A Movable Stink : Fertilizer: The smelly compost, a source of complaints by many residents, was to have been a money-maker. Instead it has been given away.

The Fallbrook Sanitary District on Friday finished moving a huge stockpile of smelly compost, believing it was the culprit that had raised the noses and ire of neighbors. But officials say they’ll still keep some of the stuff around to feed worms for non-smelly fertilizer.

The compost was a combination of Fallbrook’s own solid sewage sludge and yard clippings taken from the San Marcos landfill. It was mixed and cooked by its own natural heat--all according to an Environmental Protection Agency recipe--resulting in a pathogen-free fertilizer that had bonker results for trees, gardens and lawns.

The problem was, the stuff was saddled with an earthy aroma that the utility district concluded was the source of complaints from nearby residents. And those complaints escalated in recent weeks because the stockpile had grown to large proportions--3,000 cubic yards.

By Friday, 100 loads of compost in large trash containers had been delivered to various local agencies--the hospital, the local school districts, the Fallbrook Land Conservancy and even to members of the Fallbrook Garden Club “in appreciation for their past support of this locally produced compost,” said Ben Price, general manager of the utility district.

The accumulated compost was supposed to be sold for $21,000 to a nursery, which hadn’t yet consummated the deal and taken delivery. In the face of gripes from some neighbors that the stench was disrupting their life styles, the district decided to get rid of the stuff altogether and take a financial bath, said Mike Page, the district superintendent.

Even with the compost’s removal, complaints were still lingering on Friday.

“At 12:30 today we picked up a terrible smell of human feces, and it lasted for three minutes,” said Patsy Filo, one of those who led the campaign to rid the neighborhood of the odor.

“The smell is not any better (with the compost gone). I’m still angry,” she said.

The utility district began composting its solid waste sludge--a byproduct of waste water treatment--seven years ago as a way to reclaim and recycle the material. After mixed with green yard waste, the resulting thermophylic compost was either sold in bulk to nurseries or placed in large worm beds.

The worms chewed their way through the material and left granular, non-aromic castings in their wake. The district called the material Vermigro.

The pre-worm compost was the odor culprit, so they’ll no longer stockpile it, Page said. Instead, it will be given away for free to anyone who wants it, as supplies allow. If growers discover its value as fertilizer, he said, the district will again establish a market price and sell it.

Enough compost--perhaps 100 cubic yards--will be kept around, Page said, to feed the worms for Vermigro production. The worm castings fetch $4 for a 1 1/2-cubic-foot bag, and are available at various nursery outlets in North County.

The Fallbrook Sanitary District embarked on the composting and Vermigro projects because, like other sewage treatment agencies, it faces a 1995 deadline to stop dumping sewage sludge in landfills.