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People Fixing The World

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Discover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place

Discover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.

Discover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.

A weekly programme looking at common challenges around the world and the creative ways people are trying to tackle them.

Presenter Myra Anubi speaks to reporters, experts and innovators to investigate how effective different solutions are, share their successes and inspire listeners with what is possible.

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People Fixing The World: The treasure in our toilets

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The treasure in our toilets

24/03/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - People Fixing The World, The treasure in our toilets

How human sewage is being recycled to recover a valuable chemical

We visit the Netherlands, where human sewage is being recycled into a valuable phosphate fertiliser

Human sewage contains lots of valuable nutrients, so should we be recycling it?
 
One of these nutrients is phosphorus, a key ingredient in fertiliser. We need fertilisers to meet the demands of the planet’s growing population, but there is a limited supply of phosphorus. Once it finds its way into the sea it becomes impossible to recover.
 
And yet we all excrete about half a kilogram of the stuff a year, making cities a potentially rich source of the element. In the Netherlands human sludge is already being processed to recover phosphorus and recycle it into a high-tech fertiliser which will not leach into the environment.
 
Reporter: William Kremer
Photo: Getty images

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