Using sewage sludge in farming

KEY POINTS

• The specific limit values are listed in the directive’s annexes:
  • Annex IA — heavy metals in the soil,
  • Annex IB — heavy metals in sludge,
  • Annex IC — maximum annual quantities of heavy metals that may be added to the soil.
• Normally, sludge has to be treated² before being used in farming. However, in some EU countries farmers may be allowed to use untreated sludge if it is injected or worked into the soil.
• In certain situations, sludge may not be used at all in farming:
  • on grassland that is going to be grazed by animals or on forage crops to be harvested, unless a minimum of 3 weeks has elapsed,
  • on fruit and vegetable crops during the growing season. This rule does not include fruit trees,
  • on soil used to grow fruit and vegetable crops that are usually in direct contact with the soil and eaten raw. This ban applies for 10 months before the harvest and during the harvest itself.
• Responsibility for ensuring farmers’ use of sludge does not exceed the legal limits lies with national authorities, who have to sample and analyse sludge and the soil it is used on and keep up-to-date records of:
  • how much sludge is produced and used in farming,
  • the composition and properties of sludge,
  • how the sludge has been treated,
  • where sludge is used and who uses it.
• Following the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2019/1010, from 1 January 2022, EU countries must additionally keep a record of any other information regarding the directive’s transposition and implementation that they provide to the European Commission. They must also present the information registered in those records in such a way that the digital data refer to a specific location or geographical area
• EU countries are required to send information to the Commission every 3 years on the implementation of this Directive, in the form of a sectoral report which shall also cover other pertinent directives, on the basis of the questionnaire outlined in Commission Decision 94/741/EC. Decision (EU) 2018/853 requires that these sectoral reports are drawn up on the basis of a questionnaire or outline adopted by the Commission in the form of an implementing act. The report must be sent to the Commission within 9 months of the end of the 3-year period covered by it.
• Regulation (EU) 2019/1010, whose changes to this directive will apply from 1 January 2022, simplifies the reporting process. It also seeks to ensure that EU countries are more transparent with regard to the information they provide and that the public can access the information as rapidly as possible. The records referred to above must be made available and easily accessible to the public for each calendar year, within 8 months of the end of the relevant calendar year, and must also be submitted to the Commission.
• The Commission publishes a regular report on sludge use in EU farming, which brings together the information reported by individual countries on this subject.