Granulite

WARNING! Sewage sludge is toxic. Food should not be grown in "biosolids." Join the Food Rights Network.

Granulite is a product sold as fertilizer but made from sewage sludge. It is produced by the company Synagro. Hundreds of communities across the U.S. sell toxic sludge products that are typically renamed biosolids and sold or given away as "fertilizer" or "compost" (and often even labeled or marketed as "natural" or "organic"). Sludge products made by Synagro include All-Gro, Granulite, and EarthBlends. Synagro also produced the sludge compost that was given out by San Francisco, labeled as "free organic biosolids compost."

Synagro's Granulite Company

According to Sludge News, the following appeared in Synagro's 2006 annual report:

“In 1992, we [Synagro] formed the OPMG (Organic Product Marketing Group) to market composted and pelletized biosolids from our own facilities as well as municipally owned facilities. OPMG currently markets in excess of 982,000 cubic yards of compost and 121,000 tons of pelletized biosolids annually. OPMG markets a majority of its biosolids products under the trade names Granulite Company and AllGro Company. Based on our experience, OPMG is capable of marketing biosolids products to the highest paying markets. In 2006, we marketed 121,000 tons or approximately 39 percent of the heat-dried pellets produced in the United States. We also marketed 500,000 tons of compost, which we believe is significantly more than any other producer of municipal based compost materials.” (2006 annual report, Synagro.)"

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch articles

• Biosolids
• Sewage sludge
• Food Rights Network
• Synagro
• All-Gro
• EarthBlends
• Sewage sludge giveaways, producers, and brands
• The EPA's plan to bypass opposition to sewage sludge disposal
• Water Environment Federation
• You say biosolids, I say sewage sludge

External resources

• Marie Kulick, Smart Guide on Sludge Use and Food Production, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 2008.
• Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey: EPA-822-R-08-016 and EPA-822-R-08-018, EPA, January 2009.
• Environmental Working Group, Dumping Sewage Sludge On Organic Farms? Why USDA Should Just Say No, April, 1998.
• Environmental Working Group, Routes of Exposure sewage sludge: EWG Research on Chemicals in sewage sludge, April 30, 1998.

External articles

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