Ecological sanitation closes the loop between sanitation and agriculture

The concept behind ecological sanitation (ecosan) is that sanitation problems could be solved more sustainably and efficiently if the resources contained in excreta and wastewater were recovered and used rather than discharged into the water bodies and the surrounding environment.

The end-of-pipe sanitary systems that are used today are based on the modern misconception that human excreta are simply wastes with no useful purpose and must be disposed of.

Ecological sanitation is a new paradigm in sanitation that recognises human excreta and water from households not as waste but as resources that can be recovered, treated where necessary and safely used again.

Ideally, ecological sanitation systems enable a complete recovery of nutrients in household wastewater and their reuse in agriculture. In this way, they help preserve soil fertility and safeguard long-term food security, whilst minimising the consumption and pollution of water resources.

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GTZ started an international ecosan research and development program in May 2001.

See here for ecosan website in German

www.gtz.de