Milwaukee-Milorganite producers have confirmed that limited shipments have been resumed after last summer’s shutdown because of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination. “It’s still on the shaky side,” reported Milorganite spokesman Mike Archer. “It’s a good feeling after all these months (even though) shipping at this point is moving up and down. But it’s still sufficient to resume interstate shipping except to the three states that have lower PCB requirements.” Milorganite hasn’t been produced since June, when the PCBs were discovered at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District’s Jones Island plant. The PCBs were found to have been dislodged from the sewer system during cleaning. Archer doesn’t expect the pace to pick up until demand starts to increase after the end of the year. He did confirm that costs from lost sales and disposal of contaminated biosolids stockpiled during the shutdown are running around $4 million. Some 4,600 tons, containing more than 50 ppm of PCBs, had to be trucked to a specially licensed toxic waste landfill in Belleville, Mich., with the remainder disposed of at a regular landfill not far away in Milwaukee. That leaves contaminated silos and equipment to be cleaned before Milorganite can get back into full production. So far, only one of 12 storage silos that held tainted fertilizer reportedly has been cleaned. Testing and cleanup also had to be carried out at public recreational areas where contaminated fertilizer was spread last summer.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain