AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

This study analyzes the two main practices in the management of municipal sewage sludge (MSS) in terms of the release of cadmium, which makes it way from waste waters, to the environment and more specifically to the Danish agriculture. Although the amounts of cadmium released from the sludge into Danish agriculture are closely monitored (having decreased greatly in the last couple decades), and are kept broadly under the lawful limit, this project aims at proposing a strategy for limiting its output on a more conditional basis. The two most important ways of treating MSS consist of, in one hand, its incineration in specialized facilities and in the other, its use as field amendment. Further differentiation in these practices has been established depending on the sludge’s geographic and demographic origin, the properties of the exposed soils, and the functions it performs. Both forms of handling MSS are studied in further detail partially with the help of two specific cases (an urban MSS incinerator and a semi-urban treatment plant that distributes MSS for fertilizing). A system of criteria has been established, in the most objective manner possible, as a way to compare different forms of disposal of the MSS. The analysis of these methods for handling MSS using the established criteria makes up the benefits and risks assessments and gives structure to the discussion, giving the arguments used in proposing a strategy to decrease the release of cadmium from MSS while taking advantage of this waste product. This discussion concludes with a proposal for improvement based on three main ideas. The first idea proposes a new political position to make it a priority to exploit the resources in the sludge as much as possible, encouraging its use as field improvement and its incineration for energy production. The second idea proposes a change in danish legislation: different limit levels of cadmium in MSS used as fertilizer, should be adjusted to the match the properties of the exposed soil. A final idea is to battle the release of cadmium at its sources, reducing the use of it in industries to, ideally, eliminate its presence in our living environment entirely.