Logo





  About us
  Advertising
  Privacy
  Terms
  Directory
  Submit Feed
  Analytics
  Trending
  Bias
  Trust Ranking
  API

The Guardian // World // Europe

‘A Trojan horse’: how toxic sewage sludge became a threat to the future of British farming

Monday 7th July 2025, 1:00PM

Sludge used as fertiliser on farmland contains harmful chemicals that scientists suspect are entering food chainFor decades, sewage sludge has been quietly spread across Britain’s farmland, marketed as a nutrient-rich fertiliser. But insiders and scientists warn that hidden within it is a mix of household and industrial chemicals such as Pfas (“forever chemicals”), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, hormone-damaging chemicals and microplastics, threatening the long-term health of the land.Every year, 768,000 tonnes of this byproduct of wastewater treatment is spread over 150,000 hectares of agricultural land in England. The practice is banned in some countries, such as Switzerland, but in the UK it continues with little scrutiny and has become a covert route for dumping toxic industrial waste, experts say. Continue reading...

Full Story