Toxic Avenger Ping?
Posted on 04/28/2010 12:58:22 PM PDT by Scythian
NaturalNews) If someone were to begin marketing toxic sewer sludge as "high-quality, nutrient-rich, organic" compost, he or she would likely be considered a crook and possibly sued for false advertising. Unfortunately, this is what the city of San Francisco and Synagro, "the largest recycler of organic residuals in the United States," have begun doing to the people of San Francisco.
Most waste treatment facilities across the U.S. contract treatment and disposal responsibilities to Synagro. Because it is no longer permissible to dump toxic sewage directly in the ocean, most of it ends up being reused on farm fields as "fertilizer." However, San Francisco is the first city to have launched an aggressive public relations campaign to trick its citizens into thinking that the toxic sewage is an organic compost.
A 2008 issue of the magazine Organic Style named San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom, the "World's Greenest Mayor." It lauded his many "green" initiatives which include expanded recycling programs, green building programs, and energy audits.
The latest scam being launched against San Franciscans may have the magazine's editors reeling back their praise. Recognizing that San Franciscans are known for being aggressive against programs that harm the environment, Synagro worked with city officials to devise a unique plan for disposing of the city's toxic waste. Their solution? Name the waste "high-quality, nutrient-rich, organic Biosolids Compost" and give it away to local gardeners.
In a letter to Mayor Newsom, the Organic Consumers Assocation (OCA) urged an end to the practice, citing that "municipal sewage sludge routinely contains thousands of dangerous pathogens, toxic heavy metals, flame retardants, endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, pharmaceutical drugs and other hazardous chemicals coming from residential drains, storm water runoff, hospitals, and industrial plants."
These are hardly the types of things gardeners would willingly dump on their plants and in their soil, but the facts surrounding the source of the "compost" are being withheld. The fact that the city is basically lying to its citizens by claiming that toxic waste is both organic and rich in nutrients is not only shocking but abhorrent.
The Grassroots Netroots Alliance, in conjunction with OCA, have created an "Action Alert" contact page that allows people to contact the City and County of San Francisco and Ed Harrington, Public Utilities Commissioner, to insist that the program be stopped. The last thing America's farms and gardens need is more toxic waste contamination.
Milwaukee’s been doing this for decades.
SF Toxic Sludge= Nancy Pelosi.
She is not good for me.
Actually both statements are completely accurate. The sludge is probably at least 98% organic in composition and it is certainly very rich in nutrients.
As the article says, it may also contain some things that aren't so good for the soil, but that doesn't make the two statements untrue, just incomplete.
The ideal way to deal with sewage is to return it to the soil. That's the natural way. Only problem with doing so with human waste, as such, is making sure pathogens are killed off. I suspect irradiation would do a darn good job at low cost.
Unfortunately, we have a lot of other stuff mixed in with the human waste due to the way we collect the stuff, so it's probably not that great an idea.
I certainly wouldn’t use it on my garden, I mean many things like lettuce are consumed uncooked and unheated.
Makes sense. Medicine Man/Shaman thinks medical pot fixes everything under the sun, even 14 year olds with ADHD and toe jam.
Cargo Cult Liberalism
Kind’a sounds like BRAWNDO!
shouldn't that be pee patches??? :)
If they like toxic sludge, send the Arizona’s illegals. After all, it’s an illegal free zone.
Our wastewater plant tried marketing this stuff as “Enviro-soil.” It is not toxic nor is it a biohazard. The real problem is it actually had a very small nutrient value, and didn’t meet the legal definition to be marketed as “fertilizer.” Instead it is only a “soil supplement.” We had to give it away since nobody wanted to buy it.
As part of an expansion to our plant, we are changing the process to cannibalization, where virtually all of the organic material will be consumed in a process that requires less energy and is more efficient.
Nice try, SF, but really, your $hit’s just not worth it.
One would think that, like with the White House vegetable garden, there might be some unwelcome contents in sewage that comes from San Francisco. I would suggest that researchers do some testing of the sludge’s effects on some target populations.
Synagro was involved in the sludge hauling bribery scandal in Detroit. Monica Conyers (wife of Rep John Conyers) was recently sentenced. http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20379.cfm
Typical “progressives” as they like to call themselves. They want to poison you and get you to pay the bill for it!
In the 50’s, you used to be able to go to the Southerly Sewage Plant, just South of Cleveland, and fill your pickup up with Milorganite.
“With fertiler prices skyrocketing....”
A friend who works for Dow says the asians have started dumping cheap ag chemicals on our market. What a shock.
Family farms like ours want to be around for generations. "Industrial" farms aren't looking beyond the next financial quarters
Milwaukee’s been doing this for decades.”
I think Milwaukee has been selling “ZOO DOO”, for fertilizer for your garden....all from animals.
I am pretty sure this is residual from waste treatment plants- which can contain anything that went into the sewers. Household chemicals—industrial chemicals—urine from women taking birth control pills—persons taking antibiotics—medical pot—lots of stuff.
I don’t want it on food I will eat.
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