You mean using the composted waste on gardens? No real knowledge, I've read differing opinions also. We use Milorganite on our lawn, which is human waste. But it's been processed at high temps. Still. ..just the thought keeps me from using it on my food. (And it's pretty high in nitrogen).

I have a composting toilet - which is not the love of my life. I won’t go into the details but it is fussy and yucky to deal with. I know people who are proponents of ’humanure’ - who are also spectacular gardeners. However the ick factor is too high for me. The compost I get from my toilet goes in separate compost bins that are left to break down for a few more years before I use it and not in my vegetable garden. Mostly this is me being sqeamish.

You might be surprised to hear the numbers of farmers who get the composted solids from the sanitary sewer plants. And they even buy it ... by the truckload.

Humanure would vary greatly from animal/livestock waste. Animals don't use soaps and toothpaste etc ... (said captain obvious)

This quick link/read should answer your questions. At least how I see it...HERE

And further side bar articles for more information.

I have researched. 20+ years ago we considered one. I'm not at all squeamish about poop. Everybody poops...birds, bears, cock roaches, darn barn field mice that took another yarn ball and ran it all over...pooped during their party. We have yarn running all over the barn. (and poop).

We have no water issues. Two natural springs running off the surrounding mountains. And look at NYC. Would not exist without a water supply that rarely suffers.

I do have issues at the Newfoundland home. So we have considered a second "powder room' when we renovate. Much better options than 20 years ago.

In a suffering climate with low water it is a no brainer. I would have that second 'half bath' powder room for daily use.

Not sure what your intentions are for asking but I have worm composted for at least 20 years being convenient just outside my kitchen door...(not a pooper) just compost.

My farm garden is a football field from the barn and off grid so dcarch needs to recognize that other gardeners have different growing conditions ...and wildlife that WILL dig up his method within hours.

Milorganite is recycled sewage sludge so most definitely human waste as well as other inputs. The terms for these types of products is biosolids and they make excellent fertilizers after the degree of processing they go through. Many places manufacture them - Milorganite is just the oldest and most well known brand.

I would use vermicompost anywhere in my garden in a heartbeat!! Am a little less inclined to use biosolids on any edible crops but would use it readily on any ornamental plantings. The products of a home composting toilet have not gone through the filtering, refining and purification of a commercially processed biosolid so I would not use them personally anywhere in my garden other than as a modest (not primary) ingredient of a regular compost pile. And I would not use that on any edibles either.

According to information:

"Number one, Milorganite is not made out of No. 2. Let's get
that straight from the get-go. Despite what you may have heard, this
Milwaukee-made fertilizer does not contain human feces."

"No. It’s been a common misconception that Milorganite is “poop in a bag.”
Milorganite is composed of microbes that have eaten well, died, and been dried. "

On the other hand, many locations have their drinking water made from treated sewer slug with human waste in it.

Everything you eat or drink is always 100% recycled from waste, no exceptions.

dcarch

Hi Plllog!!!! I've missed seeing you!

I've done vermicomposting for years, in apartments I've lived in. At one time I had 4 large bins going. We eat a lot of fresh food and I always had lots of food to give them. I froze it first, to break it down, so they'd consume it faster.

I was known as the vermicompost lady for a while, and I'd get calls and emails to pick up their bins as they weren't working for them. One bin I got had a whole carrot laying on top of the soil. Well, worms don't have teeth, and that would take forever to break down enough for them to slurp away at it.

When our city went to green bin collection, I eventually gave up the 'lads'. Our landlords have a garden and I'd give them the compost to use in the garden. They loved it, and the plants thrived.

Our city gives away compost from the green bins every year but I'd never use it on gardens and edible plants, only in flowerbeds. Cat waste can be put in the green bin, and I can't for the life of me think that that would be good in the compost, but there it is. People would be putting all kinds of medications etc, and I wouldn't want to ingest it.

Milorganite is a biosolid. And biosolids are nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of domestic sewage
in a wastewater treatment facility (i.e., treated sewage sludge). So while there is nothing in the product as sold that would resemble human feces, unless the city of Milwaukee has a very sophisticated sewer system that is able to differentiate and separate different types of sewage input, human waste (including feces) went into its making.

By the time the product is packaged and sold, all the original organic material has been fully digested by microorganisms, the majority of any heavy metals filtered out and the end result resembles a finely textured granular fertilizer with minimal scent. Which is exactly what it is.......only one that is derived from sewage. And we all know what sewage contains :-)

ETA: yard waste compost (ie. the "green bins") is also pretty safe and innocuous as well. The process of composting is a great neutralizer in that it breaks down into basic elemental components pretty much anything organic that is included in it. And especially in a commercial composting operation, which is able to develop and maintain much higher composting temps and for longer periods than just about any home pile. So weeds and their seeds, diseased plant material, animal waste (including dead animals) and even most pesticides and pharmaceuticals are effectively degraded and broken down into a harmless and very garden-friendly end product.

Hi Jasdip! I've been around. Just off time with the rest of the world. Always good to see you too! Interesting point about the green bins. Ours are supposed to be limited to garden trimmings and vegetable peelings (though vegan foods like bread are also acceptable, though nothing processed like paper or lumber). Who knows what people put in it though? Fun to think of you as the worm lady. :) If I were a better gardener, I'd probably try it for the plant waste, but I don't want to be the one giving away compost, like the zucchini people. ;)

Sleevendog, thanks for the link. That's about regular composting toilets, which I know about, including their limitations. It's a good article, but I didn't pursue the links because they also didn't seem to be about worms. My main purpose at the moment is information, and often the people here are better digesters of information, than a primary search. It's like getting half a dozen lit reviews. :)

The bits I've seen on TV about worm composting toilets, which are large, and are fed the kitchen and garden wastes as well as the human wastes, seem to imply that at the end, the wastes are all completely digested and ready for planting, unlike the standard composting toilets that make sludge ready to put in a regular compost heap. What they don't say is whether the ready for planting is ready for planting near food. I get it that a lot of that depends on the expertise of the worm farmer, the composition of what is being composted, etc. That's another reason I thought I'd ask here. For a real answer, rather than a lawyerly triple covered a$$ answer. Other than on a few trail rides as a youngster, I've never really had to worry about poop. Even in the boonies, if you can drive there, there have been some kind of appropriate receptacle and someone else's job to deal with it.

Dcarch, you're right, of course, that it's all recycled. I think the issue is how recently and thoroughly. :) I know a lot more about water. The latest in larger volume water filters are basically big urns of sediment. :) Imagine that!

Thanks, everybody!