TAGRO

TAGRO is a Tacoma, WA product sold as fertilizer but made from sewage sludge. 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"). TAGRO has been sold as a product called TAGRO Mix since 1991. More recently, the city began selling a product called TAGRO Potting Soil.

TAGRO Marketing
TAGRO is marketed by the City of Tacoma as a "premium soil product" that will make your garden grow "faster, greener, better." Referred to as "award-winning" and "environmentally friendly," they cite awards won by vegetables and flowers growin in the Puyallup Fair as well as awards won by the city's sludge program, "including the Environmental Protection Agency’s first place award for the best biosolids program in the country." They add that they only use Class A Biosolids, noting that that is "EPA's highest rating."

Ingredients and Production
TAGRO is made from sewage sludge plus a combination of "sand, sawdust, bark and other ingredients." The city's website explains the wastewater treatment process and the production and treatment of sewage sludge.

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

 * 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.