No more sludge shipments, Toronto told

Canada's largest city could have a lot of sludge on its hands this August.

A Michigan landfill site will no longer accept 30 trucks a day of treated sewage sludge from the city of Toronto as of August 1 because locals who live in the area are complaining about the smell.

Carleton Farms landfill says it has been reviewing the intake of sludge since April after a group of residents protested at a public hearing, and it has decided to stop accepting the sludge as of August. It will continue to take regular trash.

Toronto works committee chair Shelley Carroll said Wednesday that she had only just learned of the decision, but officials knew there might be a stoppage.

"We do have to July 31, and we're kind of lucky here because we're working on a contingency with the ministry of the environment, and council is meeting June 14 so we can quickly put out a request for interest on an Ontario solution that council can ratify in more than enough time."

Carroll, a municipal councillor, said city officials don't think finding another site for the sludge will be difficult because "landfill operators find sludge really useful," as it helps break down regular trash.

Sludge (or bio-solids) is the solid waste that remains after raw sewage is treated and the purified water returned to the lake.