Human waste recovery to utilize as fertilizer

This solution was shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM

14 May 2021

Description of the innovative solution

The normal range of urine output is 800 to 2,000 milliliters per day. This urine is rich in nitrogen and contains phosphorus, but these resources are currently still flushed without being utilized. Phosphorus is a vital resource for world's food production, however it is currently not a renewable resource, the limited reserve of earth's phosphate are currently being depleted at an alarming rate. This innovation proposes to apply specific processing to urine, such as fermentation, freezing or dilution, in order to use it as a potent, cheap and safe fertilizer. Urine could be recovered at a big...

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Dietary impact

By utilizing an easily accessible material (human waste) for the productive use as fertilizer, this can enable farms to see higher productivity in their plots as they are no longer limited by availability or costs of traditional chemical inputs. This can help to ensure higher and more reliable yields, which has important implications in reducing household food insecurity and the dietary health of agricultural households. As well, by recovering human waste for use as fertilizers, this provides a potential solution to long-standing issues of healthy sanitation and waste management. For example, due to insufficient or nonexistent sanitation infrastructure, this often leads to irresponsible dumping of waste products, which can cause pollution in the bodies of water that households rely on. This pollution can include bacteria that can cause diseases such as cholera, which commonly leads to diarrhea and vomiting which reduces the body's ability to retain nutrients and water. Many of similar diseases may be able to avoided through the implementation of ecological sanitation practices such as diverting human waste in order to be used in agriculture.

Planetary impact

If human waste is able to replace traditional chemically-derived agricultural inputs, this would mean that many agricultural communities could see a marked decrease in chemical input application, which has important implications in reducing chemical pollution that typically occurs due to overuse of chemicals and through farm runoff. As well, because biosolids such as human waste contain nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium in less soluble forms than chemical inputs, these nutrients are able to stay in the soil longer, making leaching or run off less common, which can lead to observable decreases in local pollution (and local biodiversity loss, too). Furthermore, because human waste also contains important micronutrients and is largely composed of organic matter, this can help to restore the health of the soils in the agricultural fields where the human waste is applied. In addition, the purposeful collection of human waste for use in agriculture is beneficial in regards to planetary health as this effort can help reduce groundwater and surface water pollution that is typical in communities that lack proper municipal sanitation and sewage systems. By sourcing phosphorus from human waste, this can also have powerful effects in decreasing the demand for phosphorus mining, which is typically a highly toxic and energy-intensive process. This is especially important given that phosphorus rock is a non-renewable resource and is currently declining in available supply.

Equity impact

Given that human waste can be easily sourced within communities at no extra cost, the transformation of human waste into productive agricultural inputs can have tremendous impact in boosting the viability of many lower-income households' agricultural plots as production will no longer be limited by a household's ability to afford agricultural inputs. Furthermore, the entire premise of ecological sanitation and reusing human waste can have powerful implications in improving the health and wellbeing of communities that do not have adequate existing sanitation infrastructure. For example, even for communities that typically use pit latrines or septic tanks, much of the collected human waste is usually dumped into landfills or local waterways, leading to groundwater and surface water contamination, which can carry diseases. By diverting waste streams towards agricultural fields instead, this can lead to a reduction in harmful pollution and thus, disease epidemics. Moreover, because the recovered human waste can act as a productive soil amendment in the form of fertilizer, this can have long lasting impacts for many urban and peri-urban communities that are facing degraded soils. Ecological sanitation also provides business opportunities and jobs for farmers to manage waste collection and to produce safe, high-quality fertilizers.

Main concerns

- While reusing human waste is commonplace and culturally accepted in certain areas, this isn't the case everywhere and presents a challenge to global implementation.
- Additionally, much of future ecological sanitation efforts rely on strong governments and institutions, which also may not be the case in many areas.
- While heavy metals are a commonly cited concern surrounding the use of biosolids in agriculture, regular testing of biosolids applied to fields in Britain have revealed that the levels of heavy metals within the fertilized soils are significantly below the maximum permissible levels. However, the Soil Association, a UK-based nonprofit responsible for the majority of United Kingdom's organic farm certifications, has stated that additional research is needed to examine the potential effects of pharmaceuticals.

Examples and additional resources

Real-world examples

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SOIL Haiti

oursoil.org/.../

SOIL Haiti

Business information

Non-profit based in Haiti that is helping to promote ecological sanitation principles through providing cost-effective toilets at household and public use and collecting the waste to transform it into compost.

Haiti

oursoil.org/.../

Shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM

Additional resources

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Literature review on ecological sanitation

Scientific paper

Study that reviews the feasibility of ecological sanitation and notes important shortcomings where additional research is still needed

sciencedirect.com/scien...30173X

Shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM

Guidelines for the Application of Sewage Sludge to Agricultural Land

Report

Leaflet explaining guidelines for British farms when using sewage sludge on agricultural lands, including classifications of different types of sludge.

adlib.everysite.co.uk/res....pdf

Shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM

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Supply chain segment

Waste

Maturity level

Moving to scale

Criteria

Food affordability Climate mitigation Water use Soil health Reducing biodiversity loss Reducing pollution

SDG target

SDG 1: No Poverty SDG 2: Zero Hunger SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth SDG 10: Reduced Inequality SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production SDG 13: Climate Action

Context

Urban Peri-urban Rural

Keywords

Circular economy Closing nutrient loop Collaboration Community building Urban farming Waste Water availability Agricultural development Agricultural extension Food biodiversity Desert agriculture

Primary users

Subsistence farmers Low/Middle income households Rural communities Peri-urban communities Urban communities Local government (municipalities)

Community

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Human waste recovery to utilize as fertilizer

Description of the innovative solution

Examples and additional resources

Real-world examples

SOIL Haiti

SOIL Haiti

Additional resources

Literature review on ecological sanitation

Guidelines for the Application of Sewage Sludge to Agricultural Land

Contacts

Pathways to uptake

Explore pathways for this solution

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Human waste recovery to utilize as fertilizer

Description of the innovative solution

Examples and additional resources

Real-world examples

SOIL Haiti

SOIL Haiti

Additional resources

Literature review on ecological sanitation

Guidelines for the Application of Sewage Sludge to Agricultural Land

Contacts

Pathways to uptake

Explore pathways for this solution

Share solution