Human pee and poo are becoming increasingly popular as fertilizer in Japan.
Now an expert hopes that Sweden will follow in the same footsteps.
– I hope we will use much more of this human manure. The more of it we use, the more robust and circular we become, says Markus Hoffman, expert at LRF.
As a result of the war in Ukraine, the prices of mineral fertilizers have skyrocketed, which has not only affected farmers.
– If the farmers get higher costs for growing, the food in the store becomes more expensive. So it’s a cost that increases for everyone, says Markus Hoffman, soil, water and sustainability expert at the Farmers’ Confederation.
But the Japanese found an effective way to keep costs down, while protecting the environment.
It’s spelled pee and poo, from us humans. And now Sweden can follow suit.
– Human excrement may sound simple, but it is actually part of Sweden’s increased food preparedness in order for us to become more circular. And we have already bought and paid for these nutrients that are in the faeces. They are found in households and on farms, says Markus Hoffman.
The problem: Medications and hormones
LRF’s expert is positively disposed to human excrement as a fertilizer alternative. But it also has its difficulties to realize.
– There are a number of things to think about. Partly because pee and poo consist of water and it is expensive to transport water to the fields. Then you need to remove the water and that requires energy, which is affected by energy prices.
– Another thing is that pee and poo naturally contain things that we humans have put in our mouths. And we eat a lot of chemicals, in the form of medicines and hormones for example, so we also need to be careful about that before we spread it on the fields, says Markus Hoffman.
The human fertilizer has become a goldmine for a plant in northern Japan since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, writes TT. Sales have increased by 160 percent and for the first time since 2010, the fertilizer has sold out.
Big cost in Sweden
Markus Hoffman hopes that Sweden will go in the same direction as Japan, but he thinks it may take some time.
Namely, separate treatment plants would be required so that waste water from our toilets does not mix with water from industries and heavy metal-rich rainwater from the roads, which does not do well in our fields.
– Building new systems to collect pee and poo is quite a large expense and it may not be easy to do in the existing building stock in Sweden. So it is primarily when you build new that you can do it right from the start, he says.
Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm and Oceanhamnen in Helsingborg are two examples of areas that already produce this human manure.
– There you collect pee and poo without mixing it with other water. They keep it to themselves and then they dry it and make it into pellets that are spread on the fields, says Markus Hoffman.