{"id":18889,"date":"2015-09-18T12:17:21","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T16:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18889"},"modified":"2015-09-18T12:19:01","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T16:19:01","slug":"the-waste-biz-african-entrepreneurs-turning-human-waste-into-fuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-waste-biz-african-entrepreneurs-turning-human-waste-into-fuel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Waste Biz: African Entrepreneurs Turning Human Waste Into Fuel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sanitation<\/a><\/p>\n

Our normal response to human waste: get it away from me as quickly as possible… right? That mindset seems to underscore the modern sewage system: we’ll use whatever resources necessary to get that yucky stuff on its way. Those systems create one big advantage, though: they nearly eliminate the health hazards posed by “doing our business” out in the open, or in shared water sources. As Gabriella Mulligan points out in an article for ensia<\/a><\/em>, “In Kenya alone, the Water and Sanitation Program (part of the World Bank Group\u2019s Water Global Practice) estimates that 19,500 people<\/a> \u2014 including 17,100 children under five years old \u2014 die each year from diarrhea, 90 percent of which is caused by bad sanitation.”<\/p>\n

As we’ve pointed out over and over again, bad sanitation practices aren’t just unhealthy, but also wasteful. Human waste<\/a> (as well as other animal waste) can be turned into a number of useful things, from energy to drinking water<\/a> (really!). If our approach to sewage shifts from “get it away from me” to “let’s collect and make use of this stuff,” we can save lives while creating economic opportunity.<\/p>\n

Mulligan points out three small businesses in Kenya doing just that: turning human waste into fuel.<\/p>\n