Towards a Quebec regulation prohibiting biosolids from the United States
Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette tabled draft regulations on Wednesday to prevent the spreading of sewage sludge from outside Canada on fields. /p>
The draft regulation published in the Gazette officielle du Québec prohibits the spreading on a plot of sludge from a wastewater treatment facility municipal or industrial from outside the country.
The move came weeks after a CBC investigation revealed that biosolids — sludge from municipal or industrial wastewater treatment — originating in the United States was being used by farmers in several parts of the country. Quebec.
The State of Maine banned this practice after the discovery of contaminated fields.
Biosolids, which are often made up of human manure, are used as fertilizers, but they raise health concerns.
After the Radio-Canada investigation in December, the Order of Chemists of Quebec, the Order of Agronomists of Quebec as well as the Order of Veterinary Physicians of Quebec had published a press release urging the population and the government to exercise the greatest caution.
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Due to the disturbing presence of various contaminants of emerging interest, including perfluoroalkylated and polyfluoroalkylated substances, in some of these biosolids, such as those imported into Quebec from the United States, the three professional orders recommend that the public and companies to refrain from using municipal and industrial biosolids from the United States, including the state of Maine, they argued.
The government is also proposing to ban de-inking sludge from pulp and paper mills when it comes from outside the country.
The project regulation could have an impact on importing companies, which will have to find other markets for the recovery of such sludge. Note, however, that some markets already exist. The possibility of recultivating certain plots, however, represents an economic opportunity for these operators, can we read in the text published by the Minister of the Environment, Wednesday, in the Official Gazette of Quebec.
