Hamilton waste too toxic; Sewage pellets

The Hamilton Spectator
Editorial/opinion, Saturday, August 17, 2002, p. D04

Hamilton waste too toxic; Sewage pellets

RE: 'The sweet smell of managed waste; City's sewage contractor wants to open fertilizer pellet plant' (Aug. 7).

Of all the sewage sludge spread on farmland in Ontario, Hamilton's sludge is one of the most toxic. But Phil Sidhwa, of American Water Services Canada Corp., would have the public believe that Hamilton sludge, if dried into pellets, can likened to Milorganite, a fertilizer created from sewage waste in Milwaukee.

This is simply not the case. The heavy metals in Hamilton sludge are as much as five or six times higher than those in Milorganite. That means that, every time a gardener used Hamilton sludge to fertilize vegetables, he/she would be getting six times higher levels of contamination in the soil where the food is grown.

Some of these metals, like cadmium, are known to be transferred up into the stalks and leaves, particularly in spinach and swiss chard. Dioxins are taken up into cucumbers.

Sludge pelletization is no magic wand for sludge disposal: toxic chemicals in, toxic chemicals out. We need to stop transferring industrial contaminants into the food chain, whether it is through liquid sewage sludge on farms or dried sewage sludge in a fertilizer bag.

-- Maureen Reilly, Toronto