Sludge Watch ==> Knox County TN - sludge compost mixture disgusts community-violations

[Maureen Reilly]

Knox County Green Waste Recycling site generates complaints, violations


By: Kay Watson, Reporter
6/8/2007




An anonymous tip prompts the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to 
investigate the place where many people in Knox County take their lawn 
clippings.



This week the EPA asked investigators with the Tennessee Department of 
Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to visit the Solway site that also sells 
mulch.

Tons of grass and trees pour in to Knox County's Green Waste Recycling 
Center.

It's piled up to be composted.

Trucks from Oak Ridge's Y-12 and TVA's Bull Run Steam Plant add coal ash to 
the mix.

The Hallsdale Powell and West Knox Utility Districts also deliver sludge, or 
biosolids.

The EPA defines biosolids as "nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from 
the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment facility."

"The material that is brought here from utility districts is rigorously 
treated material," added David Draper, the attorney for Natural Resources 
Recovery of Tennessee.

Draper represents the company contracted by Knox County to run the recycling 
site.

He insists the mulch and its ingredients are safe and government-regulated.

But someone complained to the the EPA that an independent lab test of the 
mulch showed traces of fecal coliform, bacteria found in feces.

Draper calls that "inaccurate." He explained that any harmful bacteria is 
killed by exposure to high temperatures in the compost piles that take 
anywhere from nine months to a year to cure.

"I don't know what the anonymous complainer told the EPA," Draper said. "But 
I'm telling you that when I met with TDEC officials Wednesday, they did not 
indicate there's any problem with the compost."

TDEC hadn't turned over its findings to the EPA Friday, and it doesn't 
expect its report to be completed for weeks.

However, the state has cited Natural Resources Recovery for other 
violations.

Documents show seven violations in the last five months, plus several more 
last year.

Most of the 2007 violations and several in 2006 stem from composting 
material not being on "paved surfaces."

Draper explained that goes back to a difference of opinion that was sorted 
out in the company's favor.

In March 2007, TDEC noted a violation for "presence of nuisance odors."

"Initially, it was so bad out here, you almost threw up," neighbor Lynn 
Mayes said. "You couldn't come outside. You couldn't stay outside."

Mayes has been making a stink about the stink at the site behind his home 
for two years.

He said he has made repeated phone calls to Knox County's Mayor, Solid Waste 
Director and the site.

He said the company has made changes, but there are still days his family is 
overwhelmed by the odor.

"The other night when we come in, my granddaughter as soon as she got out, 
she said, 'Oh, that smell,'" Mayes explained. "She held her breath, so she 
wouldn't have to smell it."

Two Knox County Commissioners say they may ask the full Commission to pass a 
resolution asking Mayor Mike Ragsdale to close the facility.

"For some reason the community is suffering," Commissioner Greg "Lumpy" 
Lambert said. "I think it's time we get this problem fixed. We put this on 
the agenda to say it's time to get something done. If they fix the problem 
in the next couple weeks, which I fully think they could, then we may remove 
this from the agenda."

Draper said the recycling site is actively looking for an answer. He said 
they're hiring an odor expert to determine the exact source of the smell, so 
it can be eliminated.

"This facility is doing a very positive thing for the community," he 
explained. "And if it gets closed, if people really think about that for a 
second, where is all that stuff going to go? To a landfill, and that's the 
very thing that prompted us to open this in the first place."


http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=46093