3 ms·
Japan returns to a cheap alternative fertiliser made from human waste
- 32gbsd 3y agoI don't see a problem with this at all. Maybe it's cheap because it's not as good? I am not sure.
- ogurechny 3y agoSpread of diseases and parasites is one of the reasons it's usually prohibited across the world, despite the amounts of waste people produce. Safe processing methods are still to be found. Sure, materials can be irradiated to sterilize them, but facilities to mass-irradiate truckloads of fertilizer are itself a problem. Random YouTube video on that topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V4q59o_mjU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V4q59o_mjU
- 32gbsd 3y agoGood info
- wrp 3y agoI've read accounts from Americans living in post-WW2 Japan. Intestinal worms were nearly universal due to the use of human waste as fertilizer. In one account from a missionary, he noted that a Korean colleague of his didn't have worms, and he attributed it to the high dosage of garlic in the Korean diet. This guy went on a garlic binge for a month and he said it cleaned out the worms. I'm skeptical of this story, because if the Korean diet prevented worms, the Koreans wouldn't have had worms, but they did and in fact still do in North Korea.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoI don't know if I can believe the anecdotes, but apparently, human waste is used to fertilize crops in Mexico and South America, if only incidentally, because they say the workers aren't allowed to have bathroom breaks, so they just go wherever they are at the time.