‘Like fly-tipping’: ministers ignoring pleas to cut sludge fertiliser use
by Tess Colley from on (#6YGHT)
Exclusive: Defra warned three years ago of farmland contamination by water firms' sewage-derived product
Government ministers have ignored Environment Agency pleas to tighten rules on the use of sludge fertiliser for three years, despite the regulator having said that water company attitudes towards the substance are akin to fly-tipping on to agricultural land", it can be revealed.
Sludge, sometimes referred to as biosolids, is a byproduct of the sewage treatment process that is sold by water companies to farmers as a low-cost fertiliser.
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