A gobsmacking story. Water companies let toxic waste disposers, for cash, dump their loads into sewage farms. The sewage sludge is then spread, untested, on farmland, potentially poisoning vast areas, entire ecosystems and the people (you and me) eating the food. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Where there's muck there's brass and a whole lot more besides! We really are f'ing idiots!!
Reminds me of how the Metropolitan sanitary district of Chicago/Cook County gave away toxic sludge to homeowners as "soil enhancements" in the later 20th century.
We know, arrest them all now
WTF!
The heaven of privatization in one story.
Sharing is the answer.
Another problem we are ignoring. Another case of profit before planet, when will we ever learn? Ignoring this pollution hazard has unknown consequences. I remember a very long time ago a lone voice on TV trying to warn us about the dangers of micro plastics. If only we had listened then.
would that be .. say.. this guy maybe ? www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp-W...
No, it was a guy on a beach in (north east england I think) on a BBC news program.
@greenpeaceuk.bsky.social warned us since atleast 1975. but i get your point. just wanted to show the world that many have actually warned us but everytime Governments looked the other way.
so far ahead you ... because i got the worlds largest shipping company out to help with this. today they say no more great pacific garbage patch. @theoceancleanup.bsky.social you are welcome. and so are donations btw ;) www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLcn...
What could possibly go wrong?
Falling at the feet of the money god - failing people so badly
It's mixed farming's best. Fertilise your own lands by moving farm animals around spreading their own dung, letting the dung beetles and other natural insects and bacteria do their work to break waste down letting the land recover before using again in a few months. No need to add any fertiliser.
Thanks to sustained nitrogen leakage over time, the fertility of the land in such systems gradually depletes. They are very far from being a closed loop, whatever some advocates claim.
Isn't it a question of balance and economics? Overproducing for profit?
No. It's just impossible however it's done. There is always N leakage, and it's higher from manure than from Haber-Bosch N, due to lack of synch between N release and crop growth.
Should be a national security issue. No good investing in military to project power & boost defence, if an enemy could so easily defeat UK by exploiting the weakness in its food & water chain. Undermining both are tactics of war & imperialism. UK needs radical new strategies of self sufficiency now
Water companies....yet again. At what point does a govt simply say that water is a basic human right, and remove ownership from private hands. Don't even pay them for it - they have been filling their boots at the expense of our health and our environment for decades.
Greed and Westminster's urge to follow that dump America in its standards.
The Gadarene rush for privatisation under Thatcher, in fact.
Probably a very rich person behind it all
We haven't had 'sewage farms' for nearly a century. Sewage treatment works George. Processes for controlling discharge of toxic trade effluent to public sewers in place since 1937 and disposal of sewage sludge to land is or should be controlled. Another case of failure of regulation.
and not for the 1st time ... why am I not surprised?
Solution? A new solar-powered method that converts sewage sludge into green hydrogen fuel and protein-rich animal feed. Have researchers turned trash into treasure. The method recovers more than 90% of the organic carbon in the solid waste and completely removes harmful heavy metals.
Heavy metals are a small part of the problem. Some of those organics don't break down until you reach 600C
Regulation blocks growth! Sarcasm alert.
Good God our depravity knows no end 😢
Southern water upped my bill by 50% which is not very helpful to me but I bet the share holders are very happy. Get rid of them and get back under Government control.
Money trumps integrity and peoples lives and livelihoods. Your oppression is their profession.
Factory farming.
Urgh. What a shit hole this country is. Disappointed doesn't even cover the collaboration of government and companies to wreck the joint. Humanity is currently in its sawing through the branch we're sitting on phase.
Jesus H christ! I knew there was always problems with toxic waste disposal but thats diabolical. Surely this should carry jail terms. There's no limit to what will be done for money.
Government needs to pull it's finger out because it'll be nuclear waste given half of the opportunity. Just sodding greed at the end of the day. I've heard about payoffs for flytipping too.
I actively seek out imported vegetables at the supermarket because of this, which is nuts
You know a lot of countries have even less regulation of what gets spread on farmland.
Everything is shit, isn't it
Which countries dont do this?
The Dutch ban the practice and export their sludge to us
Only because they have more effluent from factory units than they can legally spread, they export that too...
Sweden.
If the BBC were doing their job properly, they would flog this story to death. Until heads rolled and laws were changed
this is the exact reason why the right wing and neoliberal always want to reduce public broadcasting. It makes their corruption more expensive.
As someone who lives on farmland in the south of England, we spread cow manure on the fields. Its not some weird sludge, it's just shit. Pure cow shit. Maybe people do it differently in parts of the world, but we just spread manure on the field because it helps it grow.
You might but plenty of farmers spread sewage sludge.
www.pullcom.com/newsroom-pub...
📌
That's why in the US we have an EPA that safeguards our...pardon me.... What? They did what? WHO??? IN CHARGE???? Apologies apparently we no longer care.
It's treasonous that our leaders are allowing these companies to assault the very health of the land and the people.
How utterly yummy 😋 this year just keeps getting better and better... Not
Breathtaking negligence AND arrogance
I researched this at Eton College in the late 60's early 70's when Slough Sewage was spreading Cinagro with impressively high Cadmium levels, (from memory). Mass poisoning Windsor Great Park. They also used methane to power the system, and we're stopped by accountants. Picture of Obama for fun.
I’m totally gobsmacked, and that’s not easy, these days. 😣
Is it greed or stupidity? Either way 🤦🏼♂️
Utter greed. We are doomed.
I feel it to
Both.
Naked unapologetic greed. Nothing else.
