This August, the Maryland Department of the Environment issued eagerly-awaited guidelines pertaining to PFAS levels in biosolids, along with an outline of other protective, proactive steps the department is taking to fight PFAS contamination at the source.
In line with states like Michigan, Maryland is taking a tiered approach, with different application limits provided for biosolids products at different thresholds of PFAS. Bloom easily meets MDE’s most restrictive limit of 20 parts per billion of PFOA or PFOS, which will allow its products to be used without restrictions. To put these limits in context, household dust has 523 parts per billion of PFAS chemicals, whereas take-out food packaging has up to 87,600 parts per billion.
According to the factsheet, “The purpose of the tiered approach is to reduce or eliminate Class A or B biosolids that may have a higher risk, while still allowing varying rates of biosolids applications, depending on PFAS concentrations.”
The factsheet also highlighted HB 115/SB 956, which was signed into Maryland law this May, which requires the state to identify significant industrial users of PFAS by this October, among other activities intended to curtain PFAS at the source.
Reach out to receive a copy of the factsheet or request any further information. Bloom’s own factsheet on PFAS can be found here.
