{"id":1727,"date":"2022-11-23T10:22:29","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T09:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enpc.ergeais.com\/?p=1727"},"modified":"2025-07-29T14:43:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T12:43:50","slug":"lets-stop-wasting-human-excretions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/articles\/lets-stop-wasting-human-excretions\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s stop wasting human excretions!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"\"
\u00a9 oticki (source : Adobe Stock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The observation is now shared by national and international institutions: the development of industrial societies has generated a global socio-ecological crisis that is threatening our territories and our future. The transformations required to deal with this crisis are radical and the changes currently underway are not sufficient (see for example the reports by the IPCC, the IPBES, the High Council for the Climate, etc.). In this context, to quote the philosopher Isabelle Stengers, “what can we create today that could possibly be a resource for those who follow?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water quality under pressure in the Seine basin<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The OCAPI program1<\/a><\/sup>, led by the laboratory, has been engaged in interdisciplinary action research (LEESU<\/a>) since 2014 in an attempt to contribute to these issues. The origin of OCAPI is enlightening: in the early 2010s, a thematic working group on wastewater management in Greater Paris highlighted an extremely high level of tension. The quality of the Seine has greatly improved over the past several decades, with colossal investments in reservoirs, sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants. But the quality of the water in the Seine is still not good enough and, via the Channel, France contributes to degrading the quality of water as far as the North Sea, violating the international OSPAR (Oslo-Paris) convention. The Greater Paris project is expected to worsen the situation: the expected sharp increase in the metropolitan population will automatically increase the quantities of wastewater to be treated and, in view of the very high treatment yields already achieved and the difficulty of improving further, discharges into the river are also set to increase. In addition, climate change is leading to increasingly low water levels, and therefore a lower dilution capacity of treated wastewater, which further deteriorates the water quality of rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rethinking wastewater management<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, the majority of the materials to be treated in wastewater come from… toilets! From Greater Paris to the bathroom, the OCAPI program has spent eight years exploring this often forgotten aspect of our society: human excretions. By engaging in critical reflection on a paradigm that seems to be at an impasse, OCAPI is pulling on an interdisciplinary thread of research that carries with it countless issues in our society: water pollution, public health, social justice, climate change, food resilience, gender equality, global geopolitics, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first conceptual contribution of the OCAPI program is to rethink wastewater management not as the treatment of urban pollution but as a link in the nutrition\/excretion system of a city. This expression refers to the fact that every human society must organize itself to produce its food, allow the feeding of the population and then manage the resulting excretions. We excrete most of the carbon we ingest when we exhale; all the other nutrients we ingest (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, etc.) end up being completely excreted, after use by the body, mostly in the urine, secondarily in the feces. Our metabolism theoretically allows an effective circular economy of nutrients because the body stores almost none2<\/a><\/sup>. How does the French nutrient economy of our nutrition\/excretion systems work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towards food sobriety<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The results of the OCAPI program show that our systems are not biophysically sustainable at any point. Diets, for one, do not respect the fundamental principle of sobriety. The strong growth in material consumption in Western countries since the 1950s has also led to an overconsumption of food and a very large increase in the proportion of animal products. The French eat 50% more protein (which contains dietary nitrogen) than their physiological requirements, with harmful health consequences (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, etc.). For sustainable management of wastewater, it would be advisable first to improve the quality of nutrition, comfortably respecting physiological requirements, while lowering the cost of this food for all and its environmental consequences. Without any new technology and as well as improving everyone’s health, we can reduce nutrient pollution in aquatic environments by one third!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valorizing nutrients from our excretions: a strategic priority<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

