Author: Mike Selvon
Title: Organic Waste – A Great Source For Composting
Article: Certainly there is a good deal of discussion and concern nowadays about organic products and also about defining the meaning of the term organic waste. Essentially, it is the byproduct of any material that is biological in origin. Common types of such waste includes virtually all paper products, including newspapers and cardboard; food waste; green waste material which encompasses yard and garden waste; animal manure and feces; and various biosolids and sludge components.
The process that organic matter goes through to become waste is called composting. The composting process breaks down the microorganisms in the organic material through a combination of exposure to heat, moisture, oxygen and bacteria. Once this organic material has passed through this decomposing process, it can be reused as a very effective soil additive.
In many ways, organic waste is a valuable part of the process of life on this planet. In essence, composting of organic materials is the original, and most effective form of recycling, invented and perfected by Mother Nature herself.
Once organic materials are gathered together in a compost pile, the microorganisms rapidly increase in number and essentially grow into a community that “colonizes” the composter. Through the natural biological functions of the microorganisms, the organic components are systematically broken down and the result is a nutrient rich compost.
As the bacterial microorganisms grow, they assimilate the starches, sugars and organic acids found in the waste matter. A side effect of their activity is a rise in the temperature in the center-most portion of the compost heap. Eventually, the temperature of the core of the compost pile will reach more than 140 degrees Fahrenheit and this heat contributes to the escalating decomposition of the material.
When the busy bacteria have consumed all of the sugars and starches and other materials they feast upon, the interior temperature of the compost heap begins to fall. As the temperatures become lower, other kinds of microorganisms, such as fungi, become more dominant in the composting community. At this stage the waste is considered to be stabilizing but there are still biological activities going on which will affect the woody elements of the compost mixture, allowing them to be broken down as well.
In order to continue through the composting process, the compost heap needs to be turned. This is a simple process that brings the material that is on the edges of the heap into the center so that it can be exposed to this process of heating as described above. It is recommended to allow the compost pile to sit undisturbed for approximately two weeks between turnings.
A compost heap can continue to grow by adding additional organic waste at any time. The compost pile simply needs to be turned at regular intervals of about every other week and the decomposition process will continue. In four to six months the composting process will have done its work and the compost can be mixed in with the soil as a very effective fertilizer. A free audio gift awaits you at our portal site, where you can enrich your knowldege further about organic waste. Your comment is much appreciated at our recycling blog.
Syndication Source: ThoughtSearch.com
Tagged with: Composting
Filed under: Composting • Gardening • Healthy Home
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I was dismayed to read your comment that sludge can be composted along with leaves,garden trimmings and food. Please read the following article.
I am sending you some information about sewage sludge,
Laura Orlando wrote this primer on sludge and writes an online paper, Sludge News.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Regards,
Phyllis Ponvert
The Resource Institute for Low Entropy Systems (RILES)
info@riles.org
1
1) What is sewage sludge?
Sewage sludge is the necessarily hazardous by-product of the treating of wastewater.
Wastewater brings to sewage treatment plants all the wastes sent into the sewers from
drains and toilets: industrial wastes, hospital wastes, commercial wastes, “human waste,”
radioactive waste, stormwater runoff, and every other kind of hazardous, toxic, and
biological waste material produced in a municipality and carried away from its source via
the sewer. Whatever toxins, hazardous materials, and other pollutants happen to be
removed from the wastewater in the process of wastewater treatment, and that are
concentrated in the sludge, will remain in the sludge. Nothing in the treatment of sewage
“treats”—e.g., detoxifies–sludge. This is as true of the toxins—organic and inorganic—
as it is of the pathogenic viruses and bacteria.
2) What is “biosolids”?
T
he word “Biosolids” is a made-up euphemism for sewage sludge that has no scientific
or legal basis. However, it has been adopted by the waste industry and the waste
generators, and it can be found in place of the actual word, sludge, throughout their
marketing materials and literature.
