No. CS/CS/HB 1245
Filed under Environment & Water.
Biosolids Management; Prohibiting the land application of bulk Class AA biosolids fertilizer and compost products from exceeding the appropriate agronomic rate; requiring the owner or operator of certain land application sites to maintain application records for a specified timeframe and make such records available to the Department of Environmental Protection upon request; requiring the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, on a specified basis and beginning on a specified date, to publish and make publicly available recommended agronomic rates for the reuse of bulk Class AA biosolids fertilizer and compost products; prohibiting Class AA biosolids fertilizer products and certain Class AA biosolids compost products from being marketed or distributed for agricultural land application unless specified requirements are met, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDLand application of bulk Class AA biosolids fertilizer or compost can no longer exceed the site's agronomic rate, a nutrient-based limit set using University of Florida research on soil, crop, and water-protection needs.
Site owners and operators must keep five years of records on every biosolids application, including quantities, dates, addresses, and who transported and applied the material, available to state regulators on request.
Dry, granular biosolids products skip that site-level recordkeeping; instead, whoever distributes them must keep their own five-year records on quantity, application area, distribution date, and recipient.
A biosolids fertilizer or compost product cannot be marketed or used for farmland application unless it is registered as a fertilizer under state law or, for nutrient-free compost, certified through a national testing-assurance program.
AIBulk Class AA biosolids fertilizer or compost applied to land may never exceed the agronomic rate, a nutrient-based ceiling set using University of Florida science that accounts for crop needs, soil, product characteristics, other nutrient inputs, and water protection.
AIBulk land application of Class AA biosolids counts as prohibited disposal, rather than legal reuse, when the nutrients cannot reasonably be taken up by a crop during that growing season and the material is effectively discarded on site.
AIOwners and operators of bulk agricultural land application sites must keep at least 5 years of records on the biosolids applied, including quantities, dates, addresses, and who transported and applied the material, available to the department on request.
AIA Class AA biosolids fertilizer product cannot be marketed or distributed for agricultural land application unless it meets every applicable requirement of chapter 576, Florida's fertilizer regulation law.
AIBeyond marketing rules, Class AA biosolids may not be used at all for agricultural land application unless, beforehand, the product qualifies as a registered fertilizer under chapter 576 or meets the alternative compost-certification standard.
AIDry, stable, granular Class AA products with 25 percent or less moisture are excused from site-level recordkeeping, but whoever distributes them must instead keep 5 years of their own records on quantity, application area, date, and recipient.
AIA Class AA biosolids compost product that makes no nutrient or plant-growth claims may still be marketed for farmland use, but only if it is enrolled in and certified under the U.S. Composting Council's Seal of Testing Assurance Program.