Welcome to the September edition of the ANZBP newsletter. It has been a busy time in the regulatory space for our industry working through submissions on the DCCEW scheduling decisions for restricting use of PFAS compounds, and the NSW EPAs regulatory approach to biosolids. Additionally the HEPA have indicated they will finalise the PFAS NEMP3.0 in December 2023, and the NZ Ministry for the Environment is hosting workshops in October for an “Organic Waste Contamination Study”.
At the end of the month the ARC Training Centre for Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource will hold their annual symposium. In October the ANZBP Lunch and Learn topic will be Vermicomposting Biosolids – a NZ Success Story, and in November the European Biosolids and Bioresources conference will held. All of these events will be available on-line. We also remind you to get your abstracts in by 29 September for Ozwater’24.
Change in Leadership at the ANZBP Advisory Committee
Kelly Hopewell
After several years of dedicated service, Kelly Hopewell has made the decision to step down as the Chair of ANZBP. We express our heartfelt gratitude to Kelly for her unwavering commitment and invaluable contributions as Chair.
She has played a pivotal role in fostering the growth of our membership, spearheading initiatives such as the Lunch & Learns, driving the success of the National Biosolids Conference, and leading various other ANZBP projects.
While Kelly will no longer serve as Chair, we are pleased to announce that she will remain an active member of the committee in the role of Advisory Committee member. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with her in this capacity.
We are delighted to share that Rob Tinholt and Lauren Randall have both been nominated and elected as the new Chair and Vice-Chair of the ANZBP Advisory Committee respectively. The selection of the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson was carried out through a nomination and voting process within the Advisory Committee.
Congratulations Hilary Hall - 2023 Churchill Fellow
Congratulations to Hilary Hall from RCMG for being awarded a 2023 Churchill Fellowship to investigate technology and policy approaches that enhance the beneficial use of biosolids. Hilary will be joining a group of Australia’s best and brightest minds who will travel to different parts of the world with the aim of contributing to Australia’s collective knowledge and provide contemporary solutions to the issues and challenges we’re facing as a nation.
ANZBP Advisory Committee Vacancy - Call for Nominations
The ANZBP Advisory Committee is made up of ten representatives from member organisations. There is currently a vacancy on the Committee. This is a great opportunity to take a more active role in contributing to and setting the direction of ANZBP. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Rob or one of the other current Committee members. Nominations will be open until midnight 30 September.
The 2023 Biosolids Production and End Use Survey will be kicking off in October. PSD (Pollution Solutions & Design Pty Ltd) has been awarded the contract to deliver this project. If you are a water utility member, please keep an eye out over the next few months for a request from the PSD team to contribute.
The success and the value of this biannual survey in informing industry, regulators and decision makers depends on good quality data so your contribution is appreciated.
NZ Ministry for the Environment Organic Waste Contamination Study - Workshops
The project aims to understand and address the challenges posed by contaminants in our organic waste material streams. It is seeking to determine the best way to mitigate, and ultimately avoid, risks to soil, water, human and animal health and to expand end markets for processed organic waste, so that we can recover organic material to the highest value use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The work will make recommendations on a holistic management framework that integrates with te ao Māori and mātauranga Māori, and that could include policy, regulation, investment, standards, and guidance.
Join us on Tuesday 31 October from 12:00pm to 1:00pm AEST to hear Dr Michael Quintern from MyNoke in New Zealand speak about Vermicomposting of Biosolids and Beneficial Reuse.
Taupo is the home of the world's largest vermicomposting operation. From paper by-products, to dairy sludge, to biosolids, MyNoke provides an end-to-end solution for dealing with high-volume organic waste materials.
The ANZBP Steering Committee is looking to organise future Lunch and Learn sessions on the following topics:
Biosolids carbonisation technologies
Biosolids management and greenhouse gas emissions
Contaminants of Emerging Concern in biosolids
Treatment Plant Safety related to biosolids management
If you have research or case studies you would like to share on these topics, please let us know. Equally if there are other topics you would like to hear more about through a Lunch & Learn Session please drop us a line - admin@biosolids.com.au
Biosolids Survey Invitation
The ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource is inviting biosolids managers to participate in a research project conducted by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and University of Western Australia (UWA).
Research Study Title: Understanding impacts and opportunities for beneficial reuse of biosolids via land application. Survey Duration: Completing the survey will take approximately 15 minutes of your time. Survey Link:available here Lead Researcher: Thais Nunes Guerrero, PhD Candidate, ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource, University of New South Wales (UNSW); thais@unsw.edu.au
This research project is part of the ARC Training Centre’s Project 3A – Linking Stability, Odour and Production route and focuses on biosolids land application methods and management practices in Australia. The focus of this project is to investigate biosolids land application methods and management practices in Australia, specifically addressing the challenge of odour emissions, which remains one of the primary barriers to the beneficial reuse of biosolids.
