Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 24, 1993 TAG: 9307240121
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Take garbage, chop it up and allow it to decompose into a soil-like compost.
But environmentalists say composting falls short of the ideal solution for disposing of municipal solid waste.
"I think there are some very serious questions about mixed-waste composting," said Frank Hornstein with the Clean Water Action Alliance of Minnesota.
One problem is the difficulty of deriving clean, safe compost from a mixture of residential and commercial garbage containing such things as batteries, used oil filters and household cleaners.
"What we're concerned about is these contaminants in the waste stream showing up in the compost," said JoAnna Hoelscher, a policy analyst for Citizens for a Better Environment in Illinois.
Compost produced at the 22 mixed-waste operations in the United States often contain the same elevated levels of heavy metals found in sewage sludge. Both compost and sewage sludge can be applied to some cropland under federal regulations. But some environmentalists say the standards ignore the long-term effects of adding heavy metals to the soil.
Environmentalists recommend that composting be limited to lawn clippings and food scraps that homeowners and restaurants separate from the rest of the waste stream.
A recent pilot project sponsored in part by Procter & Gamble Co. showed that curbside separation of food waste and soiled paper - combined with curbside recycling - reduced the waste stream in two Connecticut towns by 70 percent.
Hornstein said mixed-waste composting tends to hurt recycling because of the misperception that a composting facility can remove things like aluminum, glass and cardboard.
In fact, he said, the bulk of recyclable materials are unusable after being mixed with other waste. Glass gets broken, and cardboard and paper get soiled.
Despite these concerns, Minnesota's environmental groups have spent little time fighting the state's eight mixed-waste compost operations. Much of their attention has been focused on what many perceive as a greater threat: garbage-to-energy incinerators.
Even though Minnesota has more mixed-waste composting plants than any other state, the Minnesota chapter of Citizens for a Better Environment referred questions about composting to the group's Illinois office.
"We're working on other things," said John Jaimez, a staff scientist with the Minnesota group. "I think it sort of slipped through the cracks."
by CNB