[USCC] Vermiculture in the News

[The Rubins]

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Alan

>From Tamaqua, PA Republican and Herald, 7-21-07. Worms May Work for Sewage Sludge in Schuylkill County, PA. A 3-inch-long creature common to many gardens may be the solution to one of the state's most controversial waste disposal problems. A proposed $1.2 million facility in eastern Schuylkill County using typical red "garden" worms to digest sewage sludge, transforming it into a pathogen- and odor-free product, could be only the third of its kind in the nation, promoters of the project say. "I call it a new technology that's a million years old," said Porter-Tower Joint Municipal Authority Superintendent Wayne Orlich, who has set up a test version of the larger facility at the authority's waste treatment plant outside Tower City.

The use of earthworms for waste disposal is common to many parts of the world, said Shaun Ankers, CEO of Vermitech USA Inc., the Pennsylvania-based offshoot of an Australian company focusing on use of the creatures for sewage sludge disposal. However, Ankers said use of earthworms both for individual households and larger institutions like schools and hospitals has mainly centered around disposal of typical household wastes like food scraps. "This is rare in the sense of using it for human waste," he said.

Disposal of sewage sludge, the partially treated solids from waste water treatment plants, has become so controversial locally that communities like East Brunswick Township and Tamaqua have passed ordinances to restrict any land application of the material. Use of the sludge has become so unpopular worldwide that in countries like Switzerland, its land application is completely banned requiring that the material be either incinerated or made into bricks and other building materials, Ankers added.

The new process has already been used for a treatment facility in Granville Township, Mifflin County, and a similar facility is being developed in West Hanover Township, Dauphin County. "That product is used for land application but is a much more environmentally friendly material," said Gretchen Sterns, an attorney with Cerullo, Datte and Wallbillich, Pottsville, a firm serving as the sewer authority's solicitor.

Orlich said the authority is enthusiastic about the process because of environmental considerations and concerns about the cost of disposing of sewage sludge in the future as landfill space becomes limited. Concerns about land application of so-called "Class B" sewage sludge, referred to as biosolids in the sewage treatment industry, have centered in part around remaining pathogens in the material after treatment. However, Ankers said his process produces material defined as "Class A" under applicable regulations which is free of pathogens and can be handled safely by humans and sold to homeowners.

Orlich said sewage sludge in his test model is mixed with wood chips and poured into a "worm bed" where the creatures quickly eat through it, leaving material which is then removed from the bottom of the bed or "bin". The material is then placed on a pile where it is "quarantined" and then tested for pathogens before being spread across an asphalt surface to allow drying. The result is a dirt-like material that is free of odor and similar to products available as soil additives in garden departments at Lowe's and other retailers, Orlich said. Ankers said a similar product by a company called TerraCycle is currently available at stores like Wal-Mart.

The woodchips are then strained out of the material for reuse and the compost will eventually be sold once the new processing facility is up and running. The treated material can be sold for as much as $150 per ton as opposed to the cost of landfill disposal, about $55 per ton, Orlich said. Ankers said the process is important because it is sustainable with sale of a product offsetting cost of the treatment as opposed to costs for disposal of a waste.

He said continued disposal of organic matter like sewage sludge in landfills has led to high taxes on that disposal in Europe and will continue to increase the amount of space needed for waste disposal in the U.S. Orlich said the authority will seek government grants to construct the new facility and expects a visit from state Rep. Tim Seip, D-125, to review the test project next week.