AltEn, an ethanol producer in Mead, Nebraska, has been accumulating thousands of pounds of a smelly, lime-green mash of fermented grains, distributing some to farm fields as a “soil conditioner” and accumulating the rest on the grounds of its plant. Researchers say that the waste is dangerously polluting water and soil and probably also posing a health threat to animals and people. They point to testing ordered by state officials that found waste seed coated with fungicides and insecticides, including those known as neonicotinoids, or “neonics” in AltEn's waste at levels many times higher than what is considered safe.
Source: The Guardian
