In the UK, we have a dirty secret that’s recently been brought into the light. Sewage sludge, we now know, contains far more than just human waste. Not only does a wide range of synthetic chemicals pour down the drain from homes, businesses and roads, but the water companies also allow liquid waste disposers, for a fee, to add their chemical effluent to the sewage stream.
The result is that sewage sludge contains a very wide range of hazardous synthetic substances, from microplastics to furans, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, phthalates and PFASs (forever chemicals). Because the testing rules have not been updated since 1989, sludge is tested only for regulated metal content and for pathogens on a voluntary basis. None of the unregulated compounds of concern are checked before being sent to farms. This means that neither farmers nor those who buy their products have any means of knowing how much of these compounds are being spread on the land. Just as remarkably, there are no legal limits on the concentration of any of these poisons in the sewage sludge passed to farmers.
The environmental campaign Fighting Dirty took the Environment Agency to court in the hope of prompting stronger regulatory action. But the judge ruled that the Environment Agency needed a ministerial steer from Defra to take action. As such, we, the undersigned, ask the Environment Minister to protect the land, groundwater, and, of course, human health by taking immediate action in updating the testing and regulating regime of sewage sludge to prevent this toxic cocktail from being spread on our land.
Signed …
- George Monbiot, Steve Hyndside and Georgia Elliott-Smith – Founding Directors of Fighting Dirty
- Rosie Downes, Head of Campaigns at Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Christina Dixon, Ocean Campaign Lead, Environmental Investigation Agency
- Dr Joanna Cloy – Senior Project Manager of Fidra’s Sewage Free Soils Project
- Jamie Page – Chief Executive of Cancer Prevention and Education Trust
- Roc Sandford – Director, Ocean Rebellion
- Caroline Lucas – Former MP and Leader of The Green Party
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
- Guy Singh-Watson, Farmer and Founder of Riverford
- Daniel Webb – Founder and Director of EveryDay Plastic
- Jane Martin, CEO of City to Sea
- Antoinette Vermilye, Co-Founder, Gallifrey Foundation and SHE Changes Climate
- Baroness Rosie Boycott, House of Lords
- Carina Millstone, Executive Director, Feedback Global
- George Harding-Rolls, Campaign Lead, Action Speaks Louder
- Mary-Ann Ochota, President, CPRE, the Countryside Charity
- Dr Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link
- Dr Rob Collins, Director of Policy and Science at the Rivers Trust
- Jojo Mehta, Co-Founder & CEO, Stop Ecocide International
- Bianca Pitt, Co-Founder, SHE Changes Climate
- Gareth Morgan, Head of Farming and Land Use Policy, The Soil Association
- Dr Anna Watson, Director of Policy & Advocacy, CHEM Trust
- Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Chair, ClientEarth and former Chair of the Environment Agency
- James Wallace, CEO, River Action UK
- Will McCallum, Co-Executive Director, Greenpeace UK.