• Services
• Garbage
• Recycling
• Yard Waste
• Food Waste
• Hazardous Waste
• Wastewater
• Biosolids
  • About Biosolids
  • For Farmers
  • Practices & Benefits

Resource Renew biosolids practices help environment and farmers

The production and use of biosolids are carefully monitored to ensure a high quality product to protect the environment and meet farmers’ needs.

Quality control starts before wastewater reaches the treatment plant. Resource Renew’s  industrial pretreatment program sets limits on chemicals that industries can discharge to the sewer.  Pollution prevention programs help residents and smaller businesses keep unwanted chemicals out of wastewater.

As a result, the levels of metals in Resource Renew’s biosolids are far below strictest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. Resource Renew tests its biosolids regularly to make sure standards are met.

Resource Renew’s certified operators deliver and spread the biosolids. Fields are inspected before being added to the program to identify soils and water features. Not all fields are suitable for biosolids.

Resource Renew crews calculate how much biosolids can be spread on each field, based on crop requirements and field size. Computer databases and maps are used to calculate the acreage of each field and determine buffer zones from water features, such as wetlands. GPS technology is used in the field to stay out of buffer zones and to spread the correct amount of biosolids.

Farmland Benefits

The University of Minnesota Extension has studied the benefits of using biosolids.

Those studies have found that biosolids:

• Can double grass hay yields
• Increase the protein content in hay
• Make hay more digestible for livestock
• Limit or eliminate the need to buy supplemental feed for livestock

Biosolids Newsletter

The Biosolids Digest newsletter is produced annually by Resource Renew for farmers, landowners, and other interested parties.