On a Wednesday evening in France, Nicolas nestles two jugs of yellow liquid into his bike panniers and rides to a small warehouse where he’ll get produce from a local farmer. After he picks up carrots, greens and potatoes, Nicolas leaves something for the farmer: his urine. France has thousands of CSAs — community supported […]
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You flushed, they decked out City Hall: How this Oregon community grows wood from wastewater leftovers
From ancient times to modern-day, some places manage water and excreta in a smart way. Recently, I visited one — the Biocycle Farm in Eugene, Oregon. Flush the toilet in this town, and here’s a surprise: your contribution may be transformed into an eco-friendly building material — poplar trees. This climate-friendly practice recycles nutrients, keeps […]
Continue readingMore TagThis building gets the gold: Here’s how it converts human urine into an eco-fertilizer
On a chilly day in February, Pat Lando gave me a tour of an amazing building — the PAE Living Building in Portland. Lando is the executive director of Recode and the co-founder of Nutrient Recovery Services where he works on building-scale nutrient and water recycling systems. In the PAE building, different systems recycle water […]
Continue readingMore TagA better way to go? Here’s 7 takeaways from a toilet museum
“Half the world needs a toilet while the other half needs a better one.” That’s according to the Bill and Melinda Gate’s Foundation. It’s critical the 3.5 billion people who currently lack safe sanitation options get them. But what’s wrong with the rest of our toilets? A few things, it turns out: Flush toilets […]
Continue readingMore TagFit for a pharaoh: Lessons from ancient Egyptian toilets
The ancient Egyptians were technology superstars. Their towering pyramids, mummified dead, and exquisite art still impress. Another earthly treasure they left behind is more practical — it’s their toilets. These urban, waterless toilets kept poop out of the nearby river. Did they also protect people from diseases that plagued other cities? The earliest Egyptian toilets […]
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