Just like
cooking dinner - the sludge might be pathogen free for
a little while, but in storage can get damp and
pathogens like salmonella can populate the sludge.
2. Sludge can contain unregulated persistant toxic
compounds like dioxins, PCBs, and can contain high
levels of poisonous metals - like arsenic, mercury,
lead, cadmium.
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Many people eat a lot of their food from their garden,
so it is even more likely that toxins from the soil
that enter the spinach or carrots can have lifelong
detrimental effects in children eating such vegetables.
Remember that some vegetables, especially dark greens
like swiss chard suck up the cadmium from the
contaminated soil into the leaves of the plant.
Cadmium can impair kidney function.
Family gardening, and family dining...should be sludgefree.
Ask Michelle Obama, who had to remediate her White
House garden with clean soil in raised beds - after the
soil was found to have elevated lead levels.
Small wonder the lead levels were elevated at the white
House. The grounds have been spread with sewage sludge
at least five times in recent years.
This explains the rationale of not putting sludge on
your lawn, either. What is one day a lawn, is another
day a vegetable garden. Home use of sludge is just
unacceptable. Homes and schools and parks are places
where people should be safe from toxic and pathogenic
soils.
see: SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sewage_sludg
e
.................................................
http://www.louisvillegreen.com/faq.htm#1
What is Louisville Green?
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Louisville Green is an organic-based fertilizer
suitable for many uses. This fertilizer provides slowrelease nitrogen and is made of organic, nutrient rich
and highly treated solids left over after municipal
wastewater treatment. It is useful as a fertilizer to
improve and maintain productive soils and stimulate
plant growth.
http://www.louisvillegreen.com/homeowner.htm
Flower and Vegetable Gardens: Apply to the seed bed at
the rate of 2-3 pounds per 100 square feet, rake in
lightly and seed.
OREGON
http://ci.klamath-falls.or.us/sites/ci.klamath-falls.or.us/files/CompostInfo04-2010.pdf
The City of Klamath Falls produces Exceptional Quality Compost (biosolids). The
biosolids may be used on indoor and outdoor ornamental plants, shrubs, trees,
home gardens and lawns, and high public contact areas without restricting public
access. EQ Compost may be land applied to sites used for the cultivation of fresh
market fruits and vegetables. The compost is tested regularly to maintain the EQ
standard.
Compost is loaded and given away at no charge to the public on most Fridays.
INDIANA FORT WAYNE
April 2011
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Indiana – Fort Wayne -http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GrowHops/message/7603
“I came to the realization that our city (Fort Wayne, IN) has a waste recycling
facility that offers free mulch and compost if you load it yourself. The
compost is "biosolids" composted from the waste water treatment plant and is
safe for vegetables. The mulch is made up from debris that the city and
contractors drop off (for a fee) and then the city mulches it. Now, loading
with a shovel is hard work, but it's free. They also offer loading for a few
dollars a ton. Hopefully there's a municipal site near you doing the same
thing. “
Posted on Sun, May. 20, 2007
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/17255477.htm
Indiana – Fort Wayne - heavy metals and fecal coliform in the Class A sludge “biosolids”
being distributed to public ?
“The samples in January and June failed the fecal coliform tests but passed for
salmonella . . . “
“. . .biosolids in January . . . and June of 2006 had elevated levels of fecal
coliform but were distributed anyway, and that in May there were too many
heavy metals in the soil . . . ‘
“sheet recommends putting it on vegetable gardens only once a year”
“The (Cornell) Waste Institute’s (Ellen) Harrison, however, said that industrial
pre-treatment does not remove all pollutants – and chemical pollutants are not
removed at the sewage plant.
“It’s a tremendous overstatement to suggest (industrial pre-treatment) has taken
care of all the industrial contaminants in sludge,” Harrison said. “Why should I put
industrial waste on my property?”
