NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Human waste is something people don’t like to talk about or think about. It smells, it’s not pleasing to the eye, and it conjures up squeamish feelings. Despite how gross you may think it is, there are some upsides of human waste that are worth talking about.

Along with it being a necessity for humans, it may also be beneficial for the environment, as one student at Kenya’s prestigious Maseno School found out.

The student, Leroy Mwasaru, was a high school student at the institute when a dorm room renovation created an unfortunate situation, in which the school’s outdoor latrines overflowed into the local water supply.