Solarpunk Farming @slrpnk.net sabreW4K3 @lazysoci.al 4w ago

Human manure or ‘nightsoil’ makes great crop fertiliser – but attitudes to poo-grown produce differ drastically

theconversation.com Human manure or ‘nightsoil’ makes great crop fertiliser – but attitudes to poo-grown produce differ drastically

A tale of two poos - attitudes towards the agricultural use of human excretion-based fertiliser differ between Japan and England as new research shows.

22 comments

I was pretty sure dusease concerns were the primary reason for not using human waste. Was hoping the article addressed that, but it did not.
- Also toxic waste
  
  For the same reason predators have higher levels of bioaccumulated toxins in their flesh, humans have much higher levels of all kinds of toxic sludge in their poop and blood and whatnot
- The only thing I've ever heard about it is that you'd have to wash all produce you bought and my exact response has always been "Are you people not washing your produce after purchase!?"
  
  Edit: Also a lot of y'all seem to think we'd be throwing raw untreated human waste directly into the fields. We don't even do that with animal fertilizer. It's treated waste that removes a lot of the toxins that would cause us to get sick (again only if you're not washing your produce which you should always do regardless)
- Raw waste is, of course, nasty stuff until all the dangerous bacteria have been killed off, either by heat or anaerobic digestion.
  
  source: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/05/07/182010827/is-it-safe-to-use-compost-made-from-treated-human-waste
  
  Right, but the entire reason to prefer herbivore waste is because it is much less likely to spread disease when handled improperly.
- There's a risk if you do it wrong, of course, but that doesn't stop us from doing it right.
  
  I think we can safely assume you've never met an actual farmer 😂
Just don't forget that medications and drugs can be found in your shit. Nightsoil fertilizer would bring this out to the fields and crops.
- We'll just keep some humans that don't get any of that ezpz
  
  Organic humans, no antibiotics, no vacc... Wait we already have that group.
I'm just glad they made a diarrhea truck to spread the nightsoil.
I thought human waste is full of PFAS, which then goes into the soil, which then go into the crops, which then continue to poison everyone.

https://www.waste360.com/pfas-pfoas/maine-ends-land-application-of-pfas-impregnated-sludge-and-pushes-epa-to-follow-suit
It makes great crop fertilizer as long as it is properly composted. There is a really good reason to prefer animal waste, especially herbivore waste, because it comes with a much lower risk of spreading diseases and parasites if handled less than ideally.
As long as we make sure it isn't spreading disease, it doesn't bother me at all. Humans did it for centuries anyway from the Anglo-Saxons to the Japanese and I'm sure more.
There’s plenty of non-human feces we can use for fertilizer. And food waste/compost.
Bruh. Just use milorganite. It’s processed human shit.
In my experience I thought human feces only belonged in meetings at work, how wondrous it has other uses.
I felt very apprehensive and felt similarly to a lot of comments here. But The Humanure Handbook is an excellent read and clears up a lot of the misconceptions about human waste, including the problems with it and how to handle it. https://humanurehandbook.com/contents.html
If you have a backyard garden, you can compost your own feces without having to worry about the bacteria as much because it's your own.
- Bacteria, sure. Maybe. But fecal parasites? Incompletely composting your own feces is a great way to help your intestinal parasites complete their life cycle by consuming their eggs 😆

22 comments