Yellow Water to Aid Food Security—Perceptions/Acceptance of Consumers toward Urine Based Fertilizer

Abstract

Yellow water is a segregated domestic wastewater stream resulting from Ecological Sanitation (ECOSAN). It is mainly source separated human urine which is rich in nutrients. The potential contribution of yellow water as fertilizer to food security is considerable. The use of this potential however is related to the acceptance of the consumers towards urine based fertilizers (UBF). This work aims to assess acceptance of consumers towards UBF and urine diverting toilets (UDT) for separation of urine, through questionnaires with 444 participants from Egypt, Iraq and Turkey with different age groups, genders, educational backgrounds and occupations. The overall acceptance for UDTs and UBF was 62% and 56%, respectively. All-in-all, public opinion regarding the use of UDT/UBF is promising.

Keywords

• source separated human urine
• public perception/acceptance
• urine based fertilizers
• urine diverting toilets
• food security