SF Gardeners Dump Toxic Sludge on the Steps of City Hall

Community gardeners who were misled into accepting toxic sewage sludge from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) are giving the sludge back to the Mayor's office.

Twice a year since 2007, the SFPUC has hosted “Compost Giveaway Events” in locations throughout the city. Although the city has marketed the material as “organic compost” or “organic fertilizer,” it turns out that it is really toxic sludge generated by San Francisco and seven other counties’ industrial, hospital, commercial and residential sewage.

In fact, the USDA explicitly prohibits food grown in sewage sludge, or in any “product” derived from sewage sludge, to be labeled organic. Sewage sludge is a noxious stew derived from all the industrial, hospital, commercial, residential and radioactive wastes and stormwater runoff that end up in municipal sewer systems.

Spearheaded by the Organic Consumers Association and joined by representatives of dozens of local environmental groups, citizens dumped sludge on the steps of City Hall and delivered a letter calling for Mayor Newsom to end the give-aways and clean up the school yards and backyard gardens that have been contaminated with sewage sludge.