The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is commencing a compliance campaign this week looking at how biosolids are processed and applied to agricultural land across the state under its Resource Recovery Orders (RRO) and Resource Recovery Exemptions (RRE).
Steve Beaman, Executive Director Regulatory Practice & Services said the campaign will review compliance with EPA Biosolids Guidelines and will also provide important information to inform future regulatory settings aligned to the new requirements in the revised PFAS National Environmental Management Plan (NEMP) 3.0, expected to be published by the Commonwealth Government in the coming weeks.
“Biosolids are a nutrient and carbon rich organic waste product generated at sewage treatment plants that can improve soil fertility, however there are strict limits around what can be included in that material and how the material is used for agriculture,” Mr Beaman said.
“Our current regulatory settings limit a range of potentially harmful chemicals in biosolids as well as application rates and methods to ensure they are applied to land sustainably and do not cause offensive odours.
“During the campaign, we’ll be focussing on how biosolids are applied to land, we’ll examine application rates, storage requirements and record keeping. We’ll also conduct sampling to assess compliance with the current application limits under the RRO and RRE.
“Importantly information gathered by this campaign will help inform our future regulatory settings, including for PFAS levels in biosolids and other emerging contaminants.”
The biosolids compliance campaign will run until September 2025.
This continues the EPA’s compliance work around RROs and RREs following a successful campaign into recovered fines, mulch and composting in 2024. Outcomes are being finalised and will be shared at conclusion.
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