Sludge Watch ==> Ontario Municipality Looks to Ministry to Clarify Paper Sludge Issues

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

A few years back the Ontario government pulled together an Expert Panel to 
advise them as to policy and risk concerning the recycling of papermill 
sludges into berms and farm soils.
The panel advised them that the sludge should be managed as a waste and 
should be composted before being utilized as 'product' and that even then, 
the 'product' mixtures made with paper sludge should also be managed under 
waste permit (Certificates of Approval).

The government has ignored their Expert Panel...preferring to heed less 
sober counsel.

So now municipalities like Clarington that are plagued with a host of 
stockpiles of decomposing papermill wastes on farms and gun clubs and gravel 
pits and dairy barns are wondering just exactly how is the government 
planning to regulate this material (if at all).

Governmental terminology for papermill sludge has slipped from the 
technically accurate  'paper sludge', to the prettier 'paper fiber 
biosolids' and now the inelegant and obscure "NASM" (Non Agricultural Source 
Material).  In the regulatory swiss cheese that is the Ontario Nutrient 
Management Act it is virtually impossible to find any public official with 
the ability to explain the regulatory process for sludges.

The Municipality of Clarington  is asking for that clarification.


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Clarington seeks clarification on biosolids


Thu Jan 17, 2008

    By Jennifer Stone

     Clarington Ontario Canada


CLARINGTON -- New rules governing non-farm products being spread on farm 
fields have the Municipality seeking clarification from the Province.
About four years ago, an MOE experts panel released a number of 
recommendations about the Paper Fibre Biosolids, variations of which are 
used in berms or spread on farm fields and plowed in as fertilizer.

Nitro-Sorb, which is made up of paper sludge left over from the recycling 
process mixed with compost and Sound-Sorb, which is paper sludge mixed with 
sand, have been the subject of concern from a number of environmental groups 
for some time.

The experts panel had made a number of recommendations, including that it 
needs to be controlled by Ministry Certificates of Approval and other legal 
instruments to ensure protection of human health and the environment.

But the recommendations have largely not been implemented and now, 
regulation of such products is being shifted to the Nutrient Management Act 
from the Environmental Protection Act.

So Clarington is seeking both local consultation, in the form of a public 
session, and a pilot of the new framework before it is fully implemented.

"This has been a concern of the Agricultural Advisory Committee for quite 
some time," said Ward 4 Councillor Gord Robinson.

A number of farmers in Clarington have not yet completed their Nutrient 
Management Plan, which would mean they couldn't apply the product to their 
land, said the councillor. What level would enforce any bylaws related to 
the product is another issue, he noted.

There is also concern from the non-farm community, said Coun. Robinson.

"There are some residents who don't like it applied next to their homes," he 
said.

Clarington's concerns will now be sent on to the Ministry of the Environment 
and the Ministry of Agriculture as well as other bodies, for consideration.


http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/clarington/article/92394