Truck loses load of human waste on Gateway Motorway

Date: November 30, 2012

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Comments 16

Marissa Calligeros

brisbanetimes.com.au reporter

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Workers clean up the spill. Photo: Seven News

UPDATED

The old Gateway Motorway has been cleared after a truck spilled "human waste" on the road early this morning.

The motorway was cleared about 12.30pm, nearly five hours after the spill occurred.

Traffic banks up as authorities clean up the spill. Photo: Seven News

Vacuum trucks and street sweepers were involved in the clean-up on the southbound lanes of Southern Cross Way.

Two Queensland Fire and Rescue Service crews were also called to the scene and helped wash down some of the waste from a concrete barrier on the side motorway, a Department of Community Safety spokeswoman said.

Transport company Transpacific Industries said the truck, which was carrying a ‘‘key component of organic fertiliser’’, lost power steering and hit a guard rail on the southbound bridge causing it lose part of its load about 7.30am.

Workers at the site of the spill. Photo: Seven News

The truck was bound for a farm at Aratula, about 90 kilometres southwest of Brisbane.

‘‘Transpacific immediately notified the Department of Environment & Heritage Protection and the Gateway Motorway Environmental Officer of the incident,’’ the company said in a statement.

16 comments so far

Hope its a stinkin' hot day!

Commenter

eugenio

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

November 30, 2012, 10:21AM
Since when was human excrement used for fertilizer??? Yuck!

Commenter

Stinkypoo

Location

Date and time

November 30, 2012, 11:13AM
- Because human excrement is worse than any other excrement???
  
  Commenter
  
  Vaughan
  
  Location
  
  Date and time
  
  November 30, 2012, 11:49AM
- Hmm, I don't mind country people's crap composted down and used as fertilizer but city people have all his toxic muck in their systems which when excreted out and composted down doesn't break down.
  Muck like mercury and cadmium is picked up by fruit,grain and vege so it's better not to use city peoples waste in a human food cycle- for things like cotton or hemp rope or grain/grass destined for sheep that are grown for wool then it's okay.
  We just keep making the planet sicker and sicker- better to use city people's waste for methane production first then as plant food for textiles.
  
  Commenter
  
  Alex
  
  Location
  
  Finley
  
  Date and time
  
  November 30, 2012, 1:04PM
- It's been trucked into this area in large quantities for years, thousands and thousands of tonnes.
  
  Commenter
  
  Phanotm
  
  Location
  
  Toowoomba
  
  Date and time
  
  November 30, 2012, 1:41PM
- @ Vaughan
  Actually it is. Our diet is significantly worse than most animals, especially when compared to what cows, sheep or chickens eat. I thought it was well know than the quality of fertilizer is dependent on what was eaten to produce it.
  BTW: if this was human excrement, you can be assured it had been processed before being sent to farms.
  
  Commenter
  
  Craig
  
  Location
  
  Melbourne
  
  Date and time
  
  November 30, 2012, 1:45PM
- When it's been composted and/or treated adequately, human waste is okay for fertiliser, but it is recommended to be used only on things that grow on trees so that there's an even more miniscule chance of the food being produced coming into contact with inadequately treated waste.
  I know it grosses people out, but...well, the world is getting low on inorganic phosphorus sources, but we pee a lot of it out, so...
  
  Commenter
  
  Leggy
  
  Location
  
  Date and time
  
  November 30, 2012, 4:29PM
This story is a load of crap. :)

Commenter

Shane

Location

Morwell

Date and time

November 30, 2012, 11:31AM
From the pictures in the article the "human waste" looks to be dewatered sludge cake output from a sewage treatment plant. This is completely different to the raw sewage which is what gets flushed down the toilet and sent through the sewers.
The treatment process creates three output products. The first is treated effluent fit for discharge into the river systems and for use as irrigation on golf courses, and turf farms and also in water trucks for dust suppression etc. The second is screenings which are all the rubbish and other lovely things which are flushed down the toilet or enter into the sewage system through other means.
The third output is sludge cake as what looks has been spilled here. There will be very little noxious odours and the consistency of this sludge is more like a melted block of chocolate than an actual liquid.
Using this output for fertilizer is not really that different to using animal manure. However my understanding of the regulations is that "human waste" is not allowed to be used as fertilizer on crops which are for direct human consumption (fruit and vegies, wheat etc).

Commenter

Engineer

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

November 30, 2012, 12:04PM
was it returning from the capital?

Commenter

not for me

Location

Date and time

November 30, 2012, 12:48PM

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