Sludge Watch ==> Ontario Canada - Clarington calls for paper sludge regulation

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Minister of the Environment for Ontario
Dear Laurel Broten,

I wrote to you over a month ago asking whether you have authorized the use 
of paper mill sludges in dairy barns as alternative livestock bedding with 
no waste permit.  It turns out that this sludge from Atlantic Packaging has 
about 500,000 Ecoli cfu/g and has never been evaluated against the 
recommendations for Alternative Livestock Bedding.   I am still awaiting 
your response.  So is Provincial Member of Parliament John O'Toole, who has 
echoed these questions.

You asked a hand picked panel of Ontario scientists and physicians to 
evaluate this sludge and they told you to require that it be composted and 
even then require that it only go into the environment under a Certificate 
of Approval.

So having asked the best minds in the province ... whose minds are you 
listening to now?  Not the scientists and physicians, not the residents of 
Clarington, not the politicians of Brock and Clarington and Durham Region.

Instead you seem to be allowing ever more dangerous uses of the 
sludge...from gun berm, to soil ammendment, to animal husbandry.  Who is 
advising you in this direction?  The waste hauler?  Is it really your 
highest calling to provide the hauler with cheap disposal of papermill 
industrial waste at the expense of the rural countryside, the groundwater 
table and the foodchain?

Minister, you have the best advice - that you tightly regulate these paper 
sludge materials.
Minister...what do we have to do to get you to implement the Expert Panel 
Recommendations?


Maureen Reilly




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

http://hazmatmag.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=55816&issue=05102006&btac=no
HazMat Magazine,  5/10/2006


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ontario community calls for paper biosolids regulation

Council for the Township of Clarington, on the eastern border of Toronto, 
has passed a resolution that opposes the mixing of compost with paper-fibre 
biosolids, at least until the recommendations are known from a provincial 
panel of experts that has studied the matter. The town is concerned about 
the safety of mixing compost with the paper sludge, which is a byproduct of 
newsprint- and other fibre recycling. Some critics consider the sludge a 
"waste" and claim that land disposal of the material (e.g., to construct 
berms) may be dangerous to groundwater.

Clarington wants Ontario's environment ministry to regulate such byproducts 
throughout transportation, processing, storage or stockpiling, and final 
disposal or land application using a Certificate of Approval and via 
provisions of the Nutrient Management Act (for agricultural applications).

Citizens' groups such as Protect The Ridges in rural areas east of Toronto 
(and elsewhere) have long sought a policy from the provincial government to 
obtain greater regulation and oversight of paper-fibre biosolids. The most 
well-known products are "Nitro-Sorb" -- paper sludge mixed with compost -- 
and "Sound-Sorb" -- paper sludge mixed with sand. Sound-Sorb is often used 
as filler in berms, while Nitro-Sorb is spread on some farm fields and 
ploughed in, marketed as fertilizer.

More than a year ago, an expert panel convened by the environment ministry 
released recommendations for these products, including that they should be 
controlled by ministry Certificates of Approval or other legal instruments 
to ensure protection of human health and the environment. Some of the 
recommendations, such as groundwater monitoring, are being implemented, but 
the material is still not considered as a "waste" under the province's 
environmental rules.


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Letter to Ontario Minister (Sludgewatch April 10, 06)

April 12, 2006

The Honourable Laurel Broten
Minister of the Environment
12th Floor, 135 St. Clair Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario M4V 1P5


Dear Minister,

It is my understanding that the Ontario Ministry of the Environment is
allowing the use of paper mill sludge from Atlantic Packaging  as
'alternative bedding' in Ontario's dairy barns.

As the Ministry of the Environment is aware, this material  is 50% water and
contains high levels of intestinal tract bacteria. According to Ministry
tests it has a level of ecoli of 500,000 cfu/gram, fecal steptococcus of
30,000 cfu/gram, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 6,200 cfu/gram

It also contains high levels of acrilamide (a neurotoxin) and total
petroleum hydrocarbons.

Minister: your gov't did the testing at taxpayer expense:
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/techdocs/4277e_tables.htm

This material is the short fibres and  ink  and dye stripped off recycled
magazine stock, newsprint, laser ink fine papers...and contains a variety of
toxic compounds that make it unsuitable for animal bedding.  The fecal
bacteria are the result of introducing sewage sludge into the digesters, so
that fecal bacteria (including pathogenic bacteria) breed in the sludge
digester.  The acrylamide monomer comes from the polymer that is used for
sludge thickening.

The sludge is half kaolin clay and when it gets wet it gets very slippery. I
imagine you will see many more cows with irritated filthy underbellies....
and broken legs.

I and others in the rural community are alarmed that this kind of
industirial waste is being introduced to Ontario dairy barns...with the
benediction of the Ontario government.  Dairy cows may ingest the material,
moving toxins into milk and meat.  And they may get mastitis and other
infections from exposure to the fecal coliform and other irritants in the
sludge.

The sludge was also tested and found to contain endocrine disrupting
compounds, including the surfactant nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylate.

Minister do you really think that our trading partners in the United States,
Europe, and Asia will want to think of Canadian milk and cheese products
harboring toxic industrial chemicals?  Is it humane treatment of animals to
expose them to wet industrial mill waste day after day, night after night?

Minister, please investigate and halt the use of papermill sludge as
livestock bedding.

Maureen Reilly

Sludgewatch
103 Avenue Rd
Toronto,ON
M5R 2G9

cc. Chuck Strahl - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
     Leona Dombrowski,Ontario Minister of Agriculture
     Beyond Factory Farming
     Canadian Dairy Associations
     Gord Miller, Ontario Environmental Commissioner