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Letter writer breaks down biosolids and the contaminants within

RE: Debating merits of human waste as fertilizer, Shuswap Market News, March 29.
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RE: Debating merits of human waste as fertilizer, Shuswap Market News, March 29.

Your article includes the following quote: “The company spoke to how the harmful contaminants in sewage sludge are removed.” Well, it is NOT possible to remove harmful contaminates from sludge.

Read more: Effectiveness of human waste as fertilizer examined during community meeting

Read more: Opposition to human waste fertilizer at Shuswap bison ranch continues

We need to understand what’s in sludge, sometimes called by the greenwashed term “biosolids.” It contains all the industrial and domestic waste that goes into sewers, including approximately 85,000 chemicals in circulation today;superbugs (multi drug resistant bacteria) and their drug resistance genes; micro plastics and micro-fibers that don’t degrade but get washed into our streams, rivers, lakes and oceans where they get eaten by marine life and subsequently end up back on our plates; and scores of other pathogenic organisms including the deadly prions that cause a number of diseases in humans and animals.

None of these will get destroyed by any of the processes used to make biosolids because the bacteria and the low temperatures and any chemicals used in the process cannot destroy these pollutants.

Municipalities choose the cheapest (and most environmentally damaging) way to get rid of this toxic soup - spreading it on the land under the guise of “beneficial reuse” where it is most often called fertilizer, compost etc. Once applied on the land, it is there forever except for the part that gets washed away by rains and pollutes every body of water it comes into contact with. Once the land is polluted with these biosolids, crops grown on it take up varying amounts of these chemicals and we end up eating them and polluting our bodies with these toxins.

Read more: Turtle Valley residents call second meeting to oppose human waste as fertilizer

Read more: Ranch’s plan to use processed human waste fertilizer prompts concern in Turtle Valley

There are safer ways of getting rid of this toxic sludge. A gasifier or pyrolysis unit could generate syngas that can be converted into electricity. Municipal waste including plastics, wood and kitchen scraps could be used with the sludge to generate electricity. Why all three levels of government are ignoring this sustainable option escapes me!

For a comprehensive review, see “Polluting for Profit - the “biosolids” business model at https://bit.ly/2FINDmH

Thomas Maler, Ph.D

Victoria, B.C.


@SalmonArm
newsroom@saobserver.net

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