By Jessica Mason, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets
Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law passed in 2014 and has phased in various requirements from composting to residential recycling collection. As many folks are aware, this law requires Vermonters to divert organic wastes from the state’s single landfill. It is increasingly understood that these “wastes” have nutrient value and can be recycled for animal feed, fuel, or fertilizer, instead of taking up limited landfill capacity. Recognizing this potential, farms are increasingly on the receiving end of these materials and are helping to close the nutrient cycle. Here is a scenario: corn and hay are grown to feed dairy cows; cows produce milk that goes to a dairy processing plant; the plant produces VT’s famous dairy products and, incidentally, processing waste; this waste (containing nutrients) goes back to the farm to fertilize the corn and hay land, closing the nutrient loop. Recycling these waste streams reduces the need for importing fertilizer from outside the watershed and, in turn, can lessen the water quality impacts to our lakes and rivers.
Another recycling initiative that is gaining momentum is the methane digester (also called “anaerobic digester”) which utilizes organic wastes and/or animal manure to produce renewable methane gas or “biogas” on farms. The digester transforms the energy-rich carbon in the waste material into methane that can be used to produce electricity or further refined for use by natural gas utilities. This technology captures greenhouse gases from animal manure that would otherwise escape to the atmosphere and produces homegrown energy to reduce the fossil fuels required to meet Vermonter’s energy needs.
As part of Act 129 of 2020, signed into law by Governor Scott on July 1, 2020, AAFM was directed to regulate the generators or haulers of non-sewage waste who are transporting or arranging for the transport of non-sewage waste to a farm for deposit into a manure pit or for use as an input in a methane digester. AAFM’s Water Quality Division is launching the Non-sewage Waste Transfer Program to meet this directive. Common examples of non-sewage waste include dairy and other food processing waste, brewery or winery waste, wash waters, and food residuals. Generators of non-sewage waste who plan to transfer to a farm for deposit in a manure pit or methane digester, must apply to the Non-sewage Waste Transfer Program and receive approval from AAFM before the waste is transferred.
As the world of organic recycling expands, AAFM is working to understand the sources, variability in nutrient content, and risks of potential contamination of different waste streams. As part of the application, the Non-Sewage Waste Transfer Program will be requiring a standard lab analysis of the waste material and, when additional review is warranted, the Recipient Farm’s Nutrient Management Plan. The intent of the program is to track these waste imports and help ensure farms are aware of what is being put on their land. The program aims to minimize pollution to water resources, maintain productive agricultural soils, and ensure that the Agency can be responsive in the case of concerns in the future.
More program information and application materials are available on our website at agriculture.vermont.gov/water-quality/non-sewage-waste. For questions, you can also reach out to Jessica Mason at (802) 595-4726 or via email to AGR.WQpermits@vermont.gov.