France imports all the resources it needs to produce its mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. For the past 100 years, we have been implementing a logic of concealment and externalization of our excrement: the flush toilet is convenient for the user, which explains its popularity, but its current use is unsustainable. Sewers carry our excrement out of cities and partially transfer the richness of nutrients to rivers and seas, which become eutrophic3<\/a><\/sup>. Western societies have put in place palliative solutions whose ecological and economic cost is difficult to sustain: river water purification plants, wastewater treatment plants before discharge into rivers. Although Paris was using the nutrients from human fertilizers in agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century, we have experienced 100 years of regression in our ability to use the resources that each of us produces on a daily basis (see graph).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nitrogen recycling rate of human excretions in the Paris area<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\u00a9 Fabien Esculier, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By reconsidering the possibility of separating urine and\/or feces at the source, our work invites us to rethink the accessibility, for all, to modes of management of our excretions that allow for an equitable sharing of the wealth, the creation of local jobs that cannot be relocated for the organization of the corresponding sectors, and the inclusion of the fertilizing materials produced in a collaboration between future cities and autonomous, local and resilient agricultural systems. The OCAPI program is part of a dynamic in which many territories are participating, starting today, in (re)building their resilience for present and future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text adapted from an article published in Le Cahier des Ponts n\u00b04<\/a>, La r\u00e9silience urbaine, March 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. Organization of the Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus cycles in the territories, see: www.leesu.fr\/ocapi.. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. Even during childhood and adolescence, the rate of storage in the body remains low in relation to total flows \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. Eutrophication refers to the phenomenon of enrichment of aquatic environments with nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus). It causes major algal growth and can lead to total deoxygenation and disappearance of almost all aquatic life. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The observation is now shared by national and international institutions: the development of industrial societies has generated a global socio-ecological […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_related_content_post":[],"_related_content_subject":[937,124],"_related_content_author":[1731],"_related_content_category":[1716],"_related_content_folder":[4231],"_excerpt":"The OCAPI<\/a> research and action program, coordinated by Fabien Esculier, aims to study and accompany the evolution of nutrition\/excretion systems, with a particular focus on source separation in wastewater management.","_duration":4,"_manual_duration":false,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"Organization of the Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus cycles in the territories, see: www.leesu.fr\/ocapi..\",\"id\":\"44ce4e5b-ad3b-4d06-b6d6-e1d0a26852e3\"},{\"content\":\"Even during childhood and adolescence, the rate of storage in the body remains low in relation to total flows\",\"id\":\"52d716b4-c308-4fec-a708-f8e10ff1adae\"},{\"content\":\"Eutrophication refers to the phenomenon of enrichment of aquatic environments with nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus). It causes major algal growth and can lead to total deoxygenation and disappearance of almost all aquatic life.\",\"id\":\"847d664d-24fe-40dc-9327-0111326987d7\"}]"},"article-types":[13],"class_list":["post-1727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article-types-article"],"has_blocks":true,"block_data":[{"blockName":"enpc\/excerpt","attrs":{"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"","innerContent":[],"rendered":""},{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"id":2363,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none","align":"wide","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/bandeau_Esculier_Terra_Laurent_Mignaux-1024x680.jpg","alt":"","caption":"\u00a9 oticki (source : Adobe Stock)","lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"wp-block-image alignwide size-large","style":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    \"\"
    \u00a9 oticki (source : Adobe Stock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n
    \"\"
    \u00a9 oticki (source : Adobe Stock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n
    \"\"
    \u00a9 oticki (source : Adobe Stock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The observation is now shared by national and international institutions: the development of industrial societies has generated a global socio-ecological crisis that is threatening our territories and our future. The transformations required to deal with this crisis are radical and the changes currently underway are not sufficient (see for example the reports by the IPCC, the IPBES, the High Council for the Climate, etc.). In this context, to quote the philosopher Isabelle Stengers, \"what can we create today that could possibly be a resource for those who follow?\"","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":"","backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    The observation is now shared by national and international institutions: the development of industrial societies has generated a global socio-ecological crisis that is threatening our territories and our future. The transformations required to deal with this crisis are radical and the changes currently underway are not sufficient (see for example the reports by the IPCC, the IPBES, the High Council for the Climate, etc.). In this context, to quote the philosopher Isabelle Stengers, \"what can we create today that could possibly be a resource for those who follow?\"<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n

