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UVM students outline PFAS risks and trade-offs for Vermont biosolids management
Summary
University of Vermont students presented three common disposal pathways for sewage sludge—land application, landfilling and incineration—flagging trade-offs, regulatory uncertainty and gaps in capacity while noting recent state guidance and pending legislation aimed at reducing PFAS in the waste stream.
University of Vermont students told the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry on Tuesday that PFAS chemicals in sewage sludge create persistent contamination risks and that Vermont faces difficult trade-offs among three main disposal options.
The students, led by Megan Knight, presented options that state and municipal leaders must weigh: continuing land application of biosolids, expanding landfill capacity or using incineration—each with cost, capacity and environmental trade-offs. The students noted that the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation issued interim guidance in 2024 and that legislation introduced in 2025 (Bill 292) would ban land application of sewage sludge; another bill (Bill 238) that passed the House would phase out PFAS in consumer products.
PFAS are a large class of synthetic chemicals that resist environmental breakdown. "There are thousands of different PFAS and they are synthetic chemicals ... and they break down really slowly in natural environments," Megan Knight said, describing how PFAS accumulate in soil and water and concentrate in biosolids at wastewater treatment plants. The students said that when…
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