Sludge Watch ==> Michigan Landfill pays ~$100, 000 fines for stinky Toronto sludge

[Jim Smallwood]

Maureen,

I would like to contact the appropriate people if that's possible
regarding the processing of this sludge in a zero emissions gasifier
into syngas, or electricity.

Regards,
Jim Smallwood



Maureen Reilly wrote:

> Sludgewatch Admin:
>
> The City of Toronto hired Terratec (better known as 'American Water') to
> haul away its extra stinky sewage sludge.  But farmers in Ontario are loath
> to take sludge, and there is an abundance of manure to coat Ontario fields.
> Under the arrangement with Terratec the City paid out more money to have
> Terratec haul to US landfills than they paid for farm application.  So for
> years the City staff told the public that Toronto sludge went to
> 'beneficial' use on farmlands while 98% of the sludge was quietly hauled
> into a Michigan landfill - to the disgust of the Michigan landfill
> neighbours.
>
> Sludge into a landfill needs to be treated carefully.  Generally the
> stinkier sludges need the landfill to dig a hole, put in some trash to
> 'hold' the sludge' and then add the sludge and cover it up.  The ratio of
> sludge to trash needs to be about 4-1 to 7-1 trash to sludge ratio to stop
> the sludge from 'moving'.  Essentially the sludge will ooze toward low
> points in the landfill.
>
> Wave after wave of affronted Ontario rural residents have been appalled by
> the dreadful stench of Toronto sludge.  There are some lawsuits still before
> the courts. Now add Michigan residents to the long list of the long
> suffering.
>
> The City of Toronto has been doing research to try to understand why the
> stink of Toronto sludge is so appalling.  However they refuse to respect
> Freedom of Information requests for copies of the reports.  It looks like
> Toronto sludge - which did not meet even the 2 million fecal coliform per
> gram pathogen levels for years - may be one of those sludges with pathogen
> reactivation.
>
> You remember pathogen reactivation?  It is the reports on how many
> centrifuge dewatered sludges find that that fecal coliform and Ecoli counts
> go up six decimal places in 15 minutes after centrifudging.  It looks like
> sludge digestion doesn't kill off the bacteria, just puts them into a viable
> non-culturable state.
>
> So where is Toronto sludge going now?  Still a state secret apparently.
> Most of it is going to a landfill in New York state, I understand, and the
> rest is going to Quebec.
>
> To the west of Toronto are the new expanded Brampton sludge fluidized beds.
> In the east end of Toronto is the Highland Creek sewage sludge
> incinerator...and the sludge from York County north of Toronto all goes to
> the sludge incinerators in Durham County.
>
> Toronto City staff have been heavily lobbied by a group from the Beaches
> District to ship sludge out of Toronto.  Rural communities...and now
> American community groups...are very very unhappy that urbanites are
> imposing Toronto waste sludges into the rural hinterland.
>
> The irony is that Toronto - like LA - likes to think of itself as all green,
> noble, and shiny.  When really they just truck their stench and pollution to
> the rural hinterland.  Toronto should be using modern Kyoto friendly
> technologies to manage sludge as energy rather than polluting the
> countryside, air, soil, water, and food chain.
>
> For a video on various ways of using sludge for energy watch this video:
>
> http://www.georgiastrait.org/CAW/video-waste-treatment.php
>
> ................................................................
>
> Freep.com » News » Wayne County
> Landfill settles Canadian waste case
> June 27, 2007
>
> FREE PRESS STAFF REPORT
>
> The operator of a Michigan landfill that took human waste sludge from Canada
> has agreed to pay the state $94,000 in fines and $5,500 in cost
> reimbursements because the stinky sludge became unstable and spread beyond
> the landfill’s licensed area.
>
> Republic Services, which operates the Carleton Farms landfill in western
> Wayne County, stopped taking the wastewater treatment sludge from Canada a
> year ago, said Bob McCann, spokesman for the Department of Environmental
> Quality. At the time, the goey muck made up about a third to a half of the
> volume of trash that went to the landfill, one of the biggest in Michigan.
> The gooey muck made the landfill unstable and caused some cracks, which let
> gases and odors escape, the DEQ said. Neighbors complained that they
> couldn’t use their own backyards in summer because of the stench. Republic
> built a clay buttress to stop the oozing waste and has promised to monitor
> the problem and build a cap to keep the muck from spreading further.
>
> McCann said Canadian waste no longer comes to Michigan. Waste from Detroit,
> which also went to Carleton Farms, now goes to other landfills in Michigan.
>
> http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070627/NEWS02/70627073/0/NEWS06
>
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