A little background information

Eco-sanitation. What is it? 
It's not glamorous, that's for sure.
But it is necessary for a clean planet.



Also referred to as ecosan or eco-san, eco-sanitation is a term used to describe a form of sanitation that usually involves urine diversion and the recycling of water and the nutrients contained within human wastes back into the local environment. The ecosan viewpoint envisions human waste and wastewater as an opportunity. Ecosan systems, when properly designed and operated, provide a hygienically safe, economical, and closed-loop system to convert our human wastes into nutrients which are then returned to the soil, with water also being returned to the land. Solid wastes are converted into a biofuel.  The primary application for ecosan systems has typically been in rural areas where connection to a sanitary sewer system is not a viable option, or where water supplies are too limited.


The main objectives of utilizing this system of ecological sanitation are:

• The reduction of health risks related to sanitation, contaminated water and waste.
• The prevention of pollution of surface and ground water
• Reusing nutrients or energy contained within wastes.

History

Historically, the recovery and use of urine and feces has been practiced by nearly all cultures. Bad sanitation, however, is currently a worldwide problem. Past reuse was not limited to agricultural production. For instance, ancient Romans were aware of the bleaching property of the ammonia from urine and they used it to whiten clothing.

The most comprehensives reuse in agriculture has occurred in China. It is thought that the Chinese have been aware of using excreta in crop production even before 500 B.C. This enabled them to sustain more people at a higher density than any other systems of agriculture. Referred to as "night soil" and utilized as a fertilize, there were well-developed systems in place enabling the collection of excreta from cities and then transporting it to fields. Unfortunately, its use promoted disease to such an extent that subsequently Chinese cuisine developed the practice of thoroughly cooking all vegetables. 

In the urban centers of Yemen, elaborate systems were developed to enable the separation of urine and excreta even in multi-story buildings. Feces were collected from toilets via vertical drop shafts. Urine did not enter the shaft, but passed instead along a channel leading through the wall to the outside where it could evaporate. The feces were not used in agriculture but were dried and burned as a biofuel.

Both the Aztec and Inca cultures, In Mexico and Peru, collected human excreta for agricultural use. In Peru, the Incas had a high regard for excreta as a fertilizer. It was stored, dried and pulverized to be utilized when planting maize.

During the Middle Ages, using excreta and greywater was the norm. As European cities rapidly urbanized, sanitation became an increasingly serious problem and at the same time this became an increasingly important source of agricultural nutrients. The practice of using these nutrients from excreta and wastewater for agriculture continued in Europe well into the middle of the 19th century. Farmers, who recognized the value of excreta, eagerly embraced the reuse and were eager to acquire these fertilizers to increase production and subsequently urban sanitation benefitted. 

Sweden carried out research and demonstration projects for excreta reuse from the 1980's up to the early 21st century. The aim was to develop hygienically safe closed loop sanitation systems. Similar research projects began elsewhere, including Zimbabwe, the Netherlands, Norway, and Germany. They placed their emphasis on the hygenisation of the contaminated flow streams, and shifted the concept from waste disposal to resource conservation and safe reuse.