Sewage sludge can improve the condition of the soil
Due to poor agricultural practices and climate change, soil is deteriorating at an accelerating rate worldwide, which natural processes cannot offset. Instead of artificial fertilizers, however, the use of sewage sludge can be an alternative, which can improve the condition of the soil – wrote the specialized portal Másfélfok – Climate Change in an understandable way in its article on Wednesday.

(Photo: Pixabay)
Laura Jurecska, an environmental chemist and lecturer at the Department of Microbiology at ELTE TTK, deals with the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer substitute in her article. As he points out, they typically try to solve the problem of achieving a higher crop yield with artificial fertilization: in 2020, the world’s use of artificial fertilizers exceeded 200 million tons, but this worsens the condition of the soil and also increases the pollution of groundwater. The environmental chemist notes that Europe is particularly exposed to Russian and Moroccan imports, and the price increase due to the war in Ukraine had a severe impact on fertilizer prices, so the issue is also significant from the point of view of security of supply.
According to the expert, applying sewage sludge to the soil can be an alternative to artificial fertilizers
Sewage sludge helps preserve humus, protects against the effects of erosion, improves soil structure and water management, and ensures that nutrients gradually become available to plants. “Sewage sludge, of which 250,000 tons are produced annually in Hungary, could partially replace fertilizers, however, even in European terms, there is a large variance in what kind of use is permitted by local regulations,” adds Laura Jurecska, and then goes on to the current Hungarian regulations, according to which the the use of sewage sludge in agriculture is only permitted for plants whose fruits do not come into contact with the sludge. According to his explanation, heavy metals, antibiotic and drug residues accumulating in sewage sludge represent the greatest risk, which prevents the use of the other valuable raw materials contained in it. According to the environmental chemist, it could be a solution if heavy metals were removed from sewage sludge during sludge treatment. This is also important because the European Union has set itself the goal of reducing the amount of chemicals used in agriculture by 50 percent by 2030, Laura Jurecska points out.
MTI
Related news
A cooperation agreement was concluded by NAK and MATE
A cooperation agreement was concluded by the National Chamber of…
Read more >The National Chamber of Agriculture and Food provides a discount on membership fees for about 300,000 members
According to the unanimous decision of the National Assembly of…
Read more >Syngenta Agronomy Solution team would raise farmers’ technological awareness and productivity to a higher level
The obvious challenges of agriculture – climate change, increasing weather…
Read more >Related news
A new era in the global economy? – New challenges for our country
May 2025 brought an acceleration of change in the global…
Read more >This is how you can keep your hair and skin healthy during the approaching summer heatwave
Styling, dyeing and blow-drying can all weaken the internal structure…
Read more >New cycle, stable operation, unchanged direction – ÖRT management has received trust
The General Assembly of the Hungarian Self-Regulatory Advertising Board (ÖRT)…
Read more >