The survey questionnaire will ask you a series of questions about biosolids process, production, transportation, characterisation, and land application practices. By gathering valuable insights from stakeholders, utilities, contractors, and end-users involved in biosolids management and land application, the researchers aim to identify opportunities for improvement and align practices with local and global standards.
The researchers kindly request your participation and assistance in sharing this invitation with your contractorsand end-users who are involved in biosolids management and land application. Their participation in this research is vital, and it will significantly contribute to advancing our understanding of biosolids management practices in Australia.
Participation in this research is completely voluntary, and all responses will be anonymous.
Below you will find the Participant Information Statement (PISCF) and Online Survey Recruitment Letter.
Questions or concerns about the research or the survey can be discussed with the principal investigators, Dr. Ruth Fisher (ruth.fisher@unsw.edu.au) and Prof. Richard Stuetz (r.stuetz@unsw.edu.au), or PhD Candidate Thais Nunes Guerrero (thais@unsw.edu.au).
Call for Abstracts for Ozwater‘24
The ANZBP Steering Committee would love to see a strong biosolids presence at Ozwater in Melbourne in 2024.
Please consider submitting an abstract, case study or video pitch to present your research or project at the conference. The call for papers closes on Friday 29 September.
ANZBP Submission on the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management Standard (IChEMS)
In August, ANZBP made a submission to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) regarding proposed scheduling decisions under the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management Standard (IChEMS) for three key PFAS compounds (PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS). ANZBP is encouraged by this effort to reduce the importation of PFAS into Australia. Source control, which includes import and manufacture bans on both PFAS and products containing PFAS, is the only effective way to ensure PFAS is effectively and permanently removed from our ecosystems. ANZBP will continue to advocate on behalf of industry for tighter source controls of PFAS and other chemicals of emerging concern.
Have Your Say on a new regulatory approach for managing biosolids in NSW
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has conducted a detailed review of the regulatory settings for applying biosolids to land and has released an Issues Paper, detailing their review findings and questions for stakeholder input. Consultation closes on Tuesday 3 October 2023.
EPA held two information webinars earlier this month, to provide stakeholders an overview of the Issues Paper and the Technical Findings Report, and answer questions. The EPA will be publishing recordings of these sessions on their website
ANZBP will be preparing a submission on behalf of members. We would love your input to this process! The Advisory Committee will also be meeting with NSW EPA to discuss the potential regulatory changes. Please contact admin@biosolids.com.au to share your feedback with us. We encourage members to also prepare their own submissions to EPA.
ANZBP Fact Sheet: Biosolids and PFAS: Responsible Management of Emerging Contaminants
The Australian and New Zealand Biosolids Partnership (ANZBP) is pleased to present its newly crafted Biosolids & PFAS factsheet. The intent of this factsheet is to provide interested parties with information about our understanding and management of per and polyfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) in biosolids.
The factsheet explains:
What biosolids are and why they are important?
What are PFAS?
Why we are interested in PFAS in biosolids?
How PFAS are managed in biosolids and ANZBPs' position on PFAS in biosolids?
In June, ANZBP Advisory Committee members participated in a Biochar Seminar organised by the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA). Vice Chair, Lauren Randall presented on PFAS NEMP 3.0: Implications for biosolids and biochar. Together, seminar participants explored the potential of biochar in reshaping carbon management and the circular economy for water utilities. ANZBP looks forward to further collaborative discussions on the role of biochar for the biosolids sector.
ANZBP at the Australian Bioeconomy Conference 2023
In September, ANZBP Vice Chair, Lauren Randall will present on Valuing biosolids in a resource constrained world at the Australian Bioeconomy Conference 2023. The conference will be held in Newcastle, NSW on 19 and 20 September and is hosted by the Australian Industrial Ecology Network (AIEN) and the Hunter Joint Organisation (HJO). This year’s conference theme is Managing carbon and biomass in a carbon constrained world.
Not many people think about what happens to the wastewater that they flush away or send down the laundry drain, but the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is reaching out to stakeholders and the community to ask them to do exactly that.
A group of engineers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) has developed a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to remove heavy metals, including copper and zinc, from biosolids.
In this article, Dan Levy, Will Lovins and Terry Goss, detail an emerging and sustainable solution that offers exciting opportunities for beneficial transformation of wastewater biosolids and Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) waste streams as a feedstock to produce renewable biofuel, with the added possibility for PFAS destruction.
California’s GeoTracker PFAS Mapreports at least one type of PFAS has been detected in solids at 94% of the 156 water resource reclamation facilities (WRRFs) sampled (CWB, 2022). As part of their comprehensive PFAS strategy, the USEPA is conducting a risk assessment of two PFAS—perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFOS)—in biosolids, to be completed in 2024.
Latest Academic Research
Don't forget you can take a look at our latest national and international academia round-ups on the ANZBP website.
Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology
Issue 2, 2023
Contribute to the newsletter
If you or your organisation has an interesting biosolids project or research you would like to share or if you have come across work done by others that could be of interest please let us know and we can add it to the next ANZBP newsletter - admin@biosolids.com.au
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