MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Will the state of Vermont crackdown on spreading sewage sludge on Vermont farms? A recent report shows most of this waste is contaminated with PFAS, so-called “forever chemicals” that could be entering the food supply. While the agricultural practice is rare in Vermont, it remains legal.
We already know that many common consumer products — food packaging, furniture, and clothing — have been traced to PFAS. However, there are growing concerns that some of the foods we consume can also be traced back to the waste stream in the form of PFAS-laden sludge or biosolids from waste treatment plants.
The sludge from waste treatment plants around the country is usually dumped in landfills or incinerated. But some of it — including in Vermont — is spread in fields where animals forage as an alternative to fertilizer.
“We need to manage those risks and prevent exposure no matter how they’re managed,” said Matt Chapman with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, which regulates who can spread the sludge.
Chapman says fewer farms are permitted to spread now than in years past, but couldn’t tell us how many. A recent New York Times investigation found federal regulators have known about the presence of PFAS chemicals in the sludge — and its harmful effects — for decades but have not taken action to ban it.
Chapman says Vermont’s approach is to use testing to keep contaminated sludge off the farm. “We’re in the mode of making sure we test the soil, test the material, that we manage the risk as best we can. And if the materials themselves pose a risk, then we are not allowing them to be land applied,” he said.
The PFAS chemicals, which have been linked to elevated risks of some cancers, build up in our bodies and the environment over time.
“These technological miracles that are going to save us from ourselves introduce more problems,” said John Brabant, a former DEC employee who is now part of the grassroots environmental organization Vermonters for a Clean Environment. He says the state needs to take a harder approach to PFAS by stopping the spreading of sludge altogether and creating a facility to hold it until an alternative solution can be found. “If we care about the health of our children and every living species on this planet — plant or animal — we need to first stop spreading it on the land.”
The state of Maine banned sludge spreading in 2022 after finding PFAS contamination on farms. Vermont state lawmakers say it’s an idea worth exploring. “Certainly, we want to balance that with the economic needs of the ag community and the state, but I think that public safety needs to be first,” said Rep. David Durfee, D-Shaftsbury.
State lawmakers and the DEC say their focus is on removing PFAS at its source. A bill last year banned PFAS from consumer products including textiles, ski wax, food packaging, and more.
While there are no immediate solutions as to how to deal with the decades of consumerism that have led to the environmental problem, there is a growing understanding of what not to do going forward.