Sludge Watch ==> Rural Ontario Paper Sludge Newsletter - Protect the Ridges

[Maureen Reilly]

Protect The Ridges
November 2006 Newsletter

                In "Neglecting Our Obligations", the recent report by Gord 
Miller, Ontario's Environmental Commissioner, he writes that "when we 
neglect our obligations to the natural environment we are also forgetting 
our responsibilities to future generations. They will be dealing with the 
consequences of our actions, and especially our inaction, for years into the 
future."

In 2000 'Protect the Ridges' was formed out of concern for the massive 
unregulated dumping of wastes, especially paper sludge (also called 'paper 
fibre biosolids' or 'PFBs'), at the aggregate pit on the 10th Concession, 
the Harmony Road Composting Site and the Oshawa Skeet and Gun Club (or OSGC, 
where a berm using about 27,000 cubic meters was built).  These sites are on 
the Oak Ridges Moraine.

Our efforts, as well as those of effected municipalities, health 
departments, conservation authorities and the Environmental Commissioner 
have convinced the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) to undertake some 
testing and to seek expert scientific input.  But, in reality, nothing has 
changed.

What you should know:

The Scientific Experts Panel on Sound-Sorb.  In response to the public 
concerns about the unregulated dumping of Sound-Sorb (a 'product' made of 
about 70% paper sludge mixed with sand that is used to build berms), the 
Ontario Government formed a panel of scientific experts and interested 
stakeholders in March, 2004.  Its mandate was to study the Sound-Sorb issue 
and make recommendations.  The panel released its report on January 31, 
2005. Among its conclusions were the following:

Paper fibre biosolids are a waste. Their bulk use in the environment even 
after composting requires regulatory control. Paper fibre biosolids should 
be controlled by Certificates of Approval or legal instruments that provide 
equal or better protection for human health and the environment at all 
stages from its generation, through transport, composting and final use in 
the construction of berms. The use of paper fibre biosolid material mixed 
with mineral soil should also be subject to MOE control with respect to its 
preparation and use in the environment by a Certificate of Approval or legal 
instrument that provides equal or better protection for human health and the 
environment.

At present implementation of the Expert Panel recommendations is still at 
the policy discussion stage.  MOE will neither reveal planned direction, nor 
timing for making their decisions public.

Site Specific Risk Assessment of the Oshawa Skeet and Gun Club Sound-sorb 
berm.   Initial testing findings were of sufficient concern that the MOE 
agreed to a site specific risk assessment of the gun club berm.  The report, 
initiated in November 2001 and completed by Cantox (environmental 
consultants) for MOE review in May 2006 has still not been released to the 
public.  A new date set at January 2007.

Groundwater monitoring (at the OSGC berm and Harmony Road composting 
facility).  Already in 2004, in a study commissioned by the MOE, Global Tox 
(environmental consultants) had recommended: "Additional groundwater 
sampling should be conducted to examine the PAH (carcinogens) content of 
samples taken from the test wells.  In particular, the levels of 
benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene and benzo(a)pyrene should be 
monitored, as MOE (2003) reported levels of these substances in excess of 
health-based criteria."

Global Tox, Cantox, Premier Environmental Services, Durham Region 
Environmental Health Director, and the Expert Panel have all stated the need 
for continued groundwater monitoring at the Oshawa Skeet and Gun Club.

Yet, to date we have just one year (for 2003) of insufficient and unreliable 
data, with no report/position from MOE, and an almost 3 year gap with no 
testing.

The second wave, or 'ongoing' round of groundwater testing began in April 
2006 at Oshawa Skeet and Gun Club and will include Harmony Road Composting 
facility (Oshawa).  Again, there is no plan as to how or when these results 
will be shared with the public.

The concerns are as broadly spread as the sludge.  In December 2004, Durham 
Region Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kyle, with the support of Durham Region 
Council recommended a moratorium be placed on construction of Sound-Sorb 
berms, and stockpiling of PFBs on farmlands. Prior to this, in 2001 the 
Association of Local Public Health Agencies passed a resolution urging the 
Government of Ontario to amend the Environmental Protection Act so that the 
spreading and storage of all biosolids, including PFBs require an MOE 
certificate of approval.

Spring 2006 the Region of Durham endorsed the following resolution of the 
Ontario Federation of Agriculture regarding Paper Fibre Biosolids, Nitrosorb 
and Sound-Sorb:

"That the Ontario Federation of Agriculture urge the Government of Ontario 
to keep waste products destined for further processing and or blending under 
the regulatory umbrella of the Ministry of the Environment throughout the 
transportation, processing/blending process and that the final application 
to farmland occurs with a Certificate of Approval (CofA) and under the 
provisions of the Nutrient Management Act (NMA)."  The motion was also 
endorsed by the Durham Region Federation of Agriculture.


SLUDGE - ITS NOT JUST FOR BREAKFAST ANYMORE   by Guy Crittenden, editor of 
Solid Waste Management magazine

On a rainy day in July, I drove to the rural town of Pelham, Ontario, to 
visit citizens protesting against the disposal of papermill sludge on 
farmland near where they live. Sheltering from the rain inside an open 
garage, I interviewed a half-dozen residents about an enormous berm across 
the street that was the length of a football field and made from 20,000 
tonnes of "paper fibre biosolids" -- a sludge byproduct of paper recycling.