SOUTH DAKOTA RAPID CITY April 2011
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http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/lifestyles/article_4800edfa-70e5-11e0b158-001cc4c002e0.html
[don’t use Class A sludge biosolids compost in vegetable gardens )
If gardeners use the compost made by Pennington County, Abrahamson
recommends keeping the co-compost product out of the vegetable garden. The
county makes two products: compost and co-compost. Compost is made from
yard waste and other organic materials, and the co-compost is made from
yard waste, garbage and sewage sludge. He said sewage sludge is not
considered an organic product for certified organic production. That’s not to
say it’s not safe, he said, it’s just his opinion.
“In my view, if the USDA does not approve it for that, then should we be
using it our garden? I say probably not,” he said.
VIRGINIA – HAMPTON ROADS SANITATION DISTRICT
McGill Environmental Systems handles yard waste from Norfolk, Virginia
Beach and Isle of Wight County. The Hampton Roads Sanitation District
pays McGill to convert truckloads of green, soupy sewage sludge into
its popular Nutri-Green compost. At left, Javier Martinez works in the
screening area for yard waste at the facility in Waverly. (Ross Taylor | The
Virginian-Pilot)
http://www.hrsd.com/aboutnutrigreen.htm
APRIL 2011
You can use Nutri-Green® Compost to:







Establish a new lawn
Top-dress an existing lawn
Establish new or existing flower beds and vegetable gardens
Mend small bare spots
Plant ornamental trees and shrubs
Make enriched potting soil
**********************************************************
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WASHINGTON, DC – BLUE PLAINS SEWAGE PLANT TO PRODUCE
CLASS A SLUDGE BIOSOLIDS FOR USE ON HOME VEGETABLE
GARDENS
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380427/US-biggest-sewage-plantBlue-Plains-produce-faeces-fertilizer-safe-eat.html#
Would you use sewage on your garden? America's biggest treatment
plant to produce human faeces fertilizer safe enough to eat
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:15 PM on 25th April 2011


Comments (0)
Add to My Stories
Health fears have been raised after the country's largest sewage
treatment plant plans to start producing human waste based fertiliser
for spreading on gardens and crops.
The Blue Plains treatment facility in Washington D.C. will start mass
producing 'clean' class A biosolid, a treated fertiliser product made
from human waste, for spreading on farmland and gardens by 2014.
But critics of the human derived fertiliser say it is hazardous to health
and can spread deadly viruses.
“Class A biosolids on the other hand have no such restrictions, and
are deemed safe enough to eat - although it is not recommended.”
***********************************************************************************
USDA, EPA AND FDA ALL ENDORSE USING SLUDGE BIOSOLIDS
FOR PRODUCING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES:
1. MANAGING BIOSOLIDS IN SMALL COMMUNITIES
www.nesc.wvu.edu/pdf/WW/publications/pipline/PL_FA98.pdf
The beneficial components and properties of biosolids are so valuable in some areas
that exceptional quality biosolids have sold in bulk for as much as $190 per ton. The
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U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the EPA all
endorse the use of biosolids for producing fruits and vegetables. Yet, despite their many
benefits and proven safety, land application of biosolids still often meets with opposition.
*************************************************************************************
http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/upload/2002_10_15_mtb_combioman.pdf
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Biosolids Technology Fact Sheet
Use of Composting for Biosolids Management
DESCRIPTION
Composting is one of several methods for treating
biosolids to create a marketable end product that is
easy to handle, store, and use. The end product is
usually a Class A, humus-like material without
detectable levels of pathogens that can be applied as
a soil conditioner and fertilizer to gardens, food and
feed
.
“Biosolids compost is safe to use
and generally has a high degree of acceptability by
the public.”
US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) uses the terms “biosolids” and “sewage
sludge” interchangeably “ http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/biosolids/tnsssoverview.cfm
**********************************************************************************
1. Class A Biosolids - SourceWatch
o
www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Class_A_Biosolids
Cached
Dec 17, 2012 - ... EPA guidelines for land application with no restrictions. Thus, class A
biosolids can be legally used as fertilizer on farms, vegetable gardens, ...
2. OCEANGRO® Organic Fetilizer | FAQ
o
www.ocua.com/faq.html
Cached
Class A Exceptional Quality biosolids are sold and used just as any fertilizer on ... the
USEPA has approved this class of biosolids as safe for use on vegetables, ...
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