Sludge Watch ==> Durham Region Ont - Municipal Gov't gives Nitro-Sorb the Nod - residents shocked

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Nitro-Sorb is the mixture of paper sludge and compost  (under the exemption 
it can include any liquid waste, municipal waste, or hazardous waste) that 
is spread on farmlands around southern ontario with no waste approvals from 
the Ministry of the Environment. Usually it has no regulation from the 
Federal Fertilizer Act since much of it goes free on the dozens of fields 
owned by the waste hauler Harvey Ambrose and his entities.

When the Medical Officer of Health calls for a stop to the unpermitted use 
of this material, you would think the Region could see their way clear to 
stopping this waste hauler from distributing industrial waste into their 
countryside as Nitro-Sorb because its mixed with this municipally sourced 
compost.  They could have put a rider on the compost contract forbidding its 
use in Nitro-Sorb.
Or better yet, why doesn't the Durham Region get its own Leaf and Yard Waste 
Composting Site?

If residents can't get either their muncipal or provinical government to 
manage paper mill sludge waste in a responsible way, then maybe people 
should keep their waste paper out of the recycling box in the first place.

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has invited some of the public who 
participated with the Expert Panel review to a meeting this week.  Sludge 
Watch will keep you posted.

........................................................................................
http://www.durhamregion.com/dr/regions/durham/story/3576922p-4133324c.html

Nitro-Sorb could get another year
Committees recommend approving contract for garden and yard waste

July 4, 2006
By Erin Hatfield Staff Writer
More from this author

DURHAM -- One more year of Nitro-Sorb is the recommendation to regional 
council.

A joint meeting of the works, planning, health and social services, and 
finance and administration committees voted in support of a motion to 
proceed with a one-year contract with Waste Management of Canada Corp. for 
the composting of residential garden and yard waste.

But a stipulation in the contract is that the waste be used to make 
Nitro-Sorb, and, if prohibited, then there would be additional costs, about 
$150,000, to the Region for dealing with it in another way.

"If I thought taking a principle stand on spending the money would help then 
I would be there," Oshawa Councillor April Cullen said. "We get to stand up 
on principle; big deal."

The Region anticipates receiving and composting 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes of 
leaf and yard waste during the year which, under the proposed contract for 
processing, would be used to manufacture Nitro-Sorb. Paper sludge is the 
material remaining after the processing of paper fibre at a mill. Currently, 
some paper sludge is mixed with yard and leaf compost and spread on farmer's 
fields.

Staff recommended that the Region enter into the one-year contract, which 
would provide time for the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) to take a 
position with respect to Nitro-Sorb.

"The Province has to step up to the plate," Coun. Cullen said. "We have to 
understand where our jurisdiction begins and ends."

The use of Nitro-Sorb is not regulated. The ministry is currently at the 
policy-discussion stage on the implementation of the recommendations of the 
Expert Scientific Panel.

Clarington passed a resolution asking that the MOE regulate end uses that 
include paper sludge, a resolution endorsed by regional council at its May 
31 meeting.

"As far as I am concerned, we are talking out of both sides of our mouths," 
Oshawa Councillor John Neal said. "We are burying our heads in the (Nitro) 
Sorb mix with sand... Nitro-Sorb is a dangerous product."

Coun. Neal said it wasn't just about saving taxpayers' dollars because if it 
were then council might as well send all waste to landfill because that 
would be even cheaper.

"We need to get tough, but we need to get tough in the right direction," he 
said. "We need the report from the expert panel yesterday."

But works committee chairman and Whitby Mayor Marcel Brunelle said it is the 
ministry that has the duty of care.

"What we are doing is awarding a contract," Mayor Brunelle said. "What they 
do with it is their business.... This is a yard-waste contract; let's get on 
with it."

On Wednesday, July 5, Durham council will vote on the renewal of the 
yard-waste-and-leaf-composting contract.