michael, is working the scare monger field it seems, he has unrealistic phobia about what we need to do to help the planet, we do not live in those old time in england where hygiene was the issue and poor health due to poor food regime, the poor scavenged out of bins, the rich ate rotting meat heavily spiced. we had a composting loo and also a bucket system we buried the bucket contents weekly and grew food trees over it, the composting toilet went to gardens etc.,. we shared much food within our extended family and with friends and neighbours. no complaints ever no one got sick let alone deceased like is being suggested, yet you support sewerage being recycled and returned to you and others as drinking water, the humus from the sewerage farm (where all waste goes eg.,. hospital, industrial teh list could go on and on). the humus gets mixed into the composted stuff that people grab from refuse collection points, it gets added into potting mixes and garden supplements, in that stuff from the tip they pour in liquid waste from all sorts of medium industries. so move on hey you are beating a worn out drum, think of the planet that is being raped by gov' and wealthy manipulators do your bit. this fear factor thing has been going for at least 15 years, i have said these words way back then. and guess what we are still here as healthy as ever. and whilst we don't have a composting toilet(would love to have one) i wee in a bucket and we use all our second hand water. the genie is in your thoughts. old england is past history. we have a life.

I'm amused that anyone could be "grossed out" by someone using urine in their compost or directly applying it to ornamental's. My city's drinking water comes from a river. The water is filtered, chlorinated, and tested for 30-40 common pollutants. There are thousands of chemical compounds in use that are not tested for but commonly discarded into the waste stream plus human and animal urine. Then it is pumped to our houses for our use. We flush (discard) our wastes into the sewer. It gets filtered, chlorinated, and put back into the river for the next lucky recipient. By utilizing our urine we are actually making the downstream water somewhat cleaner plus using our homemade fertilizer where it will do some good. I hope anyone who is paranoid about urine in the garden is lucky enough to be at the headwaters of the aquifer their water is drawn from or have a great well far from any pollution sources. Seven billion people and industries without a conscience on this earth - truly clean water is a crap-shoot.

I confess, I don't completely understand "manure tea" (what robbieg wants to put on the garden). I thought "compost tea" was expressly for distributing the good bacteria and fungi that tend to exist in a healthy compost heap (along with dilute amounts of soluble minerals, but I've always figured there isn't so very much of that since the good stuff is tied up in organics and not so very soluble). So, is manure tea all about those soluble nutrients? If robbieg is worried about possible pathogens ... then the purpose of the tea can't be spreading the life that's in there, right? (I grasp that there are differences of opinion about whether and how much of those pathogens are likely to be present, in part because we don't know exactly how long ago this stuff was in the horse or what's transpired in between....) I guess I'm saying, I understand why one would want manures in the garden - they are all great organic material (tho some with drawbacks - seeds, perhaps pathogens, perhaps too "hot" as in the case of chicken manure). But why steep a tea outta the stuff, keeping the organic material OUT of that soil, and drench with the tea? (Sorry if it should be obvious and thanks in advance for the enlightenment!)

A person needs to compost what they feel comfortable with. If you are not comfortable with poo in your pile, don't use it. If you are looking for a way to dispose of pet waste and you feel comfortable composting pet waste, then go ahead and compost it. And understand that poo could be a potential vector for a disease or parasites. If you are comfortable with your piles ability to heat up to kill pathogens and you are diligent about proper hygene (washing your food and hands) then go ahead and compost poo. I do find this comment on a compost forum a bit confusing. "The post about the leggionaires disease also tells me that it is important to keep as much bacteria out of the soil as possible." I think the post about leggionaires disease was to remind people to use proper hygene and precautions when handling the compost. Trying to keep bacteria out of soil is contrary to what composting is all about. As we are adding organic matter to increase microbial activity in the soil.