Bay State Fertilizer

Bay State Fertilizer is a Boston, MA product sold as fertilizer but made from sewage sludge. Fertilizer is used on lawns, shrubs, annuals and vegetable gardens. Hundreds of communities across the U.S. sell toxic sludge products that are typically renamed biosolids and sold or given away as "fertilizer" or "compost" (and often even labeled or marketed as "natural" or "organic"). Bay State Fertilizer is made by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and it is advertised for use on lawns, shrubs, annuals and perennials, and vegetable gardens. It is used on golf courses, parks, athletic fields, and for municipal landscaping. Since 1995, it has also been sold to the public at garden centers and nurseries.

Contact Information

 * Carl Pawlowski - MWRA
 * 551 South Street
 * Quincy, MA 02129
 * Phone: (617) 773-4293
 * Web: http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/03sewer/html/baystate.htm
 * Email: carl.pawlowski@mwra.state.ma.us

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Biosolids
 * Sewage sludge
 * Food Rights Network
 * Sewage sludge giveaways, producers, and brands
 * The EPA's plan to bypass opposition to sewage sludge disposal
 * Water Environment Federation
 * You say biosolids, I say sewage sludge

External resources

 * Bay State Fertilizer Pamphlet
 * Marie Kulick, Smart Guide on Sludge Use and Food Production, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 2008.
 * Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey: EPA-822-R-08-016 and EPA-822-R-08-018, EPA, January 2009.
 * Environmental Working Group, Dumping Sewage Sludge On Organic Farms? Why USDA Should Just Say No, April, 1998.
 * Environmental Working Group, Routes of Exposure sewage sludge: EWG Research on Chemicals in sewage sludge, April 30, 1998.