I am apoplectic. 🤬
I guesstimate its greed, overwhelmingly.
It will literally be the death of all humanity
I saw an article about bottled water wasting water. Scary stuff! Alt text: guardian newspaper article link on bottled water companies. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
This is an old game. See www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?ti...
Also worth reading the book on how this literal shit (and other evil non-shit shit) is sold by the PR industry. prwatch.org/tsigfy.html
Mother of God. What is happening here??
The sheer scale of this is alarming. Almost every day except for the depths of winter, containers full of this crap are being ferried around from one place to another by speeding tractors, their drivers perpetually glued to their phones whilst they drive.
📌
That's outrageous. Here in Ukraine, post-sewage sediment has been banned from fertilizer use for decades (although some treatment plants were designed with it in mind). The only legal utilization today is incineration for energy.
Human waste was incinerated for a time, however its not currently practiced in the UK.. at least not in the SW
It's not human waste at all, it's a dry peat-like sediment after several stages of treating sewage water. There's barely anything bio there, it's mostly toxic residue from various chemicals used at home and in HoReCa.
Yeah mate the stuff we treat in our WTW is from humans....and the cake is given away.. In the past we did incinerate waste..
I'm sorry to hear that.
That was likely the case when the UK was in the EU. But #BrexitShambles by #traitorFarage, #BorisTheRussian & #TuftonStTraitors have brought "benefits" for the Corps... When they said UK would have better regulations than the EU, they meant better, FOR them 🤷 #TheLiesHaveIt
🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯 Absolutely right, all of it! Beaches, rivers the whole lot. Has spineless Starmer done anything to mitigate the damage they did, nope.
#TurdReich has implemented all this damage. I'm not certain what Labour has yet done to undo that. I'm hoping they will set laws in place so the regulation is there but we need to see. Not holding my breath.
It's hard to put the genie back in the bottle but undoing the damage should have been at the top of the list for Labour.
So much damage of so many kinds! Don't truly believe entire country realizes how bad #BorisTheRussian was & how much damage he & #TuftonStTraitors did. Assume Labour busy trying get economy back on its feet, as priority. But agree, such things should be high on their agenda too.
PFAS disposal program
The privatization and subsequent abysmal monitoring of the management of these companies by the regulator is one of the most disgraceful failures of British recent history And from what I can see there is no end in sight of the mismanagement with Ofwat continuing to fail massively
💯🎯
It’s not about lack of monitoring, but the lack of consequences for non-compliance. These essential services mean that the private companies have the nation by the proverbials. And those companies owned mostly by foreigners. Thanks Thatcher! She was truly duped.
Either way, the regulator failed massively in its duty as did the management of the cos Nationalisation is the only way forward We as the tax payer will foot the bill anyway / I’d rather it be through my tax dollars than a doubling in water fee that only goes to dividends for shareholders
And I’m guessing this would count as organic fertilizer?
Currently writing a book on Otters George, sewage sludge features... Look at Otter spraints and you find microplastics within them, look at Otter fur and you find pharmaceutical products in it, look in Otter livers and you find PFAs. All coming from sewage sludge. @georgiaes.bsky.social
WTAF?!?!
Thank god I live in a civilized country where sewage sludge spread on farm land has been strictly regulated, analyzed and documented since at least 1981.
The U.S. government has been funding studies on this kind of stuff for years. Who knows what types of chemicals, like PFAS, got spread all over farm fields. seagrant.noaa.gov/dredge-mater...
Or cities, hospitals, everywhere…
They've been doing it for years. Went to a local meeting 20 years ago when a local farm was going to do this. Told the mayor and council "You don't shit where you eat."
Good grief no wonder cancer in young people is rising fast.
you're a treasure, George. but wow. you always seem to find the things that expose how incredibly stupid humans are.
Nope. Just people like you that are stupid. Tell me you've never seen cow and horse shit spread on a field? It's a fertiliser.
Except sewage works don't only have shit coming into them.
It's my observation that people accept unacceptable things to make them fit into their circumstances... totally understandable. My conclusion is then: people accept what they believe they're powerless to change. Except we aren't powerless. I hope you aren't living in the wake of this
China has used animal & human excrement as fertilizer successfully for about 5000 years. It’s only been the past 50 or so that society improved it by adding synthetic hormones, long term herbicides & antibiotics, plastics & fluorinated chemicals that don’t break down with time, heat or bacteria.
Damn. That's honestly really fucked up.
not, btw, and improvement
but now that I re read your comment, I think you use the word "improve" ironically
This isn’t about animal manure.
So, you didn't read the article then?
Nope. Although I probably should have, I was busy.
Top tip for social media: unless you are a troll who enjoys pissing people off and getting insulted yourself - avoid calling people stupid when they talk about things you don't understand because you didn't actually read them.
Block worthy. Done.
Lmao. Thats also in your drinking water, and you dont give a fuck. You'd need a fuck load to kill the average person 50% of the time.
Two wrongs make a right. You're very clever.
That is exactly the point. Run off from fields ends up in our rivers and drinking water.
Golf courses are doused in chemicals too toxic for agricultural
I'm old fashioned in that I think we should stop spraying poison everywhere!
You think killing 50% of the population should be the benchmark?!
No? It's the LD50. Lethal dose for 50% of people who take it to die. It's a standard measurement.
"Dark Waters" is a great film, Ed. Give it a watch. Same actor that did "Spotlight"
Yeah I think I watched that a couple of years back. Is it about Teflon and all that?
Thats right, the forever chemicals mentioned by George.
