Two controversial news stories in Canada have given biosolids a black eye, once again. The publicly-funded Radio-Canada organization produced two stories focused on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in biosolids. The stories, aired less than a week apart, were especially focused on Maine’s ban of land application of biosolids and the importation of Maine biosolids into Quebec for recycling to the soil.  The stories ask many good questions that a lot of the Northeast states like Maine have been asking for a while now but is yet another example of slanted, one-sided reporting when it comes to the topic of biosolids.    

On November 26th, Radio-Canada’s La Semaine Verte – the “Green Week” show, included a 24-minute story about land application of biosolids in Quebec. This story included the perspective of the provincial regulator in Quebec, the Ministѐre de l’Environnement Lutte Contre Les Changement Climatiques, Faune et Parcs (MELCCFP) -- loosely translated: the Minister of the Environment, Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks – and planted the seed, so to speak, for the story that would follow on the December 1st edition of Enquête, another Radio-Canada program.  The Enquête piece was a 43-minute segment titled “Une histoire qui ne sent pas bon…” which in English means “A Story That Does Not Smell Good.” Turns out that is a pretty good title for the story.

NEBRA spoke with the reporters for both stories and helped connect reporters to NEBRA members with important perspectives -- like the Sanford, Maine, water resource recovery facility (WRRF) and biosolids management company Resource Management, Inc. NEBRA member Englobe also spoke with reporters. All were assured that the reporting would be balanced.  It wasn’t.  

As with past news stories about biosolids and PFAS, the reporting unnecessarily raises concerns with the public as to the risks of various biosolids end uses. Biosolids are an easy target when people don’t get the entire story. These materials, generated all day every day by everyone, need to be better managed – no question about that. But the benefits of recycling them to the soils and reducing climate impacts was hardly covered in the Enquête report. Source reduction and individual contributions to the PFAS problem were also not a focus. 

On the one side of the story were a farmer who had never used biosolids, an independent agronomist, and Sébastien Sauvé a researcher from the University of Montreal who is working with the MELCCFP on what appears to be a risk assessment for PFAS in biosolids.  There were also interviews with an attorney for an environmental advocacy group and a former Dupont chemical company employee, now representing the Sierra Club. 

On the other side were employees of Englobe, including an agronomist, the Superintendent of the Sanford, Maine water resource recovery facility (WRRF), and the President of Resource Management, Inc., a New Hampshire company that manages biosolids throughout the Northeast.  There was also a clip of Agathe Vialle of the MELCCFP recorded for La Semaine Verte (MELCCFP officials declined to be interviewed for Enquête). The Enquête report suggests that MELCCFP was just beginning to look at the issue of PFAS in biosolids.

Could this story be a problem for Maine and Quebec?

The Enquête story resulted in a knee-jerk reaction in subsequent days by none other than the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself who was apparently caught off guard by a reporter when asked about the story. The Prime Minister called the Enquête story “extremely disturbing”. The threat of banning biosolids imports from the U.S. was palpable: Quebec to tighten regulations on land application of biosolids - Archyde.  On December 8th, the Order of Quebec Agronomists (OAQ) and others issued a joint press release published online by Radio-Canada informing their thousands of members about the potential danger posed by the spreading of biosolids.

One of the unintended consequences from Maine’s law (Public Law 2021 Chapter 641) banning beneficial uses is that, yes, more Maine biosolids are getting exported to Quebec and other adjacent provinces and states. Some states, Vermont for example, no longer allow banned Maine biosolids to be imported for use as soil amendments. The Enquête story did question Maine’s new approach to biosolids management. Putting biosolids into lined landfills may contain the PFAS but in most cases right now the PFAS end up back at the treatment facility in the form of leachate. In addition, landfilling generates more greenhouse gases (GHGs) than other biosolids management methods such as incineration, pyrolysis and recycling to soils (see Biosolids Emissions Assessment Model website for examples: Sharing Data & Experiences — Biosolids GHGs).

Exports of biosolids from Maine to other outlets have unquestionably increased somewhat since 2019 when Maine set screening standards for several PFAS that the large majority of biosolids did not meet. However, landfill disposal in Maine had previously been around 25% of the biosolids end use. It is now approaching 75% (see New Report Informs Next Steps on Regional Sludge Management • NEIWPCC) so the majority is not going to Canada where organic materials like biosolids are generally prohibited from going to landfill.  The National Biosolids Data Project (National Biosolids Data Project) did not track where U.S. biosolids ultimately end up – an improvement suggested for the next national survey -- but the Northeast biosolids community is aware of some significant imports from Canada into the U.S. all along the borders between states like New York and provinces like Quebec.

Whether Canada bans imports of U.S. biosolids or not, the story could cause some setbacks for Quebec. Quebec has been a leader in organic materials recycling and also beneficial uses of ash from sewage sludge incinerators. The Provincial government has given big subsidies to biosolids projects related to anaerobic digestion and biogas production and GHG reduction projects.  NEBRA member Marc Hebert, an agronomist and former Quebec residuals regulator, resurrected his newsletter, MRF Actualités (Publications - Marc Hébert (marchebert.ca)), and published a special edition about the Radio-Canada PFAS in biosolids stories. Hebert fears the biggest impact from the Enquête story may be the loss of confidence in the MELCCFP by the general public but especially by the farmers. Fortunately, there is still some time before the spreading season begins to repair some of the damage done by the Radio-Canada reporting. Andre Lamontagne, Quebec’s Minister of Agriculture, was quoted in a subsequent news report as saying that “Soil health’s very important. . . ”, a good sign. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is not making any drastic changes or statements, another good sign. This is one of those situations where the old adage “go slow to go fast” applies.  Also, “fear is never a good counselor.” 

Long term impacts of this stinky story?

It’s too soon to tell what the ultimate fall out will be from the Enquête report but it seems the Quebec regulators are pushing back a bit. On December 19th, MELCCFP sent out a special edition of its email newsletter, MRF (matières résiduelles fertilisantes) Pot-Pourri on the topic of the Radio-Canada news stories. This edition of MRF Pot-Pourri presents additional facts and nuance not included in the Enquête report and leaves no doubt the future of biosolids recycling is strong in Quebec. The email mentions that certain points of view were not included in the Enquête story, such as the Institute for Research and Development in Agri-Environment.  MELCCFP points to the fact that Canada banned the manufacture, use, sale, and import of most PFAS a while ago. And MELCCFP continues to tout the benefits of recycling biosolids, including improving soil quality and helping combat climate change. Recycling the nutrients and organic matter in biosolids is still considered an environmentally responsible and sustainable management practice, preferable to the use of chemical fertilizers in Quebec.

Regarding PFAS in biosolids, the MELCCFP email points out that PFAS are detected in biosolids but that does not necessarily mean it is a risk to human health and the environment. MELCCFP is actively working on a risk assessment for biosolids land application. The MELCCFP correspondence includes numerous citations of research done on PFAS and specifically related to agricultural impacts from biosolids. The December 19th email highlights that the situation in Maine was related to industrially-contaminated biosolids spread on land decades ago.  MELCCFP acknowledges that today Maine’s biosolids are unlikely to cause contamination. However, it goes on to say that background concentrations could be higher in Maine so Quebec wants to be cautious about the spreading of biosolids from outside the country on agricultural land and plans to tighten the conditions for their use for the upcoming spreading period. 

NEBRA encourages its Canadian members to join the Reg-Leg Committee Join A Committee — NEBRA (nebiosolids.org) if you are interested in public policy and how to inform smart legislation and regulation.  NEBRA and all its members are working to eliminate sources of PFAS into biosolids in light of the benefits of recycling them and other organic materials that also contain PFAS.