Join the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center in viewing a webinar from Ned Beecher – Special Projects Manager, North East Biosolids and Residuals Association (NEBRA).

Chemicals are everywhere; they make up life and matter. And synthetic ones are ubiquitous in modern society. Increasingly, with the help of powerful analytical chemistry, we are finding synthetic chemicals almost everywhere we look. And, in most cases, there aren’t enough data to know if it matters. These are the “chemicals of emerging concern” (CECs). They are not necessarily new – they have been around – but they are newly measured, raising emerging concerns. Many CECs are found in our daily living environments, even in our bodies (e.g. pharmaceuticals). And they are in business, industry, and commerce. They enter our waste streams in varying amounts. Wastewater, and biosolids derived from wastewater, are mirrors of the chemistry of our daily lives.

This webinar will provide an overview of CECs in wastewater and biosolids: what have been measured and what implications have been determined. Then it will focus on the fate and implications of CECs in biosolids, many of which are recycled to soils as fertilizers and soil amendments. What is the fate of CECs in such scenarios? Is this recycling sustainable?

After an overview of biosolids management in the U. S. and beyond and the rationale and benefits of recycling biosolids to soils, this webinar will cite past and current research and outline research needs as it.

• reviews the fate of several representative CECs in wastewater and biosolids,
• summarizes risk assessment and risk management strategies used to reduce potential concerns, and
• discusses PFAS as a family of CECs that is currently of high interest.

Biosolids and wastewater are “wastes” from modern society that must be managed. Recycling is necessary if we are to achieve sustainable communities. CECs – especially PFAS – are a current challenge.