The North Shore Sanitary District has always considered protecting the environment our priority.
We work to provide environmental solutions today for tomorrow’s challenges. Our Biosolids Reclamation Facility is the most progressive and environmentally responsible technology for sludge disposal to date.
I am troubled to read that individuals calling themselves environmentalists oppose our environmental initiative (“Activists dig in heels on sludge;
Waste-burning site for Zion gets public hearing,” Metro, Jan. 19). At the hearing, I was disturbed to hear these opponents call for continued landfilling of the 187 tons of sludge we receive each day, calling our technology for solid waste disposal unproven. Landfilling is no longer the most environmentally sound way to dispose of sludge and it is naive to think there are no environmental consequences associated with landfilling.
Landfills can and have leaked, depositing harmful substances into our water supply, costing taxpayers millions to remedy and causing insurmountable damage to our environment.
Another solution is to apply the sludge to farm fields. That is not something any North Shore Sanitary District resident wants to have in the community.
The NSSD has spent years researching viable alternatives to landfilling and we believe we have a solution. What we propose is a safe and proven technology that is being used in European nations such as Germany, Belgium and Denmark, as well as in Japan. For a local example of this technology, one would have to look no further than Winneconne, Wis., where a melter is being used to safely transform sludge into a contaminant-free glass aggregate. This technology has been proven environmentally safe and effective for sludge disposal. This facility emits a less than quantifiable amount of mercury, which is well below the Environmental Protection Agency-mandated allowance and does not require use of a landfill. Instead of spoiling open space with sludge, the NSSD will create a glass aggregate that will be sold for construction uses.
It would be easy for us to simply accept the status quo and continue to landfill our sludge, but what happens when we run out of land to landfill? So far, our opponents have only offered unsubstantiated statements in opposition. Where are the facts and data? Our opponents contest our facility without offering a better solution of what to do with the tons of wet sludge that come through our facilities each day.
