Sludge Watch ==> Sludge isn't the only stink wafting off Toronto sludge deals

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Sludge isn't the only stink wafting off these new Toronto sewage sludge 
disposal deals.

I hear that most if not all the sludge designated for EMS will go to 
landfill in New York State, rather than composting in Quebec.  It is my 
understanding that all the sewage sludge sent to GSI (the compost company 
owned by EMS) from the City of Ottawa is still sitting in a mountain in 
Quebec waiting to cover a waste site.

It seems that once again Toronto's sludge is heading to landfill but the 
City is now paying a compost company to arrange the trucking so that the 
City can continue the fiction that its astonishingly stinky sludge is being 
'beneficially recycled'.

Is  taxpayers' money being squandered by 'laundering' the sludge through the 
bank accounts of companies like Terratec?  You see Toronto 'gave' all its 
sludge to Terratec so the City could say they have a 100% beneficial use 
program.  The fact that Terratec might get only as little as 2% of the 
sludge onto farmfields means that the sludge was sent BY TERRATEC (not 
Toronto) into Michigan landfills.

Terratec paid the bills and tipping fees to Republic Services to put the 
sludge in the Michigan landfill.

So now that Terratec's land application program is a (approx) 97% failure 
(the default sludge that headed into Michigan landfill) and now Terratec's 
landfill default is a failure (the Michigan landfill refuses the sludge) 
suddenly it is Toronto's problem again.

Question:  Has Toronto taken back its sludge from Terratec?  Or is Toronto 
paying Terratec to pay Fertival and pay EMS to take the sludge and then 
further take it to landfill in New York state?   What is the fiscal 
arrangement here?   Just how many bank accounts are hittin 'cha-ching' at 
the expense of Toronto taxpayers?


Understand that Terratec has no hauling trucks.  But Toronto gave Terratec 
the job of handling all of Toronto's sludge.  Toronto could have leased its 
own trucks to take the sludge to Michigan but that would have meant 
admitting that there was no 100% beneficial use program...there was a 2% 
-10% land application program. Remember 'benefical use' has not been 
defined.. the City says its is landfill or land application or 
pellets....some include using sludge for fuel in 'beneficial' use. 
Essentially the phrase 'beneficial use' is so corrupted as to be 
meaningless.  In the 'Beneficial Use'
request for proposals Toronto defines it as anything legal, effective, and 
environmentally sound.

So is Terratec still being paid to take all Toronto's sludge?  And then 
taxpayers pay EMS and Fertival on top of that fee?  And if most of the 
sludge is headed into landfill in New York why do taxpayers need to launder 
it through a compost corporation....we could lease our own trucks and send 
it down there cheaper.

That way we would know where it ends up...and what it smells like when it 
gets there.

Toronto is in court with Republic Services this morning.  Courthouse at 361 
University rm 6-3

See you there.

.....................................................................................................

Montreal Gazette
Canada
July 29, 2006

Toronto's sewage heads here:
Sludge to be composted: Michigan didn't want any more of the waste


Jasmin Legatos

Michigan doesn't want it, so Quebec will be getting it, albeit just a little 
bit.
It's Toronto's sewage sludge, and starting Tuesday, some of it will be 
trucked to Quebec for composting.

That's part of a three-year, $13.5-million deal between the city of Toronto 
and GSI Environment Inc., a subsidiary of Environmental Management Solutions 
Inc., based in Burlington, Ont.
Toronto produces an estimated 150,000 tonnes of sewage sludge each year.

EMS Inc.'s president and chief executive officer Tony Busseri refused 
yesterday to disclose exactly how much sludge the company will handle for 
Toronto or how much will come to Quebec.
Under the deal, most of the sludge handled by EMS will go to a landfill in 
upstate New York.
The sludge - a foul-smelling substance also known as biosolids - is 
essentially remnants of human waste. It can contain pathogens and bacteria 
harmful to the public's health if not treated properly, said Daniel Green, 
an environmentalist with the Societe pour vaincre la pollution.

Quebec will be seeing the influx of sludge after the owners of a Michigan 
landfill, where 13 to 15 truckloads of Toronto's sludge have been dumped 
every day, said two months ago they would no longer accept the waste after 
residents complained about the smell.

That left the city of Toronto scrambling to find another solution to its 
sewage-disposal problem. (The Michigan landfill will continue to accept the 
city's regular trash, however.)
The ideal solution for Toronto's sewage sludge would be to compost the 
material close to generators in the Toronto area, Busseri said.

At this time, however, Ontario doesn't have the facilities to compost its 
waste - a more environmentally friendly way of disposing of the sewage than 
dumping it in a landfill.
That's why some of it is being trucked to Quebec, where GIS has seven 
facilities, including plants in the Quebec City and Sherbrooke areas, and in 
St. Hyacinthe and Lachute. It has no plants near Montreal.

Busseri said yesterday he was still unsure which Quebec facilities will 
handle the Toronto sludge.
Busseri and Green agreed that having Quebec handle part of the sludge is not 
an ideal situation. Green said he wonders why Toronto can't take care of its 
own waste and must transport it so far away.

Busseri says the Quebec solution is only a short-term one. "Our goal is to 
send none of this (sewage) into Quebec," he said.

Part of EMS's agreement with the city of Toronto is that after the initial 
three-year period, a contract extension is conditional on the company 
setting up a composting facility in Ontario - a measure which is "good for 
Toronto," Green said.

In a news release, Busseri said Toronto's current waste disposal predicament 
is a sign the province of Ontario needs to better address its 
waste-management needs in an "environmentally, socially and economically 
acceptable way."

EMS will be taking care of some of Toronto's wastewater sludge, a residue of 
treated domestic sewage.

jlegatos at thegazette.canwest.com


............................................................................

Admin note: Toronto's wastewater sludge is a mix of domestic and industrial 
sewage.