Regulatory Framework in Sludge Management: Examples from Around the World

Treatment and disposal/beneficial use are the most important aspects of municipal sludge management. Particularly, the application guidelines and limit values for treatment systems and the major disposal routes including landfilling, land application and incineration are covered in the legislations. This study aims to review the legislations about municipal sludge treatment and disposal from different counties such as Turkey, USA, EU, Canada and South Africa. Evaluations show that the current legislations place a greater emphasis on the beneficial use of sludge, rather than the mere disposal. The specifics of regulations related to combustion changes between different countries such that in some countries separate regulation for sludge combustion is implemented, whereas in others sludge is not specifically mentioned but included among the big group of wastes to be combusted. Similarly, some countries have particular regulations for landfilling of sludge, whereas the others consider sludge within the greater category of biodegradable wastes together with the organic fraction of solid wastes. This study compares and contrasts these issues and current legislations of the aforementioned countries.