Casella "Earthlife" Products, produced in Unity Township, Maine
https://www.casella.com/products/earthlife-products/compost/hawk-ridge-compost
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PORTLAND, Maine —
We do it every day, but when you flush your toilet in Greater Portland, your waste may actually end up
back at your house, sort of.
A unique program between several communities and Casella Organics recycles biosolids, turning that
waste into compost.
Before the 1970s, most waste from Portland went untreated and into Casco Bay, but now that waste is
transformed into a gardening solution.
...Sludge, as the solids are known at this stage, go through a three-day bacteria-laden process. The bugs
eat up the harmful organic matter, eventually turning into a cake-like substance.
The material, now known as biosolids, is put into large trucks to be taken to a Casella Organics facility.
The water district pays Casella to take the waste away, and it’s Casella’s decision about what to do
next.
In all, the East End plant exports about two truckloads of biosolids a day.
The truck then go to one of two plants to make the compost.
At Casella Organics’ Hawkridge Compost Facility in Unity, the biosolids are mixed with saw dust and
other material.
Excerpts from: https://www.wmtw.com/article/from-flush-to-flowers-human-waste-turned-into-
compost-1/2013186#
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From Casella's 2006 annual report:
New England Organics’ operations treat valuable residual byproducts as resources, not wastes. This
division recycles over 400,000 tons/year of wood and coal ash from power plants, biosolids (sewage
sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants) and paper mill sludge (FiberClay®).
The flagship Hawk Ridge Compost Facility manufactures 90,000 cubic yards of compost annually from
45,000 tons of biosolids feedstock. Composts, soils and mulches are sold and distributed to agriculture,
landscaping and construction markets, often carrying the tradename EarthlifeTM.
http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/c/NASDAQ_CWST_2006.pdf
Response to Concerns, by Casella: Prepared for the City of Lewiston, January 2013
"We distribute approximately 200,000 tons of Earthlife® products to 250 farms across the state
annually, economically improving soil health and crop yields.
We also provide comprehensive and sustainable residuals management services to more than 40
industrial and municipal customers including wastewater plants, pulp and paper mills, food processors
and the power industry."
http://www.lewistonmaine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3045/CASELLA-PROPOSAL---Casella-
Response-to-Questions?bidId=
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State’s ‘forever chemical’ restrictions not applied to compost
UNITY — State environmental regulators have allowed companies to sell compost made with treated
municipal sludge to the public this summer, even as they restrict the use of sludge on many farm fields
because of concerns about chemical contamination.
Maine has about a dozen operations that use treated sludge, referred to in the industry as a “biosolid,”
to make compost, and they continue to distribute products containing PFAS as environmental
regulators and a task force formed by Gov. Janet Mills try to figure out how to deal with the pervasive
“forever chemicals.”
Direct application of treated sludge on Maine farm fields has slowed dramatically this year amid new
concerns at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection over levels of PFAS in the would-be
fertilizer. But the DEP has granted a dozen facilities that mix sludge with other materials to make
compost an extension, of sorts, to continue selling their nutrient-rich product to landscapers, nurseries,
contractors and home gardeners.
...Some environmental groups involved in the debate remain concerned, however, and are urging the
DEP to conduct more testing before allowing PFAS-laced sludge or compost to be spread anywhere.
“I would challenge the assumption that gardens and other places where compost will be used have
average or below-average PFAS levels,” said Patrick MacRoy, deputy director of the Portland-based
Environmental Health Strategy Center. “And the reason I challenge that is it’s only logical that
gardeners are going to use compost year after year.”
....Located on roughly 15 acres a few miles from downtown Unity, Casella’s Hawk Ridge facility is a
massive operation that produces roughly 80,000 cubic yards of compost annually. While the company
sells to individuals, most customers of Casella’s various compost blends are contractors, landscapers or
others buying in bulk.
Tractor-trailers deliver an estimated 4,800 cubic yards of treated sludge monthly to the Unity facility.
After unloading the truck, workers combine the piles of waste with wood shavings, sawdust, wood
chips and “starter” compost that adds a carbon base and bulk to the nitrogen-rich waste and begins the
composting process.
...All told, the biosolids-based compost could be on-site at Hawk Ridge for six months to nearly a year
before it is sold as “Class A” compost that is more than 99.9 percent free of the pathogens found in
human waste.
McBurnie said Casella lost a sizable chunk of business as well as a few customers in the spring when
the DEP imposed a monthlong moratorium on compost sales while PFAS testing was done. Although
sales have been brisk since then, the uncertainty over what happens after June 30 of next year is still “in
the back of our minds,” he said.
Even though Casella owns or operates several landfills in Maine, the company does not want to landfill
the sludge now being accepted at Hawk Ridge because it recognizes the additional value of the finished
product. Landfilling sludge also increases municipalities’ costs and consumes limited landfill space.
- Excerpts from "State's Forever Chemical Restrictions Not Applied To Compost," by Kevin Miller,
Portland Press Herald, Posted August 18, 2019 Updated November 8, 2019
https://www.pressherald.com/2019/08/18/states-forever-chemical-restrictions-not-applied-to-compost/
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Recommendations by Maine PFAS Task Force member Jeff McBurnie of Casella Organics to not apply
PFAS restrictions to "biosolids" such as Casella's Earthlife products:
