Composter seeks sludge ban exemption

PITTSFIELD – New England Organics of Unity, the largest composting facility in New England, has contacted Pittsfield officials to see if the town’s anti-sludge ordinance can be relaxed so certain recycled organics – commonly called sludge and residuals – can be spread on local farmers’ fields.

Even though sludge has evolved through composting into a widely accepted land treatment, time may not have dulled the anti-sludge sentiment expressed by Pittsfield residents just five years ago.

In 1999, the Town Council enacted a seven-year extension of the existing sludge spreading ban which was passed in 1992 after rural residents packed council meetings, signed petitions and overwhelmingly stated their opposition.

The original controversy stemmed from a request to spread municipal bio-solids, or sludge from Portland’s waste treatment plant, on cornfields.

This latest request is quite different, according to a letter sent by Russell Paterson of NEO to Mayor Peter A. Vigue. Attempts made Tuesday to reach Vigue and Paterson were unsuccessful.

No wastewater sludge is involved, the letter stated. Instead, NEO is asking that four residuals from the papermaking industry that already are allowed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection because of their benign nature be exempted from the local ordinance that bans them.

The residuals NEO has requested for exemption include lime grit, a high-grade calcium carbonate used to whiten paper; lime cake, produced from the wash waters of the lime grit refinement process; cement kiln dust; and short fiber waste pulp.

The residuals come from paper mills in Madison, Jay, Hinckley and Auburn.

New England Organics has received a number of national and state awards, including the 2003 Composter of the Year Award at the 12th annual U.S. Composting Council Conference in Las Vegas, Nev.

The Hawk Ridge Compost Facility in Unity was chosen for the national award based on excellence in management, the quality of its operations and finished product.

NEO is a division of Casella Waste Systems Inc., a regional, nonhazardous solid waste services company headquartered in Rutland, Vt. Casella is the operator of the West Old Town Landfill and Pine Tree Landfill in Hampden.

Paterson said in his letter to Vigue that farmers who want to use residuals such as wastewater treatment bio-solids must license their farms with the state. No such license is required for any of the materials that NEO is asking Pittsfield to exempt.

The town’s planning board was presented Monday with a packet of information regarding NEO’s request.

Code Enforcement Officer Claude Rounds told the members that any action to amend the sludge-residual ordinance would have to be taken by the Town Council, and the packet was for their information only and they were not expected to take any action on the request.

The next Town Council meeting is Nov. 16, and an agenda for that meeting will not be available until Nov. 12.