What do you imagine happens when you expose the whole population to that?
This is before we get to heavy metals, asbestos and who knows what else is in that mix.
Your are thicker than a Boxing Day turd. Have at least the sense to know when you don't know what you're talking about. To whit, define LD50 in the context of mutagenesis
If the sludge were just from human waste, maybe animal too, I would honestly not be worried about the risks. But to take everything that went into a sewer, grind it down, retain the solids, and spread that where people grow crops? Doesn't seem wise.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention George. It is sickening, but I think yet another failure of Neoliberal policy and specifically privatisation of the water industry. Profit is being put above the public good again. There is no government control or legal framework to stop this practice.
Exactly this. Water companies currently exist to pay dividends to shareholders. They no longer exist to provide a public service. They are in fact incentivised to provide minimal service for maximum profit.
One of the rare occasions where this *should* be (literal) bullshit
Untested? Give your head a wobble. There are farmers who want the sewage to spread but water companies have to do ground tests to see if it’s compatible. As for the sewage,it’s tested daily throughout the whole process …
At this stage I will take "things that do not happen (unfortunately)"
Now read the article, FGS.
Got links you can share on this?
That has no details of what it is analysed for. If you look at the James Hutton Institute research linked in the thread, you'll find concerns.
all for money! Get rich quick!
Get the word out to everyone! Share it on TikTok!! #BuildtheResistance #WakeupAmerica We need more pushback on the right wing propagandists! Signups @ #mobilize.us and #fiftyfifty.one for protests info Attend town hall meetings letters-boycott-strike-blackouts #5Calls #Bluestorm BUZZZ
Out Of Nowhere Newsletter: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
What the hell is wrong with those people? They must be prosecuted and sued to the eyeballs, and made to clean up. Greed!
It literally is breathtaking- the smell is foul. I live on a canal. Farming run-off from the local area feeds into this, then from here into the harbour. You can see and smell the run off. The harbour (an AONB) is too hazardous to swim / fish in (pet illnesses common). Anyone fancy a cup of tea?
if it's running into canals, it will also seep into ground water. You will also see nitrate pollution in there.
Absolutely. We have the added problem that southern water is unable to control sewage pollution into local (ancient) chalk streams. The result is signage along them warning not to go near (including dogs to be kept on leads), a huge decline in wildlife and horrors on the river banks. It’s criminal.
Whats the alternative? Is it possible to filter out the toxins and microplastics ( at what cost?) Do we just dump the waste And use more inorganic fertilisers? Can we stop producing the pollutants in the first place?
The best alternative for sewage sludge is aerobic digestion. There is still going to be some solid waste but much less. The fertiliser produced that way is safe and it also produces energy. It is already being done.
Burning the sludge is possibly the best alternative, add phosphorus recovery. Regulation of PFAS is another story.
What's the alternative? Well not adding toxic waste to effluent seems the logical conclusion...
I'd opt for no. 3. I know. I'm naive.
There always alternatives to knowingly poisoning land, water & our food chain. Reduction of some heavy metals, forever chems & emerging chems is possible where there’s a will to bear the cost - good luck with that
If this is useful you should probably save the pdf to your computer; i suspect it will soon disappear from the Environmental Pollution Agency site. www.epa.gov/system/files...
What an absolutely hideous situation. As for the civil servants referred to near the end. They are not doing the job they should be doing. I'd sack them.
California uses reclaimed water from oil wells for its agriculture & uses fresh water to run them. Democrats are thoroughly engulfed in the slime of corrupt politics made to ensure the wealth of the rich remain in tact. www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...
In the US the product is marketed as Milorganite and sold at big box stores for home garden use. Do NOT use this Krap. Pun intended. Potentially full of PFAS/PFOS and other harmful toxins.
Dioxins, PAH's, Cadmium, Mercury, Lead... The list is endless, I have seen the presence of all of the above in sewage sludge.
Does this apply in Scotland?
Yes, unfortunately.
Wow, I couldn't see any direct mention in the article, as 'UK wide' and thought I'd ask as it is often used inappropriately in the media Thank you for your response.
My sweetheart Farms. I showed him your article. For 3 generations they have frowned upon the expectation to spread human waste on their fields. They are pressured to take sludge (for free). But they refuse. The pellets you talk of. He has never heard of. No one has tried to sell them to them. How?
Take a look at the formulation of many slow-release fertilisers.
My sweetheart is asking how you know? It’s not printed on the bag. Fert comes in from all over the world, and supplier mixes it. He says it’s never the same twice. He really wants to know. He is exposed to this stuff more often than us.
Good question. I wish I had an answer. These companies are really rubbish at informing their customers about exactly what they are supplying. Sorry not to be more helpful.
Just a further point. ( I am learning about this too!). My sweetheart says they use Agronomists to test their soil to check what nutrients it lacks. The Agronomist decides what the Farm should buy to feed the soil.
Farmers are not bad guys. They try & feed the country as best they can. They earn approx £25k pa for 90 hour weeks. And there are too few of them. The utility companies weird a lot of power
*wield
Thank you capitalism. You have been brilliant! You've give us: Dirty water. Filthy air. Unhealthy foods that are making us sick. Micro-plastics everywhere. Bad healthcare systems. Expensive "public" transport. Depression. Anxiety. Social media to obsess over. Screens to stare at all day. Yay!
Yes. It was so much better before. Have to go now, got to check on the five year old kid cleaning my chimney before I go back to my 18 hour shift working down a coal mine.
