How Bangladesh is transforming sewage into compost

With global production of phosphorous expected to peak by 2030, farmers will need to find alternative sources of this vital crop nutrient.

But there is one source that many people have access to: human waste. It’s an opportunity researchers have been exploring in Bangladesh.

They are studying systems for collecting and processing household sewage and turning it into safe, nutritious compost. It could give farmers access to an alternative source of phosphorus, as well as providing business opportunities for compost producers.

The Value at the End of the Sanitation Value-Chain (VESV) project is led by the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds (UK), in conjunction with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), the NGO Forum for Public Health, and Mati Organics. It is financed by IRC on behalf of BRAC.

You can learn more about the process of sewage into compost here.