It has to be processed to remove the junk, which also sterilizes it. Which takes energy and time, and it USED to be more cost effective for a plant in a place where LNG comes from to pull nitrogen from the air to make fertilizer.

We already have plenty of solid sewerage waste, and even agricultural waste from cows we should be reusing.

...there's free drugs down there?

The fertilizer had been made with biosolids, part of an effort to find a climate-friendly method to recycle municipal sewage. But the fertilizer also contained synthetic and highly hazardous chemicals known as PFAS, which are found in hundreds of household products and have had devastating effects on farms and ranches that inadvertently spread them on their land.

An untold number of farms and ranches across Texas and the rest of the nation may have also used fertilizer made from sewage tainted with these “forever chemicals” — which don’t break down in the environment — without knowing it.

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/02/texas-farmers-pfas-forever-chemicals-biosolids-fertilizer/

Johnson County environmental crimes investigator Dana Ames was asked to look into the soil and land issues; her findings showed high levels of contamination. The fertilizer has had devastating effects — physically and financially — on Coleman and his wife, he said. He is one of the five farmers in Johnson County who filed a 2024 civil lawsuit against Synagro, alleging the plaintiffs’ land was poisoned by the company’s biosolids fertilizer. The company took over Fort Worth’s biosolids processing operations in 2020 following resident complaints of odors around sites where fertilizer was applied. Fort Worth was not named in the lawsuit.

https://fortworthreport.org/2025/01/27/sewage-fertilizer-poses-health-risks-epa-warns-what-does-that-mean-for-north-texas/

Nearly 70 million acres of U.S. farmland could be contaminated by the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, according to estimates from biosolids industry groups. This contamination stems from the widespread use of sewage sludge as fertilizer.

The practice remains largely unregulated, despite mounting evidence it could contaminate food and water, creating public health risks. State and federal policymakers need to tackle this threat with steps such as banning the use of PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge on farm fields.

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2025/01/forever-chemicals-sludge-may-taint-nearly-70-million-farmland-acres

Harmful chemicals in sewage sludge that is spread on pasture land as fertilizer are causing cancer, the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday. The risk is highest for people who regularly consume milk, beef and other products from farms where it is spread. The risk is “several orders of magnitude” above what it considers acceptable, the agency said.

https://apnews.com/article/sewage-sludge-pasture-farms-milk-beef-harmful-cancer-epa-42e084b6a41852fdafd199d355c7a890

Glad someone is!

As it's processed, it has to have pfas, microplastics, and heavy metals removed. That also sterilizes it.

No we can't...

Even if everyone switched to a full vegan diet and we culled every farm animal immediately, it would be a bandaid.

We're propped up by non renewable phosphate fertilizer and virtually no country tries to reclaim what is used.

I'm pretty sure one small wastewater plant in England reclaims it, the rest gets flushed out to the ocean where it causes further issues and becomes for all intents and purposes irrevocable.

Like, I'm not saying going vegan is pointless, I'm just saying it's the equivalent of paper straws on a global timeline.

We're fucked, and we've been fucked longer than any human has been alive, we just haven't realized it yet.

Fertilizer is most definitely sustainable.

It's not, but luckily there's a way I'll never see another one of your unprompted and illogical opinions again.

Saskatchewan produces 30% of the world’s fertilizer and it’s nowhere close to the end yet

As I said:

any that thinks we can isn’t thinking on the right timelines.

I'm assuming you're talking about ammonia fertilizer tho.

Do you know that process requires fossil fuels?

Do you understand that burning fossil fuels isn't sustainable?

Phosphate and potash are both mined, and eventually we'll run out of that just like the liquid natural gas to get the ammonia. But we need all three in specif percentages, we can't just use any combination, they don't do the same thing...

Continuing to use fertilizer to support an ever expanding population is as sustainable as turning the AC up to mitigate climate change.

It only "works" if you don't understand the problem, unfortunately lots of people get belligerent when they realize they're not thinking thru something.