Peecycling and humanure are part of a nutrient recycling approach to making and using sanitized and recycled human waste into nutrient dense fertilizer. Also called circular bionutrient economy, CBNE (sometimes CBE) encourages sustainable land management by reducing the need for industrial fertilizers and their adverse climate and environmental effects while providing much needed plant available nutrients through local and regional production of fertilizer.
Note: In all cases you should avoid raw or fresh human waste or sewage as a garden or farm amendment.
Fertilizer from Bionutrient Cycling
Ideally suited for small scale processing and application, bionutrient cycling uses a combination of collection, composting, curing and/or pasteurization where the human waste is processed into either a liquid or solid fertility amendment.
Estimated fertilizer nutrient ranges in the finished products are:
- Human urine: 11-2-2 NPK (though estimates range from 10-1-4 to 20-1.2-4)
- Human manure: 1.1-0.8-0.9 NPK*
The approximate NPK ratios of other processed animal wastes are:
- Cow manure: 1.9-0.7-2.1
- Horse manure: 2.1-1.7-5
- Chicken manure: 3.1-3-3
- Blood meal: 12-0-0
- Bone meal: 3.5-17-0
- Fish blood and bone meal: 5-5-6.5
By comparison, the NPKs of synthetic commercial fertilizers can contain single elemental additives and can range dramatically based on the form of the components. For example, anhydrous urea can have an NPK of 82-0-0, while triple superphosphate can be 0-52-0. But generally speaking, ranges for synthetic commercial fertilizers designed for “all purpose use” are 10-10-10 or adjusted for specific plant or soil conditions such as lawn establishment, ornamental plants or low pH.
Please visit our Fertility and Fertilizers page for more information on fertilizers and how to use them.
*Based on a single study: Jönsson, H., Richert Stintzing, A., Vinnerås, B. and Salomon, E. (2004) Guidelines on the use of urine and faeces in crop production, EcoSanRes Publications Series, Report 2004-2
Health and Safety Considerations
While the products of peecycling and humanure are safe and easy to use for your landscape, garden and farm needs, care throughout processing and application will help avoid disease and/or other pathogen concerns.
- Avoid direct application of fresh human waste products — this can lead to a number of negative outcomes for human and community health.
- Avoid biowaste from ailing or unwell individuals to minimize contaminated fertilizer amendments.
- Avoid sewer and other combined waste stream products to prevent contamination from other toxic materials common to sanitary systems, including sludge (also known as biosolids). The municipal waste feedstock used to create these materials is often contaminated with heavy metals and other toxic or potentially harmful products that may negatively impact human health and the landscape.
Additional Resources
Meet the Peecyclers. Their Idea to Help Farmers is No. 1. New York Times, June 17 2022.
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