No problem. While you're doing that I will be with my family, gathering wild foods, while I live a peaceful, calm, cooperative existence. The world did not start 150 years ago. That narrative of capitalism improving lives has been shoved down our throats for years. It's a get out of jail free card
Wasn't that also under capitalism though?
Don't really care. I was being a bit facetious.
Didn’t really hit the mark there Steve
Probably not. I guess I could delete my post. But there's a general point that it's not the system as such, it's the people running it. Victorians were capitalist and philanthropic. Things improved in general. Harping back to a feudal existence is nor really progress.
It’s fine, you made a valid point. Some of us might take issue with part of it but that’s also ok
It's all about terminology and political theorising. Everything has to have a label these days. I prefer to think of us living in a social democracy. The degree of the social part varies depending on the flavour of government at the time.
Steve, just remember, business and innovation are brilliant. We do not need capitalism to have business, markets and innovation. Capitalism, specifically, is designed to seek out maximum profits, for shareholder returns, stock buybacks, etc. Mondragon is a cooperative business and makes billions!
Oh, so really constructive then...
Yes, everything capitalism does is bad🤔.
Unbridled capitalism. Unregulated capitalism. No moral capitalism. Subsidized capitalism. Extreme tax breaks/loophole given capitalism. Law breaking, judicially unpunished capitalism. Unregulated capitalism. Deadly consequences to society capitalism. Yes..ALL BAD!!
Other countries manage it, why not the UK? The alternative?
No. Not everything. But, by its very design, it is extractive and exploitative. It has no choice. And we have been led to believe that there is no alternative. "It is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism." - Mark Fisher
An excellent article, but I would underscore what Monbiot points to as the problem: "years of regulatory failure ... in many countries". Spraying sewage waste on farmland is done by municipal owned as well as privately owned water companies. It doesn't seem to me specific to "capitalism".
I'd say regulation failure is mostly intended and insofar specific to capitalism that it is a result of corruption. Capitalism always needs its guard rails to stay on the road. The spraying is not done based on individual decision, as you suppose. it's done because the law allows it. and profit.
Wow. So corruption doesn't exist in non-capitalist countries. OK. Can you point to a historical example of a non-capitalist country that did not suffer from corruption? I'm genuinely curious. Are you familiar with the history of Chernobyl, or of Ceaușescu's Romania?
If you can't even apply regular logic there will be no base for a discussion. Adding only fallacy straw man arguments just fits the impression that you are standing at the wall with your back. It's your turn to showus that non-monetary corruption. While we watch evidence of capitalistic corruption.
Chernobyl is the most foul comparison that could have come up here.
Is it? It was the consequence of design on the cheap, and years of government ineptitude and a policy of prioritizing production targets over environmental protection. What Chernobyl revealed was that the government was not prepared to be honest with its citizens & tried to hide the facts from them.
I'm sure you are going to explain everybody who is interested your theory about how this relates to capitalism and corruption or not. But i don't have the time for such strong derailing. Have a nice sunday.
Not applying regular logic? All I'm saying — based on my many years of experience — is that I don't see evidence that corruption disappears just by service providers being in the public domain. What matters is having an independent regulatory body, separate from the public or private firms.
By the way, I presume that the corruption index for the United States in 2025, based on its federal government (and that of some individual states) will be move into the deep red category.
I suppose the response to my personal example would be: yes, but the government is capitalist. But years ago I worked for a municipal utility. I knew an inspector for the state environmental protection agency, and I asked him once why we never saw him at our generating plant. His answer:
"Oh, you're a publicly owned plant. We trust that you are obeying the regulations". This was my reaction to that:
Just to be clear, I am 100% in favour of heavy government regulations on all of the toxins discussed in this article. And I agree with you, that this problem is not specific to any one system. But, is a result of rubbish regulations on pollution, in general. Mostly, driven by profits.
Let's call it corruption.
Understood. But why do we have those regulatory failures? Surely, there is a group of people that this helps? It isn't a stretch to think that McDonalds and ADM benefit from cheap "fertiliser" and do not object to water companies spraying human waste onto crops. In fact, they most likely benefit.
And the farmers themselves? Clearly THEY are looking only at the bottom line. I think it would defy credulity that none of them have asked themselves, “Hmm, I wonder what’s in that slurry besides water and plant nutrients?”
It's easier. They may very well have been lied to about the contents and also are a bit gullible.
Yes, indeed! Very true!
There is also a cultural tendency in the UK to cut corners, look for the bodge, take a risky short cut. Life used to be cheap in the UK, left a long and dangerous legacy. Partly profit driven but it is also cultural.
I can see that. In my own country, the US, most of us were raised to be ambitious, driven and successful, above all else. Myself included. It isn't just capitalism that needs to change, it's us too. Less ambition, more self-reflection. Less greed and waste, more connecting to nature and people.
Perhaps a broader measure of success.
It’s not “failure” the purpose of the system is to do what it does.
Monbiot is using "failure" in the sense of "the condition or fact of being insufficient or falling short". That does not rule out prior intention or design.
Polluted sewage feeds into and out of the two capitalist systems - free market & state capitalism, where only money is rinsed out. All this, before social capitalism gets its pants on
What examples of social capitalism do you have in mind?
?… I’ll let you know when it gets its pants on
Unregulated capitalism, which incentivises greed and ensures that most CEOs are psychopaths is killing millions of people. Governments have allowed this to happen and it’s killing is, and the only planet we have.
Absolutely agree. A regulated or mixed economy is still capitalism and plenty of countries manage to make it work.
Name one
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, France, Germany, Singapore, Canada..could go on. Name a successful country without any capitalist elements.