In 1991, the Water Environment Federation (an association of sewage treatment plant
operators, municipal sewage authorities, and commercial sludge haulers) established a
“Name Change Task Force” which held a national contest to invent a more appealing
name for sewage sludge. The winning word was “biosolids.” The Federation also
established the “Biosolids Public Acceptance Task Force” whose purpose was to
overcome the growing opposition to “land application” of sewage sludge. The Task Force
received administrative and financial support from the division of the Environmental
Protection Agency that finances the construction of sewage treatment plants.
3) What is the “land application” of sewage sludge?
EPA has promoted the “land application” of sewage sludge since 1993 as the preferred
method for municipal sludge disposal. Millions of tons of hazardous sewage sludge have
subsequently been spread on farmland, school yards, and parks in the United States, and
many people living near sludged agricultural sites and many farm animals fed on sludged
silage and hay have been made very sick.
In February 2008, the McElmurrays, diary farmers from Georgia, received an order and
judgment issued by Federal Judge Anthony Alaimo of the 11th Circuit Court. The order
addresses and confirms that there have been decades of deceit by the EPA and finds
against the USDA and the EPA. It acknowledges that the sludge applications on the
McElmurrays’ farm were responsible for killing hundreds of diary cattle and
The Resource Institute for Low Entropy Systems (RILES)
info@riles.org
2
contaminating the milk supplies in several states. In the ruling, Judge Alaimo said,
“senior EPA officials took extraordinary steps to quash scientific dissent and any
questioning of EPA’s biosolids program.” (United States District Court Southern District
of Georgia, McElmurray v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Case 1:05-cv-00159-AAAWLB
Document 67, Filed 02/25/2008.)
4) What are some of the documented hazardous materials in sewage sludge?
In addition to toxic metals, pathogenic viruses and bacteria, some hazardous materials in
sludge include: endocrine disruptors like brominated flame retardants (PBDEs, which are
a lot like PCBs), phthalates like DEHP (a reproductive and developmental toxin),
persistent and toxic ingredients in personal care products (e.g., triclosan and galaxolide),
and pharmaceuticals.
A 2009 EPA study (“Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey”) concluded that all
sewage sludge contains toxic and hazardous materials, including large numbers of
endocrine disruptors.
For a list of peer-reviewed, technical papers documenting hazardous materials in sewage
sludge, see http://www.sludgenews.org/resources/
5) Is there any process at the sewage treatment plant that detoxifies and/or removes
hazardous materials from the sludge?
No. The sole job of wastewater treatment is to reduce pollution in the effluent (the treated
wastewater that leaves the plant): there is no treatment or “detoxification” of any
hazardous or toxic material in the sludge.
6) It is claimed that some industrial wastewater discharges are “pretreated” before
they go down the drain. Does “pretreatment” mean that none of the “pretreated”
hazardous or toxic wastes go down the drain?
No. “Pretreatment” means only that the concentrations of the limited number of
hazardous materials covered by this program may have been lowered in the wastewater.
The quantity and toxicity of hazardous materials will remain unchanged. As anyone who
has worked in the field of environmental protection for decades knows, the amount—not
the concentrations—of hazardous or toxic material is the accurate measure of pollution in
the environment.
While it would be nice to have an article about Organic compost, that meets the standard for the label “organic,” this article is not it unfortunately. By suggesting that organic compost can or should include “various biosolids and sludge components,” the article does a disservice to readers by failing to clarify that the term biosolids was invented by the sewage industry to rebrand, or more accurately to spin, human and industrial waste flushed down the drain as simply innocuous “biosolids and sludge.” Recent testing has demonstrated that while heat does aid in the breakdown of garden compost heat or heat “pasteurizing” does not eliminate toxics, such as flame retardants, heavy metals, triclosan, endocrine disruptors, and other substances that should not be used to grow food. For more information, please check out this article on efforts by the sewage industry to promote sewage sludge as “organic compost,” when it is really neither: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:Toxic_Sludge
This particular write-up was initially pointed out about Twits through Aerrie Gold.