    The observation is now shared by national and international institutions: the development of industrial societies has generated a global socio-ecological crisis that is threatening our territories and our future. The transformations required to deal with this crisis are radical and the changes currently underway are not sufficient (see for example the reports by the IPCC, the IPBES, the High Council for the Climate, etc.). In this context, to quote the philosopher Isabelle Stengers, \"what can we create today that could possibly be a resource for those who follow?\"<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    The observation is now shared by national and international institutions: the development of industrial societies has generated a global socio-ecological crisis that is threatening our territories and our future. The transformations required to deal with this crisis are radical and the changes currently underway are not sufficient (see for example the reports by the IPCC, the IPBES, the High Council for the Climate, etc.). In this context, to quote the philosopher Isabelle Stengers, \"what can we create today that could possibly be a resource for those who follow?\"<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textColor":"red","textAlign":"","content":"Water quality under pressure in the Seine basin","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"wp-block-heading has-red-color has-text-color","style":"","backgroundColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    Water quality under pressure in the Seine basin<\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n

    Water quality under pressure in the Seine basin<\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    Water quality under pressure in the Seine basin<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The OCAPI program1, led by the laboratory, has been engaged in interdisciplinary action research (LEESU) since 2014 in an attempt to contribute to these issues. The origin of OCAPI is enlightening: in the early 2010s, a thematic working group on wastewater management in Greater Paris highlighted an extremely high level of tension. The quality of the Seine has greatly improved over the past several decades, with colossal investments in reservoirs, sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants. But the quality of the water in the Seine is still not good enough and, via the Channel, France contributes to degrading the quality of water as far as the North Sea, violating the international OSPAR (Oslo-Paris) convention. The Greater Paris project is expected to worsen the situation: the expected sharp increase in the metropolitan population will automatically increase the quantities of wastewater to be treated and, in view of the very high treatment yields already achieved and the difficulty of improving further, discharges into the river are also set to increase. In addition, climate change is leading to increasingly low water levels, and therefore a lower dilution capacity of treated wastewater, which further deteriorates the water quality of rivers.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":"","backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    The OCAPI program1<\/a><\/sup>, led by the laboratory, has been engaged in interdisciplinary action research (LEESU<\/a>) since 2014 in an attempt to contribute to these issues. The origin of OCAPI is enlightening: in the early 2010s, a thematic working group on wastewater management in Greater Paris highlighted an extremely high level of tension. The quality of the Seine has greatly improved over the past several decades, with colossal investments in reservoirs, sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants. But the quality of the water in the Seine is still not good enough and, via the Channel, France contributes to degrading the quality of water as far as the North Sea, violating the international OSPAR (Oslo-Paris) convention. The Greater Paris project is expected to worsen the situation: the expected sharp increase in the metropolitan population will automatically increase the quantities of wastewater to be treated and, in view of the very high treatment yields already achieved and the difficulty of improving further, discharges into the river are also set to increase. In addition, climate change is leading to increasingly low water levels, and therefore a lower dilution capacity of treated wastewater, which further deteriorates the water quality of rivers.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n

    The OCAPI program1<\/a><\/sup>, led by the laboratory, has been engaged in interdisciplinary action research (LEESU<\/a>) since 2014 in an attempt to contribute to these issues. The origin of OCAPI is enlightening: in the early 2010s, a thematic working group on wastewater management in Greater Paris highlighted an extremely high level of tension. The quality of the Seine has greatly improved over the past several decades, with colossal investments in reservoirs, sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants. But the quality of the water in the Seine is still not good enough and, via the Channel, France contributes to degrading the quality of water as far as the North Sea, violating the international OSPAR (Oslo-Paris) convention. The Greater Paris project is expected to worsen the situation: the expected sharp increase in the metropolitan population will automatically increase the quantities of wastewater to be treated and, in view of the very high treatment yields already achieved and the difficulty of improving further, discharges into the river are also set to increase. In addition, climate change is leading to increasingly low water levels, and therefore a lower dilution capacity of treated wastewater, which further deteriorates the water quality of rivers.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    The OCAPI program1<\/a><\/sup>, led by the laboratory, has been engaged in interdisciplinary action research (LEESU<\/a>) since 2014 in an attempt to contribute to these issues. The origin of OCAPI is enlightening: in the early 2010s, a thematic working group on wastewater management in Greater Paris highlighted an extremely high level of tension. The quality of the Seine has greatly improved over the past several decades, with colossal investments in reservoirs, sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants. But the quality of the water in the Seine is still not good enough and, via the Channel, France contributes to degrading the quality of water as far as the North Sea, violating the international OSPAR (Oslo-Paris) convention. The Greater Paris project is expected to worsen the situation: the expected sharp increase in the metropolitan population will automatically increase the quantities of wastewater to be treated and, in view of the very high treatment yields already achieved and the difficulty of improving further, discharges into the river are also set to increase. In addition, climate change is leading to increasingly low water levels, and therefore a lower dilution capacity of treated wastewater, which further deteriorates the water quality of rivers.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textColor":"red","textAlign":"","content":"Rethinking wastewater management","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"wp-block-heading has-red-color has-text-color","style":"","backgroundColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    Rethinking wastewater management<\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n

