"Our society has committed billions of dollars to wastewater treatment, and the results have been very positive. The Merrimack River is a good example. Much cleaner than it was twenty years ago, the Merrimack is now an environmental and economic asset to communities along its banks. As part of our commitment to cleaner water, we also have to safely manage the nutrient-rich solids that are removed by wastewater treatment. Biosolids recycling returns valuable nutrients to our environment. "
--Barry Connell, Director of the Center for Environmental Communications, Newburyport, MA

"The No. 1 rule of the debate is: Sludge Happens. It has to go somewhere. You don’t get to say "not here" without saying where, or personally agreeing to stop producing it.... As long as there is not too much of it, plants love sludge. Land-spreading is by far the best solution. It recycles nutrients back into life.
It improves soils.
It replaces manufactured fertilizers, reducing fossil fuel use and water and air pollution....The problem comes from those who are not careful.... Biosolids could be a boon, not a problem, a source of public income, not public battle, if they were well-regulated and handled by honest, competent local and state governments."
Donella Meadows, Professor of Environmental Studies, Dartmouth College and co-author of Limits to Growth and Beyond the Limits.

DIFFERENT BIOSOLIDS PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL NEEDS.

In New England, a total of approximately 275,000 dry tons of municipal sewage sludge is produced, approximately 40% of which is recycled. Beneficial use is also common in New York and Eastern Canada (some northern New England biosolids are exported to these regions). However, the recycling rates vary dramatically from state to state. For instance, 92% of Maine’s 106 wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs) recycle biosolids, while only 4% of Connecticut’s WWTFs have any kind of recycling program. In terms of total sludge generated, 93% of Maine’s is put to beneficial use, while in Connecticut and Rhode Island, only 7 to 8% is recycled. Currently, recycling rates are not increasing in any New England state .

The region’s largest generator of sludge, Boston’s Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), produces the only heat-dried, pelletized biosolids in the region (although the greater Lawrence, MA regional facility is planning to produce a pelletized product in the near future). Almost all of MWRA’s biosolids product is shipped in bulk by rail to the southeastern U.S. to be used as fertilizer by fruit growers. Some MWRA product is bagged and marketed locally as Bay State Fertilizer.

Direct land application, mostly of Class B biosolids, is the most common choice for biosolids recycling in the region: 109 of New England’s 599 WWTFs rely (at least partially) on land application--almost all are in the three northern New England states. Most of the biosolids directly land applied on farms support the growth of silage corn and hay fed to dairy cows. Most land applied Class B biosolids are treated by lime stabilization, anaerobic digestion is utilized by some facilities.

Compost operations manage the biosolids from 82 New England WWTFs. Smaller, rural facilities tend to utilize windrow, static pile, and containerized composting methods, while larger WWTFs and regional facilities utilize housed, in-vessel systems. Most New England biosolids compost is utilized in bulk for landscaping, horticultural operations, and soil restoration projects, as well as for turf management on golf courses, sports fields, parks, and lawns. A limited amount of biosolids compost is sold in bags.

New England biosolids and other wastewater residuals that are not recycled are mostly incinerated or disposed of in landfills. Approximately 27% of the region’s sludge is burned. Incineration is the predominant biosolids management strategy in Connecticut and Rhode Island: of these states’ 103 wastewater treatment facilities, 91 rely on incineration for biosolids disposal. A total of 127 of New England WWTFs rely on incineration. The rate of incineration decreases northward in New England, although several small WWTFs in New Hampshire and Vermont truck liquid sludge (some with as much as 98% water) to southern New England to be burned.

The capacity of landfills to provide for the future disposal needs of the New England region is diminishing. Several states are reducing the acceptance of biosolids at landfills; for instance, a ban on landfilling sludge in Massachusetts will take effect in 2000. Nonetheless, approximately 30% of New England sludge is landfilled; in Vermont and New Hampshire, the percentage is close to 50%.

Paper and pulp mill residuals (short paper fiber), from facilities located mostly in the three northern New England states and western Massachusetts, are the only other wastewater residuals that are commonly recycled in New England. Most pulp and paper mill residuals are lacking in nutrients, but provide abundant carbon-rich organic matter at utilization sites. Most are used in direct land application programs to provide organic matter and bulk as part of the topsoil cover on closed landfills and occasionally at reclamation sites, although those paper mill residuals derived from a secondary wastewater treatment process contain sufficient nutrients and are occasionally utilized as bulk fertilizers and soil amendments on farm fields. At least one New England compost facility uses pulp and paper mill residuals as a feedstock. New England seems to be taking part in the national trend toward greater utilization of paper mill residuals: 14% of the 5.7 million tons of paper mill residuals generated in the U.S. is utilized in direct land application or composting operations, up from 3% in 1979.

From "Cultivating New England Biosolids Recycling," a 1999 NEBRA report. For more information, contact the NEBRA office at 603-323-7654 or info@nebiosolids.org.