About Sewage Sludge
Branded products containing sewage sludge
The majority of sewage sludge is hauled away in trucks and disposed of on American farms. Some is given away or sold as “compost.” Some is dried and made into pellets, bagged, and sold as a "fertilizer" to landscapers and gardeners. And sometimes sludge is “blended” into bagged fertilizers. There is no labeling requirement. Sometimes the product is called “biosolids,” sometimes not.
If sewage sludge -- whether “treated” or not -- is used as a "fertilizer" on crops, the food from these crops cannot receive USDA organic certification. But there is no federal rule that forbids non-organic fertilizers from using the term “organic.” Growers must know what they are putting on the land. Gardeners, too, have to do some investigative work when they buy compost or fertilizer. Look at the ingredients. If it says "biosolids," don't buy it. If it says compost (as an ingredient), could be great (real compost is nourishing to soil and plants) but could be sludge ("compost" made from sewage sludge is toxic to soil and people). You can also call the manufacturer and ask if their products contain sludge or biosolids. Coast of Maine, for example, does not use sludge in any of its products, so it's great stuff!
The Sierra Club has a May 2021 report on PFAS ("forever chemicals") in bagged fertilizers made with sludge.
Branded sludge-derived products in the U.S. fall into three categories: (1) those marketed, sold or given away by a publicly owned wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) or a public authority managing wastewater treatment for a particular region, e.g., Bloom by DC Water; (2) those marketed, sold or given away with known sources – usually sludge from a single wastewater treatment plant - by corporations that are contracted by the WWTP or wastewater authority to manage their sludge processing and disposal, such as Synagro, Casella, or Denali, e.g., Bay State Fertilizer which is Boston’s Deer Island WWTP sludge is processed and disposed of by Synagro; and (3) those marketed, sold or given away with unknown sources – sludge from multiple WWTPs - by corporations, e.g., Casella’s Earthlife brand, Synagro’s Granulite, and Denali’s WeCare.
Some Branded Products Containing Sewage Sludge
(Not a complete list)
- Sunniland All Natural
- Bloom (DC Water/Washington, DC)
- TOPGRO (Los Angeles County)
- MetroGro (Madison, WI)
- OCEANGRO (NJ)
- Bloom (DC Water/Washington, DC)
- LOOP (King County/Seattle, WA)
- Dillo Dirt (Austin, TX)
- TOPGRO Soil Amendment (City of Los Angeles)
- Gold Grow Compost (City of St Peters, MO)
- Field Green (MN)
- Hou-Actinite (Houston, TX)
- Agresoil (MA)
- PocoNite (Sumter, SC)
- EverGro(Cosby, TX)
- NUTRI-PEL (Chicago, IL/sludge pellet plant managed by Veolia)
- Granulite (Synagro)
- AllGro (Synagro)
- AllClear (Synagro)
- MichiGreen Fertilizer (Synagro)
- MinneGrow Fertilizer (Synagro)
- Greener World TopPro (Synagro)
- Greener World TopSoil (Synagro)
- EarthLife products (Casella)
- Nutri-Green (Virginia Beach, VA)
- MetroGro (Madison, WI)
- ORGRO (MD/Veolia)
- Bay State Fertilizer (Boston, MA/sludge pellet plant managed by Synagro)
- TAGRO (Tacoma, WA)
- SoundGro (Pierce County, WA)
- Milorganite (Milwaukee, WI)
- WeCare Compost (NY/a Denali product)
- New Earth (TX/a Denali product)
- GreenEdge (FL)
- N-Viro Soil (Canada)
- N-Viro BioBlend (Canada)
- Landscapers' Advantage (PA)
- EcoScraps (a product of Scotts company)
- Greenhouse Gold, NutriWaveGro (products of Envirem Organics, New Brunswick, Canada)
- PocoNite (Sumter, SC)