Sludge Watch ==> Abitibi Thorold Ontario - Takes paper sludge berm into company landfill

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Abitibi is to be congratulated for agreeing to remove the huge decomposing 
mountain of Sound-Sorb papersludge from the Pelham Ontario farm field where 
it has sat for the last year and a half.

Dozens of rural communities would be pleased if Atlantic Packaging would 
also haul away the monsterous sludge mountains that are leaching 
contaminants into rural groundwater supplies  under dozens of paper sludge 
mountains around Ontario.  Just when is the Ontario Ministry of Environment 
going to release the Site Specific Risk Assessment on the Oshawa Gun Club 
sludge mountain ... so we know what chemicals are going into groundwater?

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



Finding room for paper-waste sludge is doable, company says; Fenwick berm 
will be rebuilt in Thorold, on AbitibiBowater's own landfill site
Posted By MATTHEW VAN DONGEN

Thorold's paper-recycling plant produces and stores about 400 tonnes of 
paper-waste sludge every day.

Finding room for an extra 36,000 tonnes might seem tricky, but 
AbitibiBowater insists it's doable and worthwhile.

The paper recycler has agreed to remove a 36,000-tonne pile of paper fibre 
biosolids - residents call it sludge - from a Fenwick property starting 
Monday.

It's the same pile the company paid a contractor to build a year and a half 
ago.

AbitibiBowater's Montreal-based spokesman Seth Kursman said the move was 
made with neighbours in mind.

"Frankly, we recognized the community's concern and responded as a 
responsible corporate citizen," he said Friday. "Our people live in the 
community and they're sensitive to the concerns of their friends and 
neighbours."

In the past, local plant officials argued berms, when properly covered with 
soil and grass, are a safe and environmentally friendly way to store the 
sludge, a mixture of old paper fibre, water and clay.

But two different landowners failed to cover the Pelham berm, which 
neighbours said repeatedly leaked contaminated runoff into a nearby ditch.

In late 2006, Abitibi agreed to stop storing sludge in berms and to monitor 
existing berms for pollution.

The company identified monitoring and containment costs as another reason to 
move the berm, said Rich Vickers, district manager for Ontario's Ministry of 
the Environment.

Options for storing the biosolids are limited, local Abitibi officials told 
The Standard in 2006.

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Regional landfills and local private operations won't take the material, nor 
will Michigan dumps.

Berms are now off-limits.

But Kursman said there's still room in and around Abitibi's own landfill in 
Thorold, where the berm will be rebuilt by the end of April.

They won't run out of room anytime soon.

"Right now, we're OK," he said.

The new berm will also be built under the watchful eye of the MOE, and 
serviced by an existing leachate collection system at Abitibi's landfill.

Thorold Mayor Henry D'Angela is satisfied with those precautions.

"I'm pretty happy with the description of what will happen as they bring it 
back," he said.

D'Angela said the city has been kept in the loop from the beginning. 
"Abitibi has always been more than excellent in dealing with us on various 
issues," he said.

"They're a responsible company."

In the long term, the company still has a few potential options for dealing 
with sludge.

The material can be spread on farmers' fields as a soil additive, with 
environment ministry approval.

AbitibiBowater is also spending $100,000 to study alternative solutions, 
among them energy-from-waste incineration.

Local plant manager Rob Martin said the plant has a certificate of approval 
to test one possible solution, but details won't be released yet.

There's no telling how much the company will spend - or has already spent - 
on dealing with the berm.

Kursman declined to discuss costs, as did berm landowner Dirk Breugem on 
Thursday.

The important thing, Kursman said, is the berm "is not in the community."

"And the community seems pleased," he added.

Trucking of material from Fenwick to Thorold could begin as early as Monday, 
from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.

Up to 3,200 tonnes will be moved a day in ministry-licensed haulers. 
mvandongen at stcatharinesstandard.ca

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=876013