"Milorganite" is a portmanteau of the term
Milwaukee Organic Nitrogen. It was the winning entry in a 1925 naming contest for a biosolids-based fertilizer held in
National Fertilizer Magazine. Its history began with Milwaukee's goal to clean up its rivers and Lake Michigan. Rather than
land filling solids left over from wastewater treatment, the
sludge was used in a pioneering effort to make, distribute and sell fertilizer. As of May 2019, of waste have been diverted away from landfills. The resulting production is among the largest recycling programs in the world. Milorganite's roots began in 1911, when local
socialist politicians were elected on a platform calling for construction of a
wastewater treatment plant to protect against
water borne pathogens. As raising taxes for
public health was relatively controversial in the early 1900s, producing an
organic fertilizer as a means of partially offsetting its operating cost was proposed. With the help of researchers in the
College of Agriculture at the
University of Wisconsin, the use of waste solids in the form of
activated sludge as a source of fertilizer had been developed in the early 20th century. Experiments showed that heat-dried activated sludge pellets "compared favorably with standard organic materials such as
dried blood,
tankage,
fish scrap, and
cottonseed meal". The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's Jones Island Plant had the largest
wastewater treatment capacity of any in the world when constructed in 1925. It was the first plant in the United States to succeed in using the activated sludge treatment process to produce fertilizer. In 1926, Milorganite made its debut as the first pelletized fertilizer in the United States, with sales directed at golf courses, The brand was popularized during the 1930s and 1940s before inorganic
urea became available to homeowners after WWII. Oyvind Juul (O.J.) Noer helped establish the
turfgrass industry, and "was instrumental in the success of Milorganite". While promoting Milorganite, his influence got him designated as “Mr. Turf” by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. He was an important lecturer and authored proponent of turfgrass and fertilizer, including a series of articles titled
The ABC of Turf Culture later published as one of the earliest comprehensive books on the subject of
turf maintenance. Noer achieved this stature from his willingness to share his extensive knowledge of turfgrass. While working for Milorganite, he visited more than 80 percent of U.S. golf courses, to aid
greenskeepers diagnose and cure "turf problems based on research-based knowledge". In 1985, he was inducted into the
Wisconsin Golf Hall of Fame. Since its inception, over four million metric tons of Milorganite have been sold. In addition to the conflicting financial and environmental goals, it has to cope with fluctuations and vagaries of a changing waste stream. For example, there has been a substantial impact upon both the quality and the quantity of raw material available as a result of Milwaukee losing much of its
malting and
brewing industry through the departure of once-giant local concerns
Schlitz Brewing Company and
Pabst Brewing Company. == Product ==