[Greenbuilding] fertilizer from human waste

[RT]

On Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:45:39 -0500, Benjamin Pratt  
<benjamin.g.pratt at gmail.com> wrote:

> Not sure if this is happening anywhere else, but I'm glad it's
> happening here. Hope to go pick some up this spring!
>
> http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_22367291/from-your-toilet-your-dining-table

Not sure if I like the MinneGrow process or not.

My first reaction was to think:

     "Another example of the Murrican penchant for needless gizmological  
complexification of an otherwise simple, natural process"

when I saw that Minnegro heats the humanure up to 1500 degF, previously  
using petro-fuel to do so but modifying the process to use methane  
off-gassed from the humanure to reduce their petro-fuel consumption by 75%.

The thoughts going through my mind were:

  (1) Waste of fuel that could have been directed to other uses, letting  
organisms do the work instead
  (2) Doesn't the heating to 1500 degrees effectively render the material  
lifeless ?
      ie The reason I like to use compost is because it is full of living,  
beneficial bacteria and hopefully many worms. The temperatures in domestic  
compost piles seldom exceed 160 degF, plenty hot enough to kill pathogens  
that might be found in some manures.)

      Wouldn't pelletised material that has been cooked at 1500 degF result  
in a dead material not all that dissimilar from the synthetic chemical  
fertiliser that creates the type of dead soil that requires perpetual  
additions of chemical supplements in order for plant material to look  
reasonably healthy ?

I also remember years ago when the subject of the use of municipal  
bio-solids (aka sewage sludge from municipal treament plants) on farmers'  
fields raised howls of anger from many listmembers from some US states who  
claimed that pharmaceuticals, toxic chemicals from household cleaners, and  
heavy metals (from who knows where) were present in the municipal material  
and was responsible for all sorts of undesirable health issues experienced  
by people living downstream from where the municipal bio-solids were being  
spread on fields.

Perhaps those complaints from the old days were what prompted Minnegro to  
heat their product to 1500 degrees ? If so, I would think that it would do  
little to address the issue of heavy metals. Not sure what it would do to  
the toxins from chemicals dumped into the municipal sewage by unthinking  
knuckleheads.

Me ? I think that if I were using municipal compost on my vegetable  
gardens, I'd stick to using the stuff that is made from composted yard  
waste and reserve the stuff made from from municipal bio-solids for  
flowerbeds and such-like. Although, if a municipality allows the  use of  
herbicides and pesticides on lawns, then I think that I'd forego the use  
of municipal yard waste compost on my vegetable gardens as well.

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom					AOD257
Kanata, Ontario, Canada

< A r c h i L o g i c  at  Y a h o o  dot  c a  >
(manually winnow the chaff from my edress if you hit "reply")