Think Circular Next Time You Buy Toiletpaper

The diaper cycle by Dycle in Berlin. Fully compostable diapers are made into healthy, fertile soil to grow fruit trees on. The fruit will feed the babies.

Yes, how ingrained it is. Toiletpaper is a sign of civilization. If we keep this weird notion, how are we ever going to transition into a circular economy? When are we prepared to see that it’s stupid to flush our poo with drinking water, causing many problems in its wake?

Problems: too much nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen and phosphorous cycles are broken. No degrading of the medicine residues in our drinking water. Freshwater waste on a big scale. Wasting valuable nutrients by flushing them while the soil needs it for producing our food.

Solution 1: compost toilets. Composting makes sure the pathogens are killed by either heat or fermentation. The nutrients in the poo can be used on the land again to grow our food. On trees (food forestry), if you don’t like the idea of your own poo feeding your salad leaves.

Solution 2: helofyte filters. You flush with rainwater (maybe a better idea just to keep people happy) and it goes into your garden to be filtered by plants. The nutrients will feed the soil here as well. Just plant some fruit bushes and you’ll have food.

I really hope we can change our feelings about this. Our organic farming will never be able to close the loops if their nutrients are shipped to consumers far away and wasted in one toilet flush…

The image at the top is from Dycle, the great Berlin startup that is using fully compostable diapers. They are fermenting the full diapers, making healthy, fertile soil and growing fruit trees on this soil. The fruit is food for the babies. Talk about circular! This is the way of the future…

Here is a beautiful 5-minute film ‘All my cycle’ by Ayumi Matsuzaka from Berlin. Watch and be surprised by what poo can do for you...