Tons Of Toxic Waste Turned Into Fertilizer Reports Shows Hundreds Of Firms In 44 States Involved In Practice
A new report documents the scope of the practice of turning toxic waste into fertilizer: 606 companies in 44 states sent more than 270 million pounds of toxic wastes to farms and fertilizer companies in the first five years of this decade.
The report was released Thursday by the Environmental Working Group, a national research organization whose work has been generally accepted by the scientific community. Information in the new report comes from federal records.
While the practice of turning toxic wastes into fertilizer was first reported by The Seattle Times last July, this is the first account of how widespread the practice has become.
“We found a bustling toxic commerce between factories and fertilizer makers,” Ken Cook, the group’s president and a soil scientist, said.
Cook warned of possible health hazards and called for more study.
Although no health or environmental risks from the practice have been proved, another soil scientist said the report raises more questions about the long-term impact of substances such as methanol, lead, cadmium, arsenic and dioxin.
“It does not make sense to spread toxic materials at whatever level out on the land that is producing our food and fiber,” said Bill Leibhardt of the University of California at Davis, who previously worked for fertilizer companies.
“The preponderance of evidence would say if you’re adding heavy metals and dioxins into fertilizer and mixing them up around the countryside, you’re playing Russian roulette with the food supply.”
The steel industry provided nearly 30 percent of the toxic wastes sent to farm and fertilizer companies: 80 million pounds between 1990 and 1995, the report says.
Nucor Steel of Norfolk, Neb., led the way with 26 million pounds of hazardous ash collected from a pollution-control device and sent to a nearby fertilizer factory owned by Frit Industries.
Frit took in more heavy-metal waste than any other fertilizer company, followed by Bay Zinc of Moxee City, Wash.; Tri Chem of Atlanta; Hynite of Oak Creek, Wis.; Stoller Chemical of Jericho, S.C.; Midwest Zinc of Chicago; American Microtrace of Fairbury, Neb.; and Big River Zinc of Sauget, Ill.
While many of the chemicals reported in the Toxics Release Inventory could be beneficial to plant life, there is no monitoring of harmful chemicals that often accompany them, the report said.
The leading chemical, by weight, was zinc, with about 90 million pounds, followed by copper, 49 million pounds, and sulfuric acid, 34 million pounds.
The report said the government is breaking its promise to track toxic wastes “cradle to grave.” Instead, the federal Toxics Release Inventory - intended to track every movement of hazardous wastes - stops at the fertilizer-factory door. Only two states, New Jersey and Massachusetts, require reporting of where the wastes end up.
A spokeswoman for The Fertilizer Institute, which represents manufacturers, declined immediate comment on the report. The institute’s board, however, has approved a resolution acknowledging that some of these substances are “minor constituents” in fertilizer and calling for any regulations to be “scientific, health-risk based” and uniform nationally.
There are three legal loopholes that allow toxins to flow into fertilizer. One allows steel companies to sell their smokestack ash with no tests, while another permits use as fertilizer if the material is considered safe for landfills. Finally, firms can transfer waste directly to farms if it can be rendered harmless on land.
Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, said those loopholes need tightening and government should require all raw fertilizer materials be tested for toxic content. In addition, he said fertilizer labels should include such substances and farms that use them should be monitored. xxxx ASHES TO ASHES … There are three legal loopholes that allow toxins to flow into fertilizer. One allows steel companies to sell their smokestack ash with no tests. Another permits use as fertilizer if the material is considered safe for landfills. Finally, companies can transfer waste directly to farms if it can be safely rendered harmless on land. Soil scientist Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, said those loopholes need tightening and government should require all raw fertilizer materials be tested for toxic content.