    Rethinking wastewater management<\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    Rethinking wastewater management<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"However, the majority of the materials to be treated in wastewater come from... toilets! From Greater Paris to the bathroom, the OCAPI program has spent eight years exploring this often forgotten aspect of our society: human excretions. By engaging in critical reflection on a paradigm that seems to be at an impasse, OCAPI is pulling on an interdisciplinary thread of research that carries with it countless issues in our society: water pollution, public health, social justice, climate change, food resilience, gender equality, global geopolitics, etc.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":"","backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    However, the majority of the materials to be treated in wastewater come from... toilets! From Greater Paris to the bathroom, the OCAPI program has spent eight years exploring this often forgotten aspect of our society: human excretions. By engaging in critical reflection on a paradigm that seems to be at an impasse, OCAPI is pulling on an interdisciplinary thread of research that carries with it countless issues in our society: water pollution, public health, social justice, climate change, food resilience, gender equality, global geopolitics, etc.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n

    However, the majority of the materials to be treated in wastewater come from... toilets! From Greater Paris to the bathroom, the OCAPI program has spent eight years exploring this often forgotten aspect of our society: human excretions. By engaging in critical reflection on a paradigm that seems to be at an impasse, OCAPI is pulling on an interdisciplinary thread of research that carries with it countless issues in our society: water pollution, public health, social justice, climate change, food resilience, gender equality, global geopolitics, etc.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    However, the majority of the materials to be treated in wastewater come from... toilets! From Greater Paris to the bathroom, the OCAPI program has spent eight years exploring this often forgotten aspect of our society: human excretions. By engaging in critical reflection on a paradigm that seems to be at an impasse, OCAPI is pulling on an interdisciplinary thread of research that carries with it countless issues in our society: water pollution, public health, social justice, climate change, food resilience, gender equality, global geopolitics, etc.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The first conceptual contribution of the OCAPI program is to rethink wastewater management not as the treatment of urban pollution but as a link in the nutrition\/excretion system of a city. This expression refers to the fact that every human society must organize itself to produce its food, allow the feeding of the population and then manage the resulting excretions. We excrete most of the carbon we ingest when we exhale; all the other nutrients we ingest (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, etc.) end up being completely excreted, after use by the body, mostly in the urine, secondarily in the feces. Our metabolism theoretically allows an effective circular economy of nutrients because the body stores almost none2. How does the French nutrient economy of our nutrition\/excretion systems work?","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":"","backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    The first conceptual contribution of the OCAPI program is to rethink wastewater management not as the treatment of urban pollution but as a link in the nutrition\/excretion system of a city. This expression refers to the fact that every human society must organize itself to produce its food, allow the feeding of the population and then manage the resulting excretions. We excrete most of the carbon we ingest when we exhale; all the other nutrients we ingest (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, etc.) end up being completely excreted, after use by the body, mostly in the urine, secondarily in the feces. Our metabolism theoretically allows an effective circular economy of nutrients because the body stores almost none2<\/a><\/sup>. How does the French nutrient economy of our nutrition\/excretion systems work?<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n

