Everyone has a story. Our story is making an endlessly renewable resource from wastewater. Our friends’ stories are what happens next – and how they are inspired by it. Our videos help us tell these stories.
Poop Loop: How biosolids will help us feed future generations
The key to building good soil is something we do everyday. In this video, Ashley Mihle tells us how King County’s wastewater treatment plants break down and transforms the poop and the food that we flush everyday into an endlessly renewable resource to build our soil. King County calls these biosolids Loop®. By using Loop to grow crops and healthy forests, we return carbon and nutrients to our land, which helps us fight climate change and farm sustainably.
Alternative uses: What else could we do with Loop® biosolids?
We can use Loop® biosolids as a fertilizer, we could burn it, or we could bury it in a landfill. Which option would you choose? In this video, Scott Drennen, a wastewater treatment operator and Kate Kurtz, a soil scientist, weigh these options and explain why using Loop as a fertilizer is the most cost effective, socially responsible, and environmentally beneficial choice for King County.
*In Washington State, land-filling is generally not permitted by the Department of Ecology.
Lessons from nature – how we create resources from wastewater
In nature, there’s no such thing as waste. At King County, we clean wastewater and recycle resources just like nature does, only we do it a lot faster. In this video, Dr. Rodgers, a local public health expert, explains how the advances of engineering technology harness nature’s cleaning powers and recover valuable resources: Loop® biosolids, biogas, and recycled water.
Doing our part on a rainy day: Loop® biosolids, biogas, and recycled water
Just like you recycle your cans at home, we do our part by taking wastewater and turning it into endlessly renewable resources like Loop® biosolids, biogas, and recycled water. In this video, Susan Tallarico, and environmental educator at King County, tells us her story and explains how King County’s efforts help fight climate change.
Growing sustainable food at CitySoil Farm
If we want to have people care about their food systems, they have to learn about it. Learning about it will hep us waste less. Currently, we waste about 40% of the food that we grow! At CitySoil Farm, nutrients are right at your fingertips and students really get the whole picture about sustainable resources. CitySoil Farm is a demonstration garden at the King County South Treatment Plant in Renton. CitySoil uses biosolids and recycled water to grow native trees and to produce over two tons of food, all while teaching youth and adults how to grow healthy food sustainably. CitySoil is a four-way partnership between King County, Seattle Tilth, King Conservation District, and Duwamish Infrastructure Restoration Training Corps (DIRT Corps).
How Loop® biosolids are made
What are biosolids and how are they made? Staff from King County Wastewater Treatment Division show how they transform raw wastewater into Loop® biosolids in this video. After the transformation is complete, the endlessly renewable soil amendment is used to add nutrients to farms and forests.
WSU soil scientist connects soil, biosolids & sustainability
Washington State University soil scientist, Craig Cogger, Ph.D., talks about the incredible properties of soil. To Craig, it makes sense to return the nutrients and carbon in biosolids back to the soil in order to grow crops sustainably and fight climate change by sequestering carbon.
Fertilizing with biosolids: building soil, better crops
Using biosolids as a fertilizer replacement goes further than sustainability – it helps farmers make gains in their soil and grow better crops from year to year. Eastern Washington grain farmers describe how biosoilds have helped them to build up the body of their soil with organic matter, fight wind erosion, and preserve the acreage they hope to leave to their families to farm.
Biosolids and forestry: You’re part of the cycle
Former Executive Director of the Northwest Biosolids (now Director of Sustainable Biosolids Programs with Water Environment Federation), Maile Lono-Batura, tells of how she first heard about biosolids in high school biology. An environmental educator from Mountains to Sound Greenway spoke to Maile’s class about biosolids as a tool in sustainable forestry. That moment of inspiration led to her career in biosolids management.
Gardening with Loop® biosolids – it’s like magic
Gardener and soil scientist, Kate Kurtz, discusses why she choose GroCo compost made with Loop® biosolids in her home vegetable garden. For Kate, it’s a choice of environmental ethics and she knows it grows a lush, beautiful garden.
Why care about healthy soil and biosolids?
Who uses Loop® and why? Farmers, foresters, gardeners, and environmental educators all use Loop® because it works to create healthier, more productive, and more sustainable soils.
Farming sustainably with Loop® biosolids
Natural Selection Farms father and daughter team, Ted and Chelsea Durfey, discuss why they fertilize with biosolids — to preserve healthy soil for generations to come. They take a lot of pride in being responsible stewards of the land by returning the carbon and nutrients in Loop® biosolids back to the soil.
Sustainable forestry & biosolids in the Mountains to Sound Greenway
Mountains to Sound Greenway Educator, Sally Kentch, talks about the relationship of forests, water, soil, and biosolids. If we understand how ecosystems work, we will be more likely to protect the beautiful place where we live.
