Why and How to use Biosolids

by Malcolm Beck

Every living thing will sooner or later die; when it dies it is going to rot whether we want it to or not. If it didn't rot the earth would now be miles deep in dead things. We can assist Nature with the rotting process by composting. When done properly, composting is the art of allowing dead things to rot in a non-polluting and nuisance free way. I have been composting and using compost on the farm and in the garden for over 45 years. During that time I have composted waste of almost every kind including used crank case oil, dead animals and biosolids.

Of all the waste studied and composted, I found Composted Biosolids to be the richest, most complete and longest lasting plant food and soil builder of all. This product is too valuable to waste. Our soil needs it.

Compost biosolids are pasteurized and free of human and plant pathogens, as well as free of weed seeds. Also, federal and state rules require stringent testing to demonstrate safety with respect to pollutants.

The organic content of the farmlands in the US is at a critical low. Soil tests show much of it down to 20 percent or less than it once was. These organic poor soils can't accept or hold the annual rains. The rain runs off in a flood, carrying topsoil with it, causing soil erosion. Then during the dry spells we have water shortages.

Every community in the US has some means of collecting and processing its human waste. This waste contains the humus, nutrients, minerals and energy cropped from our farmlands.

Most wastewater treatment plants around the US are capable of processing human waste into a mass, of living and dead, decomposing microbes commonly known as “Biosolids,” that can go back to agriculture lands. However, it must be handled properly to not create a nuisance.

Many operators and even regulatory agents do not understand- the phenomena of distant noxious odors. Many times a person can be next to a volume of foul smelling material, on the down wind side, and not detect bad odors. But someone further down wind may detect bad offensive and noxious odors, the distance may vary up to miles. The cause is not fully understood. Some scientist suggests it is smell receptor overload and the receptors shut off, but with distance, the molecules are spread apart allowing the smell receptors to be more sensitive. Another explanation is that odor molecules may be photo oxidizing by sunlight and/or oxygen making them more noxious.

Anytime there are complaints, especially numerous complaints, there is suspicion with good cause that the biosolids may not be safe, may not be handled correctly or is being applied in the wrong location. Perceived or real, these problems greatly hinder the ability to get this valuable product back in to the land that badly needs it.

The most acceptable ways to handle biosolids is to compost it. In 1994 Dr. Rex Moyer at Trinity University did a six-month study of four different composts products made by Garden-Ville. All were found free of harmful pathogens that could affect man, animal or plants. To our surprise, Dr. Moyer found the compost also contained numerous microbes (18 % of the isolates) that are capable of rendering poisons into a non-toxic state. And many microbes (28% of the isolates) that help to control pest insects and disease. Lawns applied with compost are usually free of insects, such as grubs and chinch bugs and disease, such as brown patch.

Garden-Ville is making compost from San Antonio biosolids and yard trimmings. It is being used all over the city on lawns, around trees and in gardens to grow flowers and vegetables. With the exception of not making enough for all the customers, there have been no complaints. After many years of study and records keeping, spreading compost on lawns and farmlands has shown to cut water needs from 30 to 60 percent.

Composted biosolids became our fastest selling compost. The horticulturists, lawn care companies, gardeners and small farmers loved it. But, they found it a nuisance to spread on large areas. When moist it would not go through a spreader. When dry it was dusty. Many of these customers suggested. If I could some how pelletize the fine screened material they would make me rich. At that time I owned an old feed mill that had pelleting equipment. I took some of the find screened bio-solid compost and ran it through the pelleting machine.

I got a hard, black pellet that even smelled good. I was seeing dollar signs; I would surely get rich with this product because of the low cost of raw material. I immediately got with the state chemist to make sure of proper bag labeling and started getting bids from bag manufacturing companies.

The trial pelleted material was stored in some old feed bags. After two weeks the pellets began to give off a foul odor. By the fourth week the pellets stunk so bad you couldn't get anywhere near them, the most awful smell I have ever experienced. My dollar signs disappeared in the odor. I contacted chemists, biochemists, college professors and a highly respected research institution but none could give me an explanation. Before it was palletized it had the pleasant smell of the forest floor in the spring.

Month later, I was visiting with the owner/operator of a company that was pelleting turkey manure. This gentleman never experienced a change in the smell after pelleting. Luckily, the consulting microbiologist was visiting this pelleting plant. I ran my scenario by this scientist and mentioned that no one has been able to explain my foul odors. He replied, that’s easy.

And he explained it like this. “Bio-solids are mostly protein molecules shed from the human body. The higher in the food chain you go the more complex the protein molecule. Humans are at the top of the food chain. The Human protein molecule is a long chain molecule, almost like plastic, and very immune to destruction. It takes the decomposing microbes 43 days or longer to finally break into it and feed on it. When they finally do, they have a food supply supreme. He said the human molecule is a sulfonated protein and the only way we can hydrolyze it, make it break up in water, is with heat and pressure at the same time. The pelleting die requires extreme pressure, which generates heat.

He said I tore the molecule open, it had moisture in it and it was also hydroscopic and the sulfur was causing most of the odor”. Then the last thing this scientist mentioned. “Compost derived from human waste is the elite of plant foods. There are none better. The Asians have maintained soil fertility for 40 centuries by using human waste. In this country we have wore out the land on our farms in less than two centuries because of our stupid hang-ups. If we were smart we too would learn to use human waste. We can't continue to ignore this natural resource.”

Nature demands that all organic materials be recycled. The carbon cycle must be completed. Composting is Natures way of recycling. Biosolids are the most abundant and richest soil building plant nutrient we have on this Earth.

Composting biosolids can rebuild and maintain our eroded farmland and solve the looming water problems,