Human waste is the next “Brown Gold”

By Amos Safo 

A study conducted by the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, has found that human waste has enormous economic benefits than expected.

The study noted that human waste is rich in water, nutrients and organic compounds, which unfortunately are going down the drain will little chances of providing economic benefits, especially in poor countries.

Therefore, if only human waste can be recovered and treated, humanity will benefit from its own waste, which has been reclassified as the “Brown Gold.”

The study described “Brown Gold” as the safe (re)use of shit and wastewater that unlocks its potential as an economic resource.  However, harnessing the potential benefits of Brown Gold involves addressing the socio-cultural, economic, political, environmental and technical processes along the sanitation chain.

This requires addressing issues relating to sustainability and social justice confronting society, especially poor communities. The emerging trend offers an opportunity to introduce new approaches and support safety and sustainability along waste-to-food system value chains and prioritises the need to ensure equity.

The ‘Towards Brown Gold’ interdisciplinary research project, led by the Institute of Development Studies explored the potential of reusing excrement as part of the circular sanitation economy in five rapidly urbanising areas in Africa and South Asia. These include Mekelle in Ethiopia, Wa in Ghana, Nanded and Alleppey in India, and Gulariya in Nepal.

The research found that the potential for reusing human waste was limited by the poor condition of sanitation infrastructure, cultural perceptions, a lack of cross-sector collaboration, and a narrative that overpromises the benefits of the circular sanitation economy.

It also found low levels of safely managed sanitation services, particularly in informal areas and for marginalised groups, and extremely poor working conditions for sanitation workers.

Wa, like many fast developing cities in Ghana is an example of how several cities in Ghana facing significant sanitation challenges. These challenges are worsened by a lack of government action and planning, and embedded socio-cultural and gendered practices.

The practice is that private companies and city authorities collect faecal sludge from septic tanks and other containments to dispose of at designated landfill.  Some farmers pay for the faecal sludge to be dumped on their farms to use as fertiliser. Even though this is illegal, it shows a recognition for potential of waste as brown gold

The majority of Ghanaian farmers struggle with soils that are poor in nutrients and organic matter. In peri-urban and rural areas, some farmers attempt to tackle this problem by applying human waste directly onto their fields as a raw form of fertilizer, following traditional practices.

Recovery practices

While some resource recovery practices are long established, such as reusing treated wastewater for irrigation, other applications remain marginal, such as the reuse of urine as a fertiliser, composted faecal waste as fertiliser or soil conditioner, or the production of biogas.

The findings of  the research suggested that the world  might be at the beginning of a brown gold rush.  For instance, some northern European countries have been piloting new approaches aimed at having separate sewers for blackwater and greywater from the home to the treatment plant to maximise resource recovery.

Poor sanitation

Similar initiatives are also happening in low- and middle-income countries, home to most of the 3.5 billion people still lacking access to safe sanitation, according to WHO and UNICEF. For instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched the “reinvent the toilet” challenge over a decade ago, and among its aims was to “recover valuable resources such as energy, clean water, and nutrients” from human waste.

Some of these countries are now planning to take the solutions developed to a commercial scale. There are indications that the so-called circular sanitation economy holds the promise to harness resource recovery to accelerate progress towards safely managed sanitation for all.

Challenges

However, recent research has found that the challenges of resource recovery from human waste might have been underestimated.  It found that potential is limited by the poor condition of existing sanitation infrastructure, cultural perceptions of waste, a lack of cross-sector collaboration, and a narrative that overpromises the benefits of the circular sanitation economy.

It also found low levels of safely managed sanitation services (access to a toilet and treatment of faecal waste) and extremely poor working conditions for sanitation workers. Progress is particularly slow among marginalized people, who  tend to live in informal areas, which are disproportionately underfunded. This is because resources are mostly skewed towards formal areas and where  elites live.

Furthermore, limited understanding of and skills on safely managed sanitation are additional obstacles hindering universal sanitation in rapidly urbanising urban areas.  While studies have proved that localised solutions are critical in these areas, lack of policy direction and financing is hampering proper management of sanitation.

Moreover, capital-intensive sanitation and waste management systems that serve bigger cities are getting the lion’s share of the investments in the sector.

Recommendations

The “Towards Brown Gold” research project highlights six ways decision-makers can realise the potential for resource recovery from human waste in rapidly urbanising areas, and to accelerate progress towards universal safely managed sanitation:

Prioritise sanitation management

National and urban level governments need to create, reform, and implement policies, strategies, and regulations to ensure there are sufficient funding for everybody to have access to a toilet at home. This will ensure that  faecal waste is managed in a way that protects public health and the environment.

This involves acknowledging the prevalence of non-sewered systems and making them central to revised policy and financing. Attention should be on reaching and involving communities and residents who are poor and marginalised by society, such as those living in informal settlements.

Inclusive sanitation planning

Urban planners and policymakers need to address the multifaceted challenges of sanitation in an inclusive way. This calls for recognising historical and social contexts of sanitation issues, and how communities who are marginalised experience sanitation. The voices of these communities should be central in the planning process, and in holding authorities and service providers to account.

Rights of sanitation workers

Governments need to properly recognise the crucial roles of sanitation workers -those emptying septic tanks and pits, unblocking sewers or operating treatment plants to keep communities clean. Recognising their work includes protecting their rights to fair wages, social security, safety at work and self-organisation (such as with unions). Sanitation efforts must always include the health, safety, and dignity of sanitation workers, both formal and informal.

Promoting the circular sanitation

It has long been proved that reusing treated faecal waste, such as for  irrigation or as compost has positive impacts for the economy, the environment and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

This so-called circular sanitation economy can help accelerate progress, but overselling the benefits of the circular sanitation economy can be counterproductive. For instance, when the potential return from reuse is exaggerated, it undermines the message that public investment is critical to ensure sanitation services for all.

In that regard, the promotion of the circular sanitation economy should include both its benefits and challenges.  Public policy should aim at integrating sanitation to close any gaps in access to toilets and to address the whole sanitation service chain.

Ground reuse efforts

Furthermore, those designing and leading sanitation circular economy initiatives should ensure that their efforts are grounded in local economic, social and cultural contexts. This includes considering economic aspects such as where farmers buy compost, or whether other product types are more profitable.

It also includes social aspects such as cultural perceptions of waste, or how to effectively raise awareness of the benefits of reuse. Engaging an interdisciplinary team is an effective way of doing this, by combining natural and social sciences, as well as art-based approaches to community engagement.

Reform policy to enable reuse

Finally, policy makers need to invest in understanding and improving the enabling environment (policies and regulations, coordination mechanisms, accountability channels) for sanitation in general, and reuse in particular.

Unfortunately, in Ghana human waste is still being discharged directly into the sea with very little efforts at turning it into the “Brown Gold.” Perhaps, the recommendations of this study will awaken our policy makers to embrace the emerging power of human excreta as the new “Brown Gold.”

Reference

González, AH,  O’Donovan-Iland, B &  Mehta, L. 2024. “Is the world prepared for a brown gold rush?” Institute of Development Studies. Sussex.

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