toilet issues [infographics]

As Western Europe is currently gasping under the worst drought in 500 years (?), a few sentences heard on the French public radio, about domestic grey water double-usage, as well as an email from>Nature about the above infographics winning a prize this year, made me re-ponder about the unsustainable way flush toilets process human waste, from wasting insane amounts of drinkable water to requiring energy-greedy processing plants. Not to mention the wipes-induced fatbergs. The above is one of several urine diversion toilets that divert it from the solids and, provided it is processed properly, turn it into a high quality fertilizer. Maybe the current water crisis will push towards new waste management policies, more sustainable.

In the same article, the attitude towards food grown with human fertilizers was shown as highest in France and at first I thought this was unsurprising given that wastewater here was recycled into the water cycle, but this is not at all the case. Only 1% is reused for irrigation (or wasted, since it is for golf courses!).