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Tuesday, February 20, 1996     Page:

Garbage and sewage, treated properly, can be transformed into treasure
   
This area has the land and resources to turn many of its problems into
industry and environmental solutions. Those resources are garbage and
sewageRecycling petroleum-based products, plastics, tires, nylon, styrofoam,
etc., reduces the need for landfill expansion and our dependency on foreign
oil, a major chunk of our foreign trade deficit. Everything recycled reduces
the need for landfill expansion and produces industry.
    Biodegradables are recyclable in nature’s way, by composting them into
humus. Humic hairs, microscopic webs growing throughout humus, bind soil
particles together so it retains moisture and nutrients like a sponge, thereby
controlling soil and nutrient erosion, major causes of water pollution,
floods, and flood damage.
   
Another plus is that successive composting slowly produces chemical changes
that eventually deactivate toxic pollutants in the soil. It also digests many
disease-causing organisms, gradually reducing, but not eliminating, many
plant, animal and human diseases.
   
Sewage disposal is an expensive nuisance that often finds sewage in
landfills and, more often than we wish, in our streams and ground water. The
heavy metals used by industry, and the petroleum-based toxins in industrial
and household cleaners along with disinfectants, solvents, insecticides, yard
and garden products entering sewage make it unsuitable for fertilizing food
crops. However, such sewage can be composted into fertilizer for crops grown
for industry.
   
Non-toxic alternatives to many toxic products exist, produced from
environmentally safe plant extracts. But the plants grown need fertilizer.
Sludge, instead of petroleum-based commercial fertilizers, can be the
fertilizer.
   
We have the land, resources, and colleges and universities for research.
   
Wilma Nothnagel
   
Member
   
Susquehanna River Watch
   
Duryea