Composting Municipal Sludge

A guide to the technologies involved in composting sludge from municipal waste facilities, including case studies from small municipalities and metropolitan areas. From the Introduction Widespread interest in composting as a means of municipal sludge treatment in the United States began in the early 1970s. At that time, the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts initiated windrow composting of sewage sludge at the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant in Carson, California, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture investigated large-scale studies of static pile composting at the Agricultural Research Station in Beltsville, Maryland. Since that time, interest and activity in municipal sludge composting has increased dramatically. In 1984, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated a technology evaluation of municipal sludge composting practice based on investigations at five operating facilities. The results of the technology evaluation are presented in this report.