On 5 Oct 2003 04:55:15 -0700, ken cohen wrote:

On our allotment there is no functioning toilet, and my thoughts have
recently turned to the topic of composting human manure. I've been
checking out various things on the internet, and composting human
faeces seems to be fraught with all kinds of difficulties. But some
people are suggesting that it makes a lot of sense to focus more on
keeping urine separate from faeces, and using it as a rich
bacteria-free source of nitrogen, pottasium and phosphorus. You need
to dilute it with water (one suggestion was 1:8) before it is usable.
But is it then usable immediately? Anyone tried it? Isn't there
going to be a serious problem with smell? Are there any legal issues
to be considered?

I've used urine off and on for years. Even when it's gone rotten
and stinky, if you dilute it (1:2 is enough), there's no odor --
as long as you don't keep putting it all on the same spot. Dilute
it more highly and sprinkle from a watering can over your entire
allotment; no one will ever know what's coming out of the rose if
you are discreet!

Urine is a wonderful compost activator and can be used full
strength for that purpose, but for feeding growing plants,
dilution around 1:4 or 1:5 is what I've seen recommended. For
some mysterious reason, some plants respond very well to dilute
urine when they don't respond to other fertilizers. Inexplicable.


As for feces, there are a few gardeners here who put feces in
their compost piles. The word of caution is that if you grow
vegetables and do this, the crop should be served only to the
family members who contributed to its fertilization. Personally,
I think using fecal material in the garden is taking an
unnecessary risk for very little benefit. One only has to read
Dickens to be reminded of the high incidence of disease before
efficient waste disposal systems were built.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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