The Night Soil Man
Night Soil, is untreated, uncomposted human excrement (aka raw poo). It was commonly used as a fertiliser on farms in the United Kingdom until around 60 years ago.
Night Soil is still used in some countries today, but it comes with health risks because raw human faeces can be a vector for human-to-human disease transmission.
Don’t confuse composted human faeces (humanure) with the dangerous raw stuff - there’s a world of difference between them!
Today, science has shown us that composting human manure will eliminate the potential risks, rendering it safe, and additionally, compost is generally better for the soil than manure.
Benefits of compost over manure
Compost has a better structure to support plant growth and beneficial soil microbes
Compost has less nutrient run off compared to manure - even when it rains, it holds onto the nutrients longer, so they won’t all get washed away
Compost has greater bio-availability of nutrients - plants extend their roots and use soil fungi to ‘talk’ to each other and pull nutrients from the ground.
Using a compost toilet is not taking us backwards hundreds of years – we apply modern scientific rigour, knowledge and understanding so we know that composting is an essential and desirable aspect to dealing with human ‘waste’ and turning it into a safe and valuable resource.
Creating and using ‘humanure’ compost is an essential aspect of a natural, circular economy in which we can start to balance outputs and inputs.
The Night Soil man (or woman) has had their day thankfully, but the day of the compost toilet is just dawning!
The biggest challenge is changing peoples attitude towards compost toilets!