Having expected to see piles of cardboard-colored material, I was surprised 
to find a black and brown mountain literally oozing its chemical contents 
into the mud. (Papermill sludge is 50 per cent liquid.) In saner 
jurisdictions, the material is regulated as a waste and is landfilled or 
otherwise appropriately managed. In Ontario, the unusable short-fibre 
material -- along with inks, dyes, clay, glues and other residue and any 
chemicals used in the recovery process -- remains uncontrolled and is 
land-disposed in the ever-shifting, rotting berms. I was shocked to learn 
from the site's owner that he plans to continue growing cucumbers beside the 
berm.

The environment ministry ignored warnings from the sensible residents until 
it was too late. Only days after I visited the Pelham site it became the 
subject of government cleanup order, contamination having (predictably) 
seeped into a neighbouring waterway. Ministry tests showed that one litre of 
ammonia-bearing leachate from the pile could contaminate between 1,500 and 
3,000 litres of water. Sadly, the situation in Pelham is being reproduced in 
similar sites across the province, including farm properties and many gun 
and skeet clubs where the berms catch bullets. The papermill sludge at 
Pelham comes from Abitibi Consolidated's mill in Thorold, which alone 
produces 400 tonnes per day of the muck. Combined with other mills such as 
Atlantic Packaging in Scarborough, the industry generates hundreds of 
thousands of tonnes of material each year.

The loopholes that allow this questionable disposal method point up 
recycling's dark side and the willingness of the province's environment 
minister to protect corporate interests rather than those of the environment 
or ordinary citizens. The material used to be placed in landfill, but 
someone convinced the environment ministry that adding some sand made it a 
"product" exempt from regulation. (With that perverse reasoning, any toxic 
waste could be mixed with sand and be exempt from regulation.) Companies 
like "Berms-R-Us" build hills at golf courses, or sound attenuation berms 
made from "Sound Sorb." Another produces animal bedding and an agricultural 
soil amendment product ("Nitro Sorb") despite indications that the 
decomposing paper sludge causes crop damage to plants requiring nitrogen 
such as corn, wheat, etc.

This unregulated material has been piling up on agricultural land throughout 
Southern Ontario for more than five years, despite the fact that paper 
sludge has been shown to contain e-coli, fecal coliform, and hazardous 
bioaerosols. Contaminants of potential concern include total petroleum 
hydrocarbons, PAHs and lead. Acrylamide polymer (a known animal carcinogen), 
benzo[a]pyrene, MEK and phenol require further research; some may appear 
only after years of decomposition in a berm.

In January 2004, after years of complaints, the environment ministry formed 
an expert panel to study Sound Sorb. A year later in January 2005, the panel 
made six recommendations that included the need for long-term monitoring of 
groundwater at berm sites, and that all paper sludge should be composted 
before being used in berms. The mixture of sludge to sand should be 3-to-1, 
the panel said, and a hydrogeological assessment of the site should be done. 
Papermill sludge, even if mixed with sand or soil, should be controlled by 
Certificates of Approval at all stages from generation, transport, 
composting and final use in the construction of berms.

The recommendations made sense and almost everyone agrees. The citizens of 
Pelham are not the first to ask that the government take control. The Durham 
Region medical officer, the association of local public health agencies, the 
Haldimand Federation of Agriculture, Gord Miller -- the environmental 
commissioner of Ontario, the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority 
have all urged the Ontario government to act immediately, as has a long list 
of communities including Whitby, Oshawa, Huntsville, Lincoln, Cayuga, 
Kawartha Lakes, Orillia, Aylmer, Haldimand, Niagara Falls, Flamborough, 
Hamilton, Brock Township, the Municipality of Clarington, among others. 
Sadly, municipal bylaws passed against sludge disposal have no legal power.

Despite the outcry, the recommendations have never been formally adopted, or 
even casually enforced.

This has led to an untenable situation in which soil and groundwater are 
potentially being contaminated and residents are forced to inhale dangerous 
dust and a horrible stench even as they watch their property values sink. 
(In some cases their homes are unsaleable.)

The Ontario government has been meadering down this dark and dangerous 
deregulatory course for too long. Atlantic Packaging is testing an 
incinerator for papermill sludge, which could solve some of the problem. 
However, until such solutions are proven, the environment ministry must 
immediately implement the recommendations of its own expert panel to protect 
human health, sensitive agricultural lands and our precious environment.


As a private well owner, it is your job to be well aware.
Drinking contaminated well water can make you and your family members ill. 
It can even be fatal.
Bacterial contamination may cause stomach cramps, diarrhea, and other 
problems.
Chemical contamination is equally dangerous.  Effects vary.  Even though 
your water may appear to be fine, there are many possible contaminants that 
you can't taste, see, or smell.
Water Sampling Bottles available at the Durham Health Department, Port Perry 
905-985-4889

It's Up to US to PROTECT OUR GROUNDWATER
Resources:
Ministry of the Environment, Issues Manager: Rod Adams: 905-427-5617
Ministry of the Environment, District Manager, Dave Fumerton:  905-427-5626
Link to MOE website - www.ene.gov.on.ca   Key word:  Sound-Sorb
www.wellwise.ca      Resource, Research and Education Centre, Orono 
905-983-9911
Deb Vice, Protect the Ridges Co-Chair, 905-655-5045, themomma at idirect.ca