What is it about capitalism that you believe we need? Genuine question. Not stirring the pot. Do you not believe that we can have free markets, trade, innovation, etc. without capitalism? Why couldn't we have all of those things, without private ownership? See Mondragon youtu.be/PZuMZwcKRc0
still waiting for someone to come up with a viable alternative. the best examples, already given. I believe that, a mixed economy with a system of PR for elections is the best / least bad system. Any absolute ideology (the core of your question) does not work.
I see. And you don’t think the cooperative system, like Mondragon uses, is a viable system? Why do we need private ownership in the form of shareholders? Especially when that has proven to be so destructive to people and planet. www.uk.coop/understandin...
I can't. But the ones you mention have millionaires and people living in poverty so that doesn't count as 'making it work'.
Assumes all millionaires are bad and do nothing for wider society🤔👍🏻….
We could have a better conversation here where we tried to find common ground instead of everyone being oppositional. My comment is aimed at all in this thread…
Exactly right. There are those that say capitalism has done wonders for us and we need it. And there are those, like me, who say, we don't need capitalism to have markets, innovation and a thriving middle class. Look at Mondragon in Spain. Like you say, we need to find a common ground.
not being oppositional, looking for some / any confirmation, clarity on better alternatives.
Precisely. So it is like democracy then. 🤔denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland. Do your best.
And capitalist countries rely on pillaging raw materials from countries in the Global South, using their cheap labour and gouging interest on structural adjustment loans. I suggest you read "The Divide" by @jasonhickel.bsky.social
Nice to know you are 72 but demand anyone young than you sort out the problems our generations created by having much less of everything than we had👍🏻
Where have I said that? I'm working on this, that I see as a solution. yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/sor...
All capitalist countries pillage the global south. Why does the global south let them? Are no countries in the global south more successful than they were 20 years ago. Seems you have stripped them all of sovereignty🤔what do China & Russia do? No thanks.
What a stupid thing to say. Why does the Global South let them? Because they're the victims of bullies. They don't have the strength to resist. Maybe you were a bully, and never understood why people let you bully them. Maybe not.
Basically, yes. it turns people against each other over Money if i make money doing something that harms you, i can and will use that money to shut you up or corrupt/remove regulators look at the Egg & Milk lobby's role in the current Bird Flu epidemic, or Oil&Gas, or Diddy for that matter..
Exactly! One could argue that corruption takes place anywhere and that capitalism is not the reason for corruption. But when a business has 100,000 shareholders, all wanting to make money, the pressure is on that business to deliver, each and every quarter. If it doesn't, people remove their money.
Correct. i reject the notion that capitalism drives innovation with the same argument.. Creativity & innovation take place anywhere and capitalism is not the reason for innovation Corruption is everywhere but capitalism Rewards corruption directly with more Money
Corruption is massively rewarded in poor countries. Communist, socialist, mixed and capitalist. A narrow spread between rich and poor tends to dampen corruption? (Not to mention many other negative tendencies).
You didnt read what i wrote. Corruption is directly rewarded with Money
Strong regulation in a mixed economy then. Other countries can, why not the UK?
….in the US👍🏻
In the UK youtu.be/jUdM3iK4O0c
It’s not sustainable. Eat the rich.
Not sustainable either.
The rich eating the poor has reached a tipping point so now we eat the rich. It doesn’t need to be sustainable, we’re just going to eat
How much will Therese Coffey be personally eating as restitution?
Jesus I didn't even know farmers were putting human sewage on fields, nevermind toxic waste. Can't read the details as I can't afford to pay for guardian subscription and I'm not allowing their cookies.
They do the same thing in the USA I believe
This book broke it all down decades ago… www.prwatch.org/tsigfy.html
Ffs indeed.
What?
Without snark I say "Wasn't this a sub plot with soda in the movie Idiocracy"
Oh yikes. I wonder if any of these chemicals are aerosolised and breathed in when you can smell the slurry being spread on the fields, and what that is doing as well? Does this affect organic farms too, or no?
Does anyone know if this untested sewage sludge gets spread on farms certified by the Organic Soil Association?
No. But there are major problems with sources of farmyard manure the SA permits.
Thank you, George. Is any of our food still safe to eat?
Good question.
Agriculture is not a strong subject for me, but I'd guess farmers don't fertilise mature trees, so orchard fruits would be OK?
We need civil action, unrest, and people need to be in prison - from every part of that corrupted chain.
Must be some way to renationalize water and not giving shareholders, companies to pay them 100 billion pounds to buy it back, take it by force without giving money to those capitalist vultures
They should have been seized, not bailed out and allowed to raise their prices when they're all in massive debt.
How bad can it get? And govt want less regulation when they don't enforce test or regulated what exists
We are in for some fun times
And the current US president thinks there are too many environmental regulations! Some companies will do anything to make profits.
Maybe that's why the US has so many recalls on produce every year?
Are these the same farmers who pay less tax than the rest of us but still complain about it?
Cringe to think that people are what they eat.
Just grow your own if possible
Do they still want us to bail them out and to keep their profits?
Holy shit water Batman…
“Toxic Town”
Awful story. Poos on to the farms, then down the rivers and into the sea affecting every single living thing it touches #nzpol
Thankfully in NZ it is only dairy sludge that is spread this way. We have Te Tiriti and the RMA protecting us from spreading most crap.
Look up *landfarms* in Taranaki. The spreading of petrochemical waste across farmland. Not sure how much of it is still going on but it was widespread 10 years ago, endorsed by Taranaki Regional Council.
