5 ms·
Composting human fecal matter seems like a very bad idea hygienically, because of parasites (flatworms, roundworms, protozoa, etc.).
by nsajko 7y ago
Composting human fecal matter seems like a very bad idea hygienically, because of parasites (flatworms, roundworms, protozoa, etc.).
- praptak 7y agoDoesn't industrial composting use heat to deal with pathogens?
- nsajko 7y agoI am far from an expert, but for biodegradation you need bacteria, earthworms, etc.; which would die, too, if you killed the harmful worms and bacteria; meaning you would need to mix in other ones. That whole process of killing almost everything and then colonizing again seems like quite an overhead.
- pastage 7y agoSure but you really do not need that high temperatures, you get enough heat in a humanure compost (aerobic and active) to kill the common pathogens dangerous for humans.
- nsajko 7y agoSource needed. Firstly, I doubt heat alone is what kills those pathogens that do die. Secondly, parasitic worm eggs and especially some parasitic protozoans are more resistant than pathogenic bacteria.
- cco 7y agoIt is not a bad idea per se, just harder to do vs. non-human waste composting. Temperatures have to be more tightly regulated and obviously the handling of the raw waste carries an increased risk for workers but it is not working with dynamite levels of risk, it is relatively safe.
- nsajko 7y agoYou seem to be more knowledgeable on the matter than me, do you know how long parasitic worm eggs or protozoan cysts need to compost in the worst case before ceasing to be viable?
- 11235813213455 7y agoRight, people have very different diets, more or less natural, some have many parasites, or are on some drugs, so their fecal matter are much less easy to process. But there are already problems with traces of drugs in tap water, so it can't be that bad, there are many things like mushrooms, or bacteria at a smaller scale, capable to recycle toxicity