Reduce Sludge, Preserve the Earth

Nobody wants to harm the beautiful nature of the Earth.
However, as sad as it may sound we might say that we harm it just by living.
The fact is, that we produce wastewater everyday by flushing the toilets, draining the bath, doing the laundry, washing the dishes, etc.
Let us give you an example, the volume of domestic wastewater produced by a family of 4 members reaches up to two thousand 1/2 liter bottles a day.
The annual total volume of sludge produced from all sewage treatment plants in Japan is approximately 427.8 million cubic meters.
We daily produce wastewater that vanishes through the drains after having been used and we often do not realize what profound crisis the Earth has been facing due to enormous pollution of water.
What happens with the wastewater?
The wastewater flows into the wastewater treatment plant, where it is treated and subsequently separated into “purified water” and “sludge”.
The purified water is reused while the sludge is disposed. The problem is that the disposed sludge pollutes the earth and becomes one of the main factors of environmental disruption, which unfortunately few people know about.

How is sludge generated?

To purify the wastewater is to remove all impurities other than H₂O.
Biological treatment is commonly practiced for this purpose in order to remove the impurities dissolved in the water.
Bio-treatment technology uses enzymes produced by microorganisms to remove impurities in wastewater. In other words, microorganisms eat the impurities in wastewater and thereby purify water.
After bio-treatment, “purified water” and “sludge” are left in the tank and the “sludge” is consisted of microorganisms, dead microorganisms and their metabolite.
Microorganisms are essential for the process of water purification, however, at the same time the more water we treat, the more sludge is generated as a byproduct.

Environmental disruption by sludge

Wastewater is separated into purified water and sludge at sewage treatment plant. The purified water returns to the natural cycle whilst the sludge is disposed after being dewatered down by 85% water content. In most cases  the sludge is incinerated, due to the limited land space, before being disposed. Astonishingly,in some countries there is sludge still disposed directly into the seawaters omitting any kind of treatment.

On the whole, sludge causes environmental disruption. Disposed sludge by means of land-filling gets penetrated into underground water with rainfalls. The process of sludge incineration generates a lot of carbon dioxide and thereafter air pollution. The seawater disposal of sludge, as mentioned above, causes significant ocean pollution.
Those disposal methods are high-priced, therefore some resorts to illegal way of disposing sludge.
In exchange for the comfortable lives we are enjoying, this problem is being left unsolved over many years. Yet, a lot of people do not even recognize the problem. With all the progress and development we have experienced over the last century, environmental disruption caused by incorrect sludge disposal is becoming a serious global issue.  It is important to aproach the sludge treatment in a right way to avoid catastrophic consequences.

AMCON’s efforts

AMCON always make a positive effort to solve a growing global issue of environmental destruction caused by sludge.
In 1996, we pioneered launch of the “biodryer Dell Compo” for small-scale sewerage systems in the industry. Dell Compo embodies the idea of establishing a local sludge recycling system by reusing sludge within a community it is generated. In short, Dell Compo turns sludge into fertilizer which would be otherwise discarded as industrial waste. Using Dell Compo for a municipal small-scale sewerage system, sludge will be made into fertilizer instead of being buried or incinerated as industrial waste.
Dell Compo enables sludge recycling, friendly to the environment. It won’t contaminate groundwater by landfill. It won’t emit carbon dioxide by incineration. A farmer growing vegetables using the fertilizer made from sludge says, “Since I started to use the fertilizer, the vegetables taste as it used to do in my childhood. This is the true taste of vegetables.” This project is appreciated also by the farmers and is environmental friendly.
As a protector of the environment, AMCON will continue to deliver products like this.
People need to put ethics into action.
Please contact us.