Well that is a pollution story in itself it’s still going on! Probably still leeching into land & waterways. @marcdaalder.bsky.social?
That is such an Orwellian word for such a dirty practice!
Waste “management” has always attracted organised crime. This is known, yet little is done to prevent it happening. This practice seems to have a very complicit range of actors turning a blind eye to the short and long term consequences to our people and our soil. Laissez faire at its worst
Nomnom nz loves some lead.
See also the practise of building industry squinting and saying "that's not asbestos" based on nothing.
I am sure there are some bad land owners out there who aren't looking after the soil. The farms my husband & sons have worked on all use fairly modern practises reverting back to how soil was looked after before fertilisers existed. However, they aren't on big corporate owned farms.
Appreciate your work on the farms and hope you are reaping the benefits of looking after the soil. My friends are. ♥️ Yeah “big” seems to do not give a crap and then walk away on most things.
Small family owned farmers care about the next generation. My family are farm laborers. We get the benefits of having good employers who look after people and ecosystems.
They do this around us in Cornwall. Jesus...🙄🤦♀️
I thought so!!! Yesterday I was gardening and they were spraying on the surrounding fields...now we're all sick. I smelt and felt it in the aid and felt nauseos straight away. And its not a virus because we've been at home for a while.
They don't spray sewage sludge. Mostly because you can't it's not liquid.
👍thanks. We must be feeling icky from something else so.
In the Netherlands, they have to inject it into the ground. I think it is between 5 and 15 inch.
That's slurry. Sludge use in the Netherlands is banned.
Of course it is. Common sense.
That explains why the water map is unsafe right across the country
Does 'organic' grown food use sludge spread fertiliser?
No. But there are major problems with sources of some of its farmyard manure.
See Stauber and Rampton
In the US the same dumping was done with radio active shale / fracking produced waste, full of toxins and mineral salts.
Strangely enough - I inspect sewer systems for a state in the US. The vast majority of systems don’t do anything with sludge - they introduce specific enzymes and bacteria to break down the sludge. In addition, most won’t allow pumped sewage (like pumper trucks) to dump into their ponds.
Also, in the US combined storm and sanitary sewer systems are discouraged and are rare. I have only seen one and it was in the process of being separated. Storm sewer water can be a problem though - both in volume and quality unless managed. While I think the article overstates the scope of the…
problem, there sure can be an issue. The biggest problem I’ve seen is crooked disposal companies paying small sewer systems to dump into their ponds - and contaminating the ponds with a witches brew of nasty shit. It’s become a much smaller issue here through constant education- but the controls…
are loose. We inspect small systems once every five years. Lots can happen in that time frame - and the inspection doesn’t include samples or anything like that (larger systems have more testing requirements including metals and whole effluent testing (WET)..
Put a bacteria on a sterile petri dish containing agar and food. It will grow and reproduce until the population dies from lack of food/poisoned by their own waste. Happens every time. You'd think with our vastly superior intelligence, we'd deal with something so basic. Not so far!
Are humans smarter than yeast!?
Not all of them.
So is organic or imported the way to go? Us poor people will die/get sick & then we will be told our conditions are being over diagnosed because there are so many of us “unwell” & we are too reliant on the state, & benefits will be cut further & there won’t be any nurses/doctors to treat us anyway..
eco terrorism has many faces
This is an outrage.Those responsible at these companies must be charged. During the same period, the inequality gap has grown almost unimaginably wider.
Tell me again that vaccines are bad. 🙄
Stop this shit
Good grief
Seething doesn’t even come close. Nationalise NOW
I would underscore what Monbiot points to as the problem: "years of regulatory failure ... in many countries". Across the world, spraying sewage waste on farmland is done by municipally owned as well as privately owned water companies. At root is poor government oversight.
Not the water companies?!
😡😡😡
I love the smell of class action lawsuits in the morning
a f*king outrageous dereliction of Govt oversight which is poisoning us all. Except those countries who are still members of the EU.
📌
We tried to warn you decades ago Greenpeace made this public a decade ago after uncovering government reports on it youtu.be/jUdM3iK4O0c
Seen this a lot in Lancashire near me, thick black sludge is piled on field then spread. Absolutely disgusting. If I have to hear about another farmer being a caring custodian for the land they can f@%k off. Red diesel w@nkers
Lots of pfoa in that stuff.
Do we have any protections against these companies, they seem to do whatever they want and then raise our bills too!
They get fined but at low levels. A local firm did this about 6 years ago and spread untreated human excrement from septic tanks on local fields. I can’t explain to you how plagued with flies my area was. They were fined but it was literally a few thousand.
Should be millions of pounds
This happens all over the country in rural areas - local farmers empty domestic sewage treatment tanks and then spread it on the fields.
Fines dont work, this sort of poisonous action should make them lose their licence, or whatever it is that they have to lrovide a decent service to us.
We know they don’t work that’s why the water companies continue to dump on a daily basis.
Yes all the Ofwat style protections are toothless, these are public services, although privatised, we need to be able to have standards.
Septic tank sludge is probably much less risky than the practice that's described here - septic tank owners are far more careful about the shit that goes into their septic tanks!
You’re probably right, I’m just relaying the information that I know about. It’s up to the environment agency to set the appropriate fines, I assume.
It's not. The fines are set by the law and by the courts if it goes to prosecution. The regulator is not in charge of deciding how much a fine can be.
I’ll bow to your greater knowledge of the subject.
That won't have been a water company, though.
No it wasn’t but I assume that the same penalties apply. In other words, very little punishment for their misdemeanours.
