What Are Biosolids? The word “biosolids” sounds so deceptively benign. It’s a mild, neutral sort of word that raises no alarms. And that’s no accident. The word was deliberately contrived, the winner in a contest sponsored by the wastewater treatment industry to come up with a new, more appealing and less disgusting name for what “biosolids” really are: SEWAGE SLUDGE. And even after treatment it contains pathogens, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and more!

This was all part of a PR campaign to convince the public that this unsafe byproduct of the sewage treatment plants was safe. WHY? The treatment plants produce huge amounts of this material and need a way to dispose of it so it has been touted as a great fertilizer! The Environmental Protection Agency— our supposed guardian of environmental health— even chipped in money (tax payer’s money, of course) to help “educate” the public about the claimed benefits of treated sewage sludge, even though the EPA’s own website points out the hazards.

The PR campaign worked! For years, home gardeners and farmers have believed the baloney, spreading “biosolids” over everything from commercial agricultural fields to backyard vegetable patches, and no wonder, since it is so much cheaper than chemical fertilizers, sometimes even FREE. The long-term consequences remain unknown, but already, the short-term consequences have been documented in the press, even while the practice goes on.

If you think “biosolids” means “organic” DON’T BE FOOLED into being a cost-free or even profitable disposal agent for the sewage treatment industry. Human, hospital, industrial, and food processing waste (think slaughterhouses) all ends up in these treatment plants, only the “treatment” is never enough. This is not simply the end result of human digestion of the type a caveman might have produced. We now live in a toxic, chemical-filled world. And no “treatment” technology available at this time can rid sewage sludge of the pollutants it contains. WHY WOULD YOU SPREAD THIS ON YOUR GARDEN?

The only way to be sure the food you grow to feed your family, the flowerbeds you dig in, and the lawn your children play on is safe, is to use truly natural and organic soils & fertilizers like those made by Dr. Earth® and backed by our company’s integrity and promise of uncompromised quality. Don’t take chances with your family’s health or the health of our planet!

-Milo Shammas