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Short-Term
- Continued Product Sampling
- Field Soil Sampling
- Advisory Work Group
- Fertilizer Labeling
- Adopt Standards (Canadian)
- Clarify Agency Review/Approval Processes
- Governor's Letter to EPA/USDA
- Inform Fertilizer Manufacturers of Washington's Hazardous Waste Restrictions
Long-Term
- Sustain Efforts on National Standards
- Comprehensive Field and Crop Study
Under existing Department of Ecology (Ecology) regulations, some hazardous and solid wastes are recycled as ingredients in fertilizers and soil amendments. Examples of products made from waste-derived ingredients include liming agents and micronutrients (e.g., zinc). Waste-derived fertilizer products can also contain "tag-along" contaminants. Metals are thought to be the most potentially hazardous of the tag-along contaminants, however, some products may also contain organic contaminants such as dioxin.
Fertilizer products from natural sources can also contain tag-along contaminants, especially metals. The risk of the contaminants in fertilizer products has not been fully evaluated. There are no federal or state standards which regulate the level of contaminants in fertilizer products.
Short-Term
- Continued Product Sampling
To date, 55 fertilizer products have been tested for metals. The results are being analyzed by an interagency committee. Increased sampling will be done and the scope of the committee could be expanded to include children's health and occupational health experts. An ongoing sampling program will be established by the Department of Agriculture (Agriculture) to monitor fertilizers for metals; this would provide data for developing and implementing regulations. Both random and targeted samples would be collected. About fifty additional samples a year would cost approximately $35,000 a biennium.
Ecology is in the process of conducting a multi-media study of dioxins in the environment. A number of industrial processes have been identified as possible sources of dioxin. By-products from three of these processes are sometimes used for fertilizers and/or soil amendments. Ecology will test fertilizer and/or soil amendment products from these three sources to determine if dioxins are present and at what level.- Field Soil Sampling
Sampling of fields in the Columbia Basin will be conducted for the purpose of evaluating the concentrations of metals in the soil within the root zone. Fields allegedly affected by the use of waste-derived fertilizers could be included. The purpose of the sampling would be to evaluate the concentrations of metals in the soils compared to background values that Ecology has collected in past years for the Toxics Clean-Up Program and other existing literature. Crops grown on the fertilized fields may also be sampled.- Advisory Work Group
Establish an advisory group to work with the agencies to flesh out the labeling rule and craft legislation for adopting standards. Currently there is not a clear consensus of how to implement labeling or set standards, although the various interest groups such as the fertilizer industry and environmental organizations are supportive of a process.- Fertilizer Labeling
Agriculture will begin the process of adopting a rule to require labeling of all fertilizer products for non-nutrient ingredients. This would be accomplished by rule using Agriculture's existing authority under the Fertilizer statute. Fertilizer companies would be required to test for specified substances. Agriculture would need to do some spot-checking to verify companies' claims. Alternatively, the rule could require companies to have independent, third-party verification of these substances. The substances (certain metals and organic substances such as dioxins) and their detection levels would have to be decided in the rule-making process.- Adopt Canadian Standards for All Fertilizer Products (interim basis)
The Department of Agriculture will seek legislative authority to adopt the Canadian standards which would apply to all fertilizer, not just recycled fertilizer. Canada has established limits on the concentration of heavy metals in fertilizers. The limits are based on a policy of no net degradation resulting from use of fertilizers (defined as no more than 5% increase over an established "national background soil level" over 40 years).- Clarify Agency Review/Approval Processes
A formal joint review and approval process is recommended. Currently, if a company is interested in recycling an industrial by-product to be used as a fertilizer, they must:
In reality, Agriculture staff often check with Ecology staff regarding the safety of using a specific by-product as a fertilizer. However, no one agency has the authority to make a determination that it is safe for human health or the environment to use a waste in fertilizer. It is proposed that this process be formalized through legislation and that Ecology be given clear authority to approve or reject industrial by-products to be used as fertilizers or soil amendments, based on human health and environmental criteria.
- obtain a local health department solid waste permit (if the waste is a solid waste) for each county where the material is to be used as a fertilizer or soil amendment; or
- self-certify that (if the waste is a hazardous waste) they met the criteria under the Dangerous Waste Rules to be used as a fertilizer or soil amendment; and
- obtain Agriculture's approval that their product actually includes the claimed plant nutrients.
- Governor's Letter to EPA/USDA
A formal request will be made to EPA and USDA asking them to take the lead on development of standards for fertilizers. The development of risk-based standards for maximum allowable concentrations of heavy metals and possibly some organic compounds is a national issue. In addition, some fertilizer and soil amendments are developed from wastes that are broadly excluded from the federal hazardous waste regulations. The state will request that the broad exclusion for mining and gas exploration wastes be examined in light of the fact that some wastes from these sources are apparently being used for fertilizers and soil amendments.- Inform Fertilizer Manufacturers of Washington's Hazardous Waste Restrictions
The preliminary results from Agriculture's survey of fertilizer registrants indicates that some out-of-state manufacturers may not be aware of the requirements of the state's hazardous waste regulations. Some registrants' responses indicate that they are not considering their products to be "waste-derived". This response may be due to the fact that the wastes they are using as raw materials, e.g., mine tailings, are broadly excluded from regulation by the federal hazardous waste regulations and by many other state's hazardous waste regulations.
Our state does not broadly exclude from regulation wastes that result from mining and ore processing activities and is more stringent than the federal regulation in several other important ways. As a result, fertilizers made from mining wastes, such as mine tailings, would have to meet stringent standards for the metals concentrations they contain if the original wastes meet our state definition of hazardous waste. Ecology and Agriculture will jointly notify fertilizer manufacturers that unless they meet these standards, they no longer would be registered as a fertilizer in Washington State effective with the next registration cycle (July 1998).Long-Term
- Sustain Efforts on National Standards
As a follow-up to the Governor's letter to EPA/USDA, Washington State will work closely with the federal agencies in the development of national risk-based standards. The information from the California Department of Food and Agriculture study will be very important to that effort. There are no U.S. standards for the maximum amount of metals allowed in fertilizers and soil amendments. Such standards would provide a level playing field for all fertilizer manufacturers and eliminate the considerable difficulties inherent in defining a "by-product" and identifying the source of the raw materials in fertilizer products manufactured outside the State of Washington.- Comprehensive Field and Crop Study
A comprehensive study of plant uptake of metals and comparing the uptake to various standards is recommended. The California Department of Food and Agriculture's effort and other existing literature would be reviewed and assessed, and a team of WSU scientists would experiment growing multiple crops using several different types of "recycled" fertilizers and different application rates. This experiment would be performed and different soil types representing the west and east sides of the state under a range of soil conditions. The intent would be to determine the appropriate standards by which to compare fertilizers.
Currently, Agriculture's fertilizer program has three sources of dedicated funds. They are:
- Registration fees for packaged fertilizers - - $25.00 first product, $10.00 each additional product
- License fees for bulk fertilizer - - $25.00 per location
- Tonnage - - $0.30 a ton
The ongoing product sampling for metals by Agriculture and potential sampling for organics by Ecology is expected to cost approximately $50,000.00 per biennium. The most significant budget item will be the comprehensive field and crop study.
The Governor and the agencies will work with members of the Legislature to assess different sources of funding for both the short-term and long-term recommendations.
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