Criminals taking public money 🤑
Seen this before. Farmers are coaxed into allowing this sewage, then the testing officials walk in and tell them they can't farm anymore and they lose their land...
I do not know how you can say this appeared on “no one’s radar” when American journalists have covered it for decades. Come on. Credit where it’s due, please. I wasn’t the first to cover it when I jumped in more than a decade ago!
But I didn't say that, did I? Read it again. I've been covering and fighting it for years myself. And I wasn't the first, either.
Appearing on “almost no one’s radar” when so many of us have been watching! Several states, including Maine and Michigan, have passed laws to regulate. Happy to send you my report for @abellfo.bsky.social that lays it out. From 5 years ago.
Why are you doing this? You, I and a few others have been banging our heads against this wall for years. In the UK we have got precisely nowhere, as is the case in many other jurisdictions. Count yourself among the heroic handful, be happy and stop trying to sow division.
I'm not a hero, it's not a handful, and I don't want to sow division. I'm just a regional reporter, who has been writing about this issue since 2012 (with many others) asking a famous British columnist to notice our work. Not mine -ours. @sejorg.bsky.social www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/trav...
And, I plan to continue covering it, as "biosolids" continue to be spread on farmland with little trace. As Van Smith and I learned, there is little accountability when private trucks leave to take the sludge to farms. Only three states have regulations on it. Feel free to read all of our research!
I am always happy when important issues like sludge get more attention, but it would be nice if those with large platforms acknowledge the reporting that has come before their work. We all stand on the shounders of someone. That said, I hope you continue to cover - a large platform only helps.
So, like I said, the issue trundles on, unknown to most. There are so many ways of making contact and common cause, if that's what you want to do, that don't involve alienating allies and wasting their time.
You have a lovely day, sir.
An utter disgrace!
😳😳😳😱😱😱
Wait what?
Mostly it is human waste, from port-a-potty companies. Reassuring, huh? Also, I always have a problem with "organic" labels. They grow without pesticides according to them, but the soil they plant in still have pesticides in it from hundreds of years ago. SCAM!!!
👍Heavy metal, baby.
It is absolutely shocking on every level. I am sure there will be some backhanders going on there.
Again, just stiffens my resolve to continue buying meat and eggs from my local butcher who owns the farm. My local grocer who buys locally in season and mainly EU produce. Co-op/Lidl for tinned and dry goods/coffee etc. I use supermarket to buy my preferred TP, pineapple juice.
Now and then, if I need stuff I can't really get in my 'preferred' places, I fill an online trolley, book a delivery but don't 'checkout', this generates (within 48 hours) a discount code email. I go back in, empty the trolley, then fill with stuff on offers only plus my TP/juice etc.
Soylent Brown….
It's why I buy organic and now am only buying hydroponic lettuces.
PHYTOREMEDIATION = derived from the Greek "phyto" (plant) and "remediation" (reversal of damage), leverages the natural abilities of plants. Plants can absorb, accumulate, and even transform pollutants, reducing their concentration and toxicity in the environment.
The best plant for this is hemp.
I have noticed a change in the smell of farm slurry.. Less organic to intense Hydrogen Sulphide. Around here the pump it onto the flood plain and let the river take it when in flood... which on this river is every time it rains.
Where the he'll is ofwat! The directors and board members should all be in jail. How fo I find the name of the company? I can't see it
Another Mad Cow style crisis being induced.
The sad thing is this isn't new news. They have also injected it into farmlands. I have witnessed this first hand while hunting
Wash all fruit and vegetables with soap and water before eating. Then if possible cook them.
I'm afraid, with the contaminants I'm discussing, that won't help.
I get it but we must have SOME. SOLUTIONS other than NOT EAT or EAT ONLY PROCESSED FOOD. Another solution is to buy ONLY from local known farmers markets.
brilliant idea to privatise the water companies. Brilliant. And great that Labour refuses to nationalise. Fantastic.
and then to under-regulate them afterwards. Just genius. Revolving door between government and regulator and water company boards. A cartel
Yup, farmers around here have them. We call them shit pits. They're emptied out twice a yr. and used before and after a harvest.
Other than writing to our MPs what can we do?
"Literature reviews showed that 541 XOCs potentially could be present in sewage sludge......192 compounds have been quantified in sewage sludge" scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e...
This is the kinda shit you get with oversight. What do you get when trump fires everyone. We will be eating humans ( agent orange). Fuck I just scared myself!
And that’s in Europe!! What new creative ways to insure we need medical attention.
Looks like another of the ‘benefits’ of privatisation (or de-regulation, or indeed both). Years ago Water Authorities tested any sewage treatment digested products for toxins before allowing it to be used for agricultural purposes
then it was their job to keep us safe, now it is their job to make as much money for themselves & investors. #water #utilites #nationalisation #pfas #pfos #plastic #pollution #defra #ukpolitics
Why did the farmers allow it?
The sludge is either very cheap or in some cases given to the farmers free of charge. It works as fertiliser, so happy days. They are told it is "tested" and safe. Some farmers are being fooled. Some don't seem to care very much.
I suspected that was/is the case.
What solution do you propose - do you think incineration is the best option to deal with sewage sludge? Would take time to build and cause water bills to increase more but not sure what other options there are
At present, yes. But the eventual aim must be separated waste streams. And the immediate aim to stop dumping toxic waste in sewer systems.
This is the cost of Neoliberalism and it's full ownership of the UK economy. open.substack.com/pub/thepolit...
Times Beach, Missouri
I wonder what the NHS will spend, in total, on treatments for the poisoning.
