In other parts of the world, biosolids (human waste) from sewage treatment plants are treated and used as sustainable agricultural fertilizer. Research the pros and cons of this method and take a stand as to whether this can be a realistic alternative to our current agricultural practices. Who are the potential stakeholders in this issue? Are we influenced by the western view of human waste as an unsanitary and disgusting nuisance?
Biosolids?! What is it? Well it all starts off when we go to the washroom, if every in the world goes at least once a day that would be A LOT of poop. Where does it go? Well people who have toilets have their move travel to treatment centers where the waste is treated. Although 1.1 billion still have to relieve themselves outside 8 out of ten of them in ten countries have sanitary issues and contaminated water according to UN children’s fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO).
There are so many different ways to solve this situation, for example we use cow manure as fertilizer, and we can also use our own poop for fertilizer with a product called PeePoo. The product is a bag that is extremely cheap and feasible even for the poorest countries. The Product works by using it as a toilet and then burying it into the ground. Not only does it keep your water sources from becoming contaminated but the bag is made from recycled material and is biodegradable.
That is only one of the ways we can use Biosolids to our advantage. Another ways to recycle Biosolids is by making pots :). As crazy as it sounds even Mike Rowe from dirty jobs has investigated it. He went to a dairy farm where the cow poop is recycled and made into dry pots that can be used for indoor plants or outdoor plants. Why pots you ask? Well know that cow poop is biodegradable when you plant it outside it acts as a fertilizer that gives the plant enriched nutrients. These pots are being sold for 50 cents each, and the common plastic pot is 25 cents each, the Poo Pot provides nutrients which increases speed of growth. To me that is an extra 25 cents well spent.
These are happening in many different countries what is Canada doing? More specifically what is Toronto doing? Well Toronto Zoo is actually installing a large scale anaerobic digester on their ground. They will use waste to power a methane generator. What is anaerobic digestion? Well it work by putting organic waste, our case, you would put poop into a container with no oxygen along with bacteria that love the absence of oxygen. Then a bacterium then feasts on the waste and the metabolic by product is methane gas which can be treated as natural gas to power a generator. To run a 4 Megawatt digester it would take 80000 tonnes of waste but this is 4 times the energy to power the zoo, so essentially only 20000 tonnes will be needed to power the zoo every year. Currently the Zoo produces 2500 to 3000 tonnes of organic waste; this is 12.5 – 15% of the amount of energy the zoo uses. Although this project is still in process, it has been done in India, China, Sri Lanka, Netherlands and Germany. Germany seems to have the most success because 17% of their electricity is generated through anaerobic digestion.
When you have poop what do you do anaerobic digest it CHYEAH!
I now conclude that there are so many ways to recycle and reuse Biosolids, instead of doing the usual cleans we can actually harvest energy, keep the environments of even developing countries a lot cleaner and even poo pots in our own gardens ( just don’t tell your mom it’s made out of poo :P). I have learned a lot from this research and I am sure you will all enjoy doing so yourselves. Our world is developing so much and if we take advantage of our environmentally friendly way we can ultimately make a better earth. When even feces can make a difference, that is even more encouragement to make a cleaner environment. The stakeholders would the people who make the poo pots, peepoo, and the owners of the methane generators. Ultimately the world is benefiting from this and its getting the most out of our resourcefulness.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88504
http://www.peepoople.com/showpage.php?page=3_0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QvUBkVfHZM
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/11/19/the-power-of-toronto-zoo-poo.aspx
