[Community_garden] Biosolids and municipal composts

[Don Boekelheide]

While I was yacking on about boxes, there was a much more important discussion on this list about biosolid composts, municipal yard waste composts, and their place in community food gardens.

I'm heartened by the discussion, which seems very well informed. Before saying much, I want to take a second look at the posts. But it is a fundamental question all of us in urban agriculture need to deal with.

Two quick points. I've worked closely with County Solid Waste here for more than a decade, helping to set up a home composting training program and a Master Composter program. It's been very interesting. In a way, I'm reminded of the certified organic movement that has given us "USDA organic" and corporate organic farming, with all the pros and cons. Our culture is highly influenced by 'the market' and success is determined by viability in the marketplace. In short, we instinctively "push" and "market" our product (or program), even public employees in a waste disposal department. This can make objective discussion of realities and costs/benefits highly charged and sometimes misleading.

Second, practically speaking, composting is still more art than science, because of the enormous complexity of the materials, processes and organisms involved; the potential for unanticipated contaminants to enter the system; and uncontrollable variations in feed stock, weather, water, human behavior etc. 

Practical example: At a school project I once worked on, we got a big load of biosolid-based compost that stunk to high heaven. You _know_ what it smelled like. When parents got wind of it, the howls of protest probably reached the Pacific. The purchasing agent at the school had thought 'compost is compost' and purchased accordingly. Gardeners live in the real world - listen to the engineers and give their arguments  and evidence a fair hearing, but always use your nose.

I note Tacoma with interest, a center of problems with clopyralid contamination in yard waste compost, a pesticide that did not break down even with a well-run composting operation. I wonder if that legacy is partly behind solid waste officials' interest in TAGRO (biosolid compost for sale, following the lead of Milorganite). I've seen political tussles between the yard waste compost 'side' (more ag engineering background) and the biosolids 'side' (more civil engineers/solid waste manager background) both locally and at Composting Council - here, the two 'sides' don't seem to communicate or cooperate all that much. Who knows, I might be full of biosolids with my pop sociology, here - the point is that, whatever the science involved, politics and economics also influence decisions and justifications. We are not simply members of the public, we're consumers, and our choice of whether or not to use a publicly produced product such as biosolid compost can
 make or break careers and reputations.

Don
http://urbanministrygarden.wordpress.com



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