This! Absolutely this. Private companies compounding the awful effects on a national institution that is already in crisis.
Might explain the odd whiff of ord%re I've been inhaling all across the Severn Vale recently. Think I'll aim to buy EU veggies.
Eat organic food. I told you companies are feeding your children chemicals, like McDonald's. I worked for them, and they have lied to you for years.
cash is king people are disposables Who cares if someone's health is in danger when there's cash to make.
Oh FFS... They will literally do anything for money.
This will only get worse because of deregulation. Companies and industry don't self regulate!
Yes, agree with every word. Regulation is essential. Without it our food will make us sick - or worse.
Capitalism is anathema to all life
jeebus feckin christ.
This happens in the US and they have regular and serious outbreaks of salmonella and other similar bacterial infections caused by dirty water being used to irrigate commercial fruit and vegetable farms. It will happen here eventually...
When is lived in the uk in the 90's, the whole sewage thing was an obvious problem. 60 million people living on a postage stamp, you can't process the stuff fast enough.
Reading comments I’m wondering how many on daily basis buy their products ⁉️ It’s self inflicted ffs!🤦♀️
Privatisation in action. Listen and learn Australia. #auspol bsky.app/profile/geor...
BuT iT's NoN-gMo
NEVER ends...after all that's been said and done, it just keeps rolling on and on, one thing after another😡
We live in a season of White Lotus. How fkn dumb are we ? Stupid stupid white man. Vote Green !!!!!!!! (the only hope)
Starmer is a puppet of the corporations & billionaires and will never act against their interests. He is another one dimensional apologist / protector, for those whose daily focus is more wealth & seeking less control over how they accumulate it.
GD! I mean, at least in Idiocracy they only used sports drinks.
It's almost as if, wait for it...they don't give a shit about us
Yes smelt it !
Life here ( Thames Water area) continual foul-smelling sludge being applied to the land, seems like a daily occurrence. So strong you can almost 'taste it'. Disgusting.
Well, smell is little particles of the real thing getting inside your nose, so you ARE tasting it.
They know that forever chemicals are in this sludge and still they are now doing this??!!!
why should they care if it's legal and brings profit?
It’s fucking forever chemical! Don’t let them do this!!!
Sickening. Anything to make a buck even eating shit.
This is truly devastating - it's shocking how far we go to harm and exploit each other and the planet for profit.
Sounds familiar.
Better link that tells the full story. Basically a scumbag businessman was paid to dispose of toxic waste, but just diluted it with waste oil that was later sprayed on roads & horse arenas to keep dust down. It then sickened people and caused an environmental disaster.
The human body hates this one trick!
Water company executives, managers and share holders need to be thrown in jail and have their assets seized to fix the catastrophic criminal mess they have caused
No. Our bills are going up to make sure bonuses and shareholders' payouts aren't affected.
Yeah no shit, these people are never punished so they will never stop, they need to face both personal and ruinous financial consequences or else water in this country will only get dirtier and more expensive, but our government is fully paid off to do nothing about it
Heh, I always thought the Republicans would be the first to poison the food supply. Sounds like the only safe thing to eat is the rich.
It's a fair point. The very rich wouldn't eat this stuff, so they must be fairly safe to consume. But I'm not sure I could stomach them. Anyway, I'm vegan.
I'm sure there are vegan rich people to eat. Princess Beatrice?
Didn't trump have all the food safety inspectors fired? This is so vile & dangerous.
A whole world exists outside of America.
WTAF how did we get here? Is this just another Tory legacy?
I read it this morning.....frightening! :(
Massive USA ecological disaster. Lawsuits have already begun.
The natural evolution of deregulation, take a bow brexit , take back control mentality. They should be awarded plaques for their foreign mansion and a go-to jail ticket.
Why has it taken so long for someone to figure this out? At the start of the water issues in England, I have been saying this! I only buy Scottish grown products anyway (some from the EU too) and avoid English grown products. Scotlands water is publicly owned so no issues.
It would be wiser to only buy organic products, regardless of where they come from, if you want to avoid contaminants.
I live in Scotland and get locally grown fruit and veg. Some fruit cannot be grown in Scotland, hence my note about EU produce.
Scottish Water follows the exact same guidelines as all the other water companies on sludge to land, so, I'm afraid you DO have the same issue.
Assume you live in Scotland? Or where are you getting your info? We do not have the same issues as England.
I worked in the water industry for over 15 years, 5 for Scottish water, and yes, you do. Here's some reading for you, www.gov.scot/publications...
Been doing this for years sometimes it's treated at their plants also
Are the Scottish standards higher than those in England?
There are positives & negatives on both sides. I'd be happier as a Scottish Water customer though.
I know Scottish water is not perfect - but am way happier using Scottish water. What I could not understand is why people did not realise using untreated water on crops would result in health issues.
WTAF 😱 we should all be appalled and outraged and doing something about it.
We can't even get the quality of our shit together. I hope that your alarm sounding on this is picked up by other media. Likely a tendency to focus on the personal health effects angle, but the wide scale poisoning of land, for cash, should be classified as high crime, too. Deterrents are required.
Well, the good thing is, that the Trump regime just eliminated regulatory bodies or anyone trying to protect ppl from eating poison. They got well paid for that AND save money. That's what government is there for? To line your pockets? Ppl do not count, they mandate more to be born.
I’d be interested to know if other chemicals from medications such as contraceptives, anti depressants, all manner of other pharmaceutical drugs, also get thrown out with the sludge. If so, some of that must be absorbed into the food we eat too?
