Sludge Watch ==> Composting Tobacco - what about the cadmium?

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewath Admin:

This company wants to compost tobacco tailings.  But tobacco concentrates 
cadmium.
So composted tobacco is likely to have very high levels of cadmium.

Bad idea.

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Compost fight moves to Web
Chesterfield project to use tobacco waste criticized on Internet

BY JULIAN WALKER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 12, 2007


TIMES-DISPATCH
A local recycling company that wants to compost tobacco byproducts in 
Chesterfield County has support from local leaders, but it's taking some 
heat on the Internet.

A Web site called "Keep Tobacco Sludge Out Of Enon" (www.nosludge.com) 
raises concerns about a plan by Environmental Solutions Inc. to conduct 
tobacco-composting operations on a 5-acre portion of a 143-acre industrial 
site at 13101 N. Enon Church Road. The site is the former home of a Brown & 
Williamson Tobacco Corp. plant.

"The already flourishing communities of Chester and Enon do not need a 
factory that will bring unwelcome odor to the area and its residents," the 
Web site says. "Converting tobacco sludge into compost is a novel, green 
approach but has not been applied before on this scale and is better suited 
for a less-populated location."

Composting breaks down toxins, such as pesticides and hormones in animal 
manure, and kills harmful fungus and bacteria contained in organic materials 
during the process. Aside from an odor, composting does not post any health 
concerns, said professor Greg Evanylo of Virginia Tech's Crop and Soil 
Environmental Sciences Department.


Environmental Solutions President Brenda Robinson said the composted tobacco 
sludge would be sold to landscapers and garden and nursery businesses. Her 
company would combine tobacco sludge with wood chips to make compost.

"The intention is to take some of the materials that are still present at 
the site from going into landfills," said Robinson, who said she is aware of 
the nosludge.com Web site but declined to talk about it. "We have contacted 
some of the neighbors about our plans."

About 10,000 dry tons of tobacco byproduct remain on the site. Robinson said 
the company would like to compost 150 tons per day, six days per week, and 
anticipates the work would begin this year. Once the sludge at the site is 
composted, Environmental Solutions plans to import more.

To perform its proposed recycling activities, Environmental Solutions would 
first need the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority to amend its 
20-year solid waste-management plan to include the proposed composting 
process. The authority will consider the request at its Jan. 19 meeting.

"Our plan encourages recycling to keep things from going into a landfill," 
said authority director of operations Bernard Harris. "We consider 
composting a positive way of using [tobacco sludge]. It's consistent with 
our philosophy"

The waste-management authority has asked the Richmond Regional Planning 
District Commission and the Crater Planning District Commission to sign off 
on the composting plan. The Richmond commission gave its OK last month, and 
the Crater commission was to consider the issue last night.

Environmental Solutions will also need to secure a waste permit from the 
state Department of Environmental Quality.

Chesterfield Supervisor R.M. "Dickie" King Jr., who represents the district 
in which the industrial plant is located, said only one neighbor has voiced 
concerns about the odor.

Internet records indicate the site was registered in October by the 
domain-name company GoDaddy.com through an affiliate of that Web-based firm, 
Domains by Proxy Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz.

In an e-mail, officials with GoDaddy.com said that per a privacy agreement 
with the site registrant, they could not provide any information.

A message posted on the site several weeks ago by a Times-Dispatch reporter 
has not been answered by whoever is behind nosludge.com.


Contact staff writer Julian Walker at jwalker at timesdispatch.com or (804) 
649-6831.


http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192614921&path=!news&s=1045855934842
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Biomed Environ Sci. 1992 Mar;5(1):53-6. Related Articles, Links

Cadmium in tobacco.

Yue L.

Institute of Environmental Health Monitoring, Chinese Academy of Preventive 
Medicine, Beijing.

The present study was conducted to determine the cadmium level in tobacco 
planted in five main tobacco-producing areas, a cadmium polluted area, and 
in cigarettes produced domestically (54 brands). The results indicate that 
average cadmium content in tobacco was 1.48 (0.10-4.95 mg/kg), which was 
similar to that of Indian tobacco (1.24 mg/kg), but the cadmium of tobacco 
produced in the cadmium polluted area was quite high (8.60 mg/kg). The 
average cigarette cadmium was 1.05 micrograms/g (with filter tip) and 1.61 
micrograms/g (regular cigarette). Therefore special attention should be paid 
to the soil used in planting tobacco.