    The first conceptual contribution of the OCAPI program is to rethink wastewater management not as the treatment of urban pollution but as a link in the nutrition\/excretion system of a city. This expression refers to the fact that every human society must organize itself to produce its food, allow the feeding of the population and then manage the resulting excretions. We excrete most of the carbon we ingest when we exhale; all the other nutrients we ingest (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, etc.) end up being completely excreted, after use by the body, mostly in the urine, secondarily in the feces. Our metabolism theoretically allows an effective circular economy of nutrients because the body stores almost none2<\/a><\/sup>. How does the French nutrient economy of our nutrition\/excretion systems work?<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    The first conceptual contribution of the OCAPI program is to rethink wastewater management not as the treatment of urban pollution but as a link in the nutrition\/excretion system of a city. This expression refers to the fact that every human society must organize itself to produce its food, allow the feeding of the population and then manage the resulting excretions. We excrete most of the carbon we ingest when we exhale; all the other nutrients we ingest (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, etc.) end up being completely excreted, after use by the body, mostly in the urine, secondarily in the feces. Our metabolism theoretically allows an effective circular economy of nutrients because the body stores almost none2<\/a><\/sup>. How does the French nutrient economy of our nutrition\/excretion systems work?<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textColor":"red","textAlign":"","content":"Towards food sobriety","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"wp-block-heading has-red-color has-text-color","style":"","backgroundColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    Towards food sobriety<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n

    Towards food sobriety<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    Towards food sobriety<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The results of the OCAPI program show that our systems are not biophysically sustainable at any point. Diets, for one, do not respect the fundamental principle of sobriety. The strong growth in material consumption in Western countries since the 1950s has also led to an overconsumption of food and a very large increase in the proportion of animal products. The French eat 50% more protein (which contains dietary nitrogen) than their physiological requirements, with harmful health consequences (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, etc.). For sustainable management of wastewater, it would be advisable first to improve the quality of nutrition, comfortably respecting physiological requirements, while lowering the cost of this food for all and its environmental consequences. Without any new technology and as well as improving everyone's health, we can reduce nutrient pollution in aquatic environments by one third!","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":"","backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    The results of the OCAPI program show that our systems are not biophysically sustainable at any point. Diets, for one, do not respect the fundamental principle of sobriety. The strong growth in material consumption in Western countries since the 1950s has also led to an overconsumption of food and a very large increase in the proportion of animal products. The French eat 50% more protein (which contains dietary nitrogen) than their physiological requirements, with harmful health consequences (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, etc.). For sustainable management of wastewater, it would be advisable first to improve the quality of nutrition, comfortably respecting physiological requirements, while lowering the cost of this food for all and its environmental consequences. Without any new technology and as well as improving everyone's health, we can reduce nutrient pollution in aquatic environments by one third!<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n

    The results of the OCAPI program show that our systems are not biophysically sustainable at any point. Diets, for one, do not respect the fundamental principle of sobriety. The strong growth in material consumption in Western countries since the 1950s has also led to an overconsumption of food and a very large increase in the proportion of animal products. The French eat 50% more protein (which contains dietary nitrogen) than their physiological requirements, with harmful health consequences (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, etc.). For sustainable management of wastewater, it would be advisable first to improve the quality of nutrition, comfortably respecting physiological requirements, while lowering the cost of this food for all and its environmental consequences. Without any new technology and as well as improving everyone's health, we can reduce nutrient pollution in aquatic environments by one third!<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    The results of the OCAPI program show that our systems are not biophysically sustainable at any point. Diets, for one, do not respect the fundamental principle of sobriety. The strong growth in material consumption in Western countries since the 1950s has also led to an overconsumption of food and a very large increase in the proportion of animal products. The French eat 50% more protein (which contains dietary nitrogen) than their physiological requirements, with harmful health consequences (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, etc.). For sustainable management of wastewater, it would be advisable first to improve the quality of nutrition, comfortably respecting physiological requirements, while lowering the cost of this food for all and its environmental consequences. Without any new technology and as well as improving everyone's health, we can reduce nutrient pollution in aquatic environments by one third!<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textColor":"red","textAlign":"","content":"Valorizing nutrients from our excretions: a strategic priority","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"wp-block-heading has-red-color has-text-color","style":"","backgroundColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    Valorizing nutrients from our excretions: a strategic priority<\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n

