The National Film Board documentary 'Crapshoot': The Gamble with
Our Wastes is available for viewing or purchase from the
National Film Board. Over the past ten years, more and more
industries have been allowed to put their industrial liquid
wastes on agricultural lands as a kind of 'soil conditioner'.
Where sewage treatment plants receive industrial wastes into the
sewer systems, many provinces and territories now allow these
wastes to be spread on farmland and rural lands under provincial
waste management permits. Lately some municipalities and
industries have tried to characterize these residual wastes as
'fertilizer' products to avoid provincial waste management
requirements. The heavy metals, chemicals, toxins, pathogens,
and decomposed byproducts from these sludges can imbalance the
soil, contaminate crops, harm wildlife and domestic animals, and
pollute groundwater and surface waters. Papermill sludge can
contain chemicals and components that reduce crop fertility and
may cause reproductive difficultie