Human waste, treated and combined with industrial waste, has been used for decades as an expensive fertilizer. Biosolid fertilizers, often called sludge, are made of processed sewage from municipal waste treatment facilities. This nutrient, like other types of manure fertilizer, is then applied to croplands and rangelands. About 7 million tons of dry sewage sludge is used or discarded each year. This includes 4 million tons that are used as fertilizer on farms, parks, golf course lawns and gardens. Dioxins, toxic heavy metals and harmful organisms are often present in biosolid fertilizer. The EPA has decided against regulating dioxins in land-applied sludge because it believes there to be minimal danger from it. Sludge proponents claim that when the levels of these contaminants are low, biosolids offer legitimate help for land that is deficient in nitrogen or phosphorus. They also say biosolids reduce the costs of sewage treatment and the need for landfills.

Opponents warn that the use of toxic sludge fertilizers is contaminating our drinking water, soil systems, and food supplies. Recent findings confirm that sludge contains high levels polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS – known as “forever chemicals” for their persistence in human bodies and the environment. According to the EPA, these chemicals may cause serious reproductive and developmental health issues as well as cancer.


Proposed Legislation: Introduction of legislation that prohibits PFAS to be used as an agricultural fertilizer.
Prospective Sponsor: Rep. Bill Huizenga (MI)