    Valorizing nutrients from our excretions: a strategic priority<\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    Valorizing nutrients from our excretions: a strategic priority<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"France imports all the resources it needs to produce its mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. For the past 100 years, we have been implementing a logic of concealment and externalization of our excrement: the flush toilet is convenient for the user, which explains its popularity, but its current use is unsustainable. Sewers carry our excrement out of cities and partially transfer the richness of nutrients to rivers and seas, which become eutrophic3. Western societies have put in place palliative solutions whose ecological and economic cost is difficult to sustain: river water purification plants, wastewater treatment plants before discharge into rivers. Although Paris was using the nutrients from human fertilizers in agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century, we have experienced 100 years of regression in our ability to use the resources that each of us produces on a daily basis (see graph).","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":"","backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    France imports all the resources it needs to produce its mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. For the past 100 years, we have been implementing a logic of concealment and externalization of our excrement: the flush toilet is convenient for the user, which explains its popularity, but its current use is unsustainable. Sewers carry our excrement out of cities and partially transfer the richness of nutrients to rivers and seas, which become eutrophic3<\/a><\/sup>. Western societies have put in place palliative solutions whose ecological and economic cost is difficult to sustain: river water purification plants, wastewater treatment plants before discharge into rivers. Although Paris was using the nutrients from human fertilizers in agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century, we have experienced 100 years of regression in our ability to use the resources that each of us produces on a daily basis (see graph).<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n

    France imports all the resources it needs to produce its mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. For the past 100 years, we have been implementing a logic of concealment and externalization of our excrement: the flush toilet is convenient for the user, which explains its popularity, but its current use is unsustainable. Sewers carry our excrement out of cities and partially transfer the richness of nutrients to rivers and seas, which become eutrophic3<\/a><\/sup>. Western societies have put in place palliative solutions whose ecological and economic cost is difficult to sustain: river water purification plants, wastewater treatment plants before discharge into rivers. Although Paris was using the nutrients from human fertilizers in agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century, we have experienced 100 years of regression in our ability to use the resources that each of us produces on a daily basis (see graph).<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    France imports all the resources it needs to produce its mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. For the past 100 years, we have been implementing a logic of concealment and externalization of our excrement: the flush toilet is convenient for the user, which explains its popularity, but its current use is unsustainable. Sewers carry our excrement out of cities and partially transfer the richness of nutrients to rivers and seas, which become eutrophic3<\/a><\/sup>. Western societies have put in place palliative solutions whose ecological and economic cost is difficult to sustain: river water purification plants, wastewater treatment plants before discharge into rivers. Although Paris was using the nutrients from human fertilizers in agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century, we have experienced 100 years of regression in our ability to use the resources that each of us produces on a daily basis (see graph).<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"level":3,"textColor":"medium-grey","textAlign":"","content":"Nitrogen recycling rate of human excretions in the Paris area","levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"wp-block-heading has-medium-grey-color has-text-color","style":"","backgroundColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    Nitrogen recycling rate of human excretions in the Paris area<\/h3>\n","innerContent":["\n

