Scientists explore human waste as substitute for polluting fertilisers

New research has ascertained that yields from crops fertilised with human faeces and urine rival those produced by organic methods, with no risk of transmitting disease.

If you’d told me a few years ago that human waste would eventually be used as a food-safe fertiliser, I likely would’ve found it impossible to hide my disgust.

These days, with the threat of the climate crisis keeping me up almost every night, I’ll take any solution to slowing down our planet’s deterioration that I can get.

That’s why, upon hearing that scientists have successfully yielded crops using our faeces and urine with no risk of transmitting disease, my response was one of excitement rather than revulsion.

According to the new research, which was conducted by a team at the University of Hohenheim in Germany, fertilisers derived from recycled human waste are just as effective as the conventional nitrogen-based types.