    Nitrogen recycling rate of human excretions in the Paris area<\/h3>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    Nitrogen recycling rate of human excretions in the Paris area<\/h3>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"id":1592,"width":"539px","height":"271px","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none","align":"center","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Cdp_Num_Fabien_Esculier_2-1024x517.png","alt":"","caption":"\u00a9 Fabien Esculier, 2021","lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized","style":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n
    \"\"
    \u00a9 Fabien Esculier, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n
    \"\"
    \u00a9 Fabien Esculier, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n
    \"\"
    \u00a9 Fabien Esculier, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"By reconsidering the possibility of separating urine and\/or feces at the source, our work invites us to rethink the accessibility, for all, to modes of management of our excretions that allow for an equitable sharing of the wealth, the creation of local jobs that cannot be relocated for the organization of the corresponding sectors, and the inclusion of the fertilizing materials produced in a collaboration between future cities and autonomous, local and resilient agricultural systems. The OCAPI program is part of a dynamic in which many territories are participating, starting today, in (re)building their resilience for present and future generations.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":"","backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    By reconsidering the possibility of separating urine and\/or feces at the source, our work invites us to rethink the accessibility, for all, to modes of management of our excretions that allow for an equitable sharing of the wealth, the creation of local jobs that cannot be relocated for the organization of the corresponding sectors, and the inclusion of the fertilizing materials produced in a collaboration between future cities and autonomous, local and resilient agricultural systems. The OCAPI program is part of a dynamic in which many territories are participating, starting today, in (re)building their resilience for present and future generations.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n

    By reconsidering the possibility of separating urine and\/or feces at the source, our work invites us to rethink the accessibility, for all, to modes of management of our excretions that allow for an equitable sharing of the wealth, the creation of local jobs that cannot be relocated for the organization of the corresponding sectors, and the inclusion of the fertilizing materials produced in a collaboration between future cities and autonomous, local and resilient agricultural systems. The OCAPI program is part of a dynamic in which many territories are participating, starting today, in (re)building their resilience for present and future generations.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    By reconsidering the possibility of separating urine and\/or feces at the source, our work invites us to rethink the accessibility, for all, to modes of management of our excretions that allow for an equitable sharing of the wealth, the creation of local jobs that cannot be relocated for the organization of the corresponding sectors, and the inclusion of the fertilizing materials produced in a collaboration between future cities and autonomous, local and resilient agricultural systems. The OCAPI program is part of a dynamic in which many territories are participating, starting today, in (re)building their resilience for present and future generations.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"textColor":"medium-grey","align":"","content":"Text adapted from an article published in Le Cahier des Ponts n\u00b04, La r\u00e9silience urbaine, March 2021.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"has-medium-grey-color has-text-color","style":"","backgroundColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n

    Text adapted from an article published in Le Cahier des Ponts n\u00b04<\/a>, La r\u00e9silience urbaine, March 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n

    Text adapted from an article published in Le Cahier des Ponts n\u00b04<\/a>, La r\u00e9silience urbaine, March 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n

    Text adapted from an article published in Le Cahier des Ponts n\u00b04<\/a>, La r\u00e9silience urbaine, March 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/footnotes","attrs":{"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":"","backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"","innerContent":[],"rendered":""}],"seo":{"title":"Let\u2019s stop wasting human excretions!"},"media":{"img":"\"\"","src":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/bandeau_Esculier_Terra_Laurent_Mignaux-scaled.jpg"},"url":"\/en\/articles\/lets-stop-wasting-human-excretions\/","related":{"post":[],"author":[{"title":"Fabien Esculier","url":"\/en\/authors\/fabien-esculier\/","id":"1731","media":"\"\"","slug":"fabien-esculier"}],"subject":[{"title":"Energy, Ecology & Climate","url":"\/en\/subjects\/energy-ecology-climate\/","id":"937","media":"\"\"","slug":"energy-ecology-climate"},{"title":"Economics & Society","url":"\/en\/subjects\/economics-society\/","id":"124","media":"\"\"","slug":"economics-society"}],"category":[{"title":"Articles","url":"\/en\/articles\/category\/articles\/","id":"1716","media":"","slug":"articles","_related_post_type":""}],"folder":[{"title":"Urban Resilience","url":"\/en\/folders\/urban-resilience\/","id":"4231","media":"\"\"","slug":"urban-resilience"}]},"translated":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/articles\/cessons-de-gaspiller-les-excretions-humaines\/","icon":"icon-article","duration":"4","custom_excerpt":"The OCAPI<\/a> research and action program, coordinated by Fabien Esculier, aims to study and accompany the evolution of nutrition\/excretion systems, with a particular focus on source separation in wastewater management.","duration_type":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1727"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8935,"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions\/8935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article-types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ingenius.ecoledesponts.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-types?post=1727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}