Trinity College Dublin 2016
Rethinking Sanitation
Ecological Sanitation
Sustainable Sanitation
From a Metabolic Rift
Towards a Metabolic Shift
An Appetizer
Arne Backlund
Backlund ApS
www.backlund.dk
www.facebook.com/backlund.aps

Present Human Organized Metabolism
- Open-Flow System
- Premised on Nature as Indefinite
- Exhausting its Sources of
Nourishment
- Without Paying its Bills
Could Human Beings in Politics
Reorganize Humanity in Nature
& Nature in Humanity?

Ancient Rome versus
Ancient China & Japan

Arne Backlund

Main Objectives of Sustainable Sanitation
•To Reduce Health Risks related to
Sanitation,Contaminated Water and Waste
•To Prevent Pollution of Surface and Ground
Water
•To Prevent Degradation of Soil Fertility
•To Optimise Closing the Loop of Human
Excreted Nutrients, Organic Material and The
Water Cycle Considering Energy & CO2 Balances
•Economically and Ecologically Sustainable and
Culturally Acceptable Systems

Experienced Problems From Rural Area
Work In Eastern Germany 1989 - 1993
•High Subsidies Building CWWTP
•Very High Subsidies Establishing Sewers - Up To 95 %
•Costs - Up to Euro 50000 to Connect one House
•”HOAI” 10 % of Total Cost
•Mastering the Art of Tendering
•PPP ”Betreibermodelle” & ”Kooperationsmodelle”
•Not Supporting Innovation & Visions about Ecological
& Economical Sustainable Sanitation

My Way - Innovative Production and Waste
Reducing Handling Systems in
Garnment Industri

•Karl Marx stated in Capital in 1867 on England's
Ecological Imperialism toward Ireland: "For a
century and a half England has indirectly exported
the soil of Ireland, without even allowing its
cultivators the means for replacing the
constituents of the exhausted soil.“
•Describing the Ecological Contradiction
between Nature and Capitalist society as "an
Irreparable Rift in the Interdependent Process of
Social Metabolism."
A Rift in the Metabolic Relation
between Humanity and Nature

•A Sustainable Solution to the Global Environmental Rift
requires, a Society of “Associated Producers" who can
“Govern the Human Metabolism with Nature in a Rational
Way, bringing it under their Collective Control instead of
being dominated by it as a Blind Power”.
•Solutions requires Rational Regulation of the Metabolic
Relation of Human Beings to Nature in line with the Needs
of Future Generations. "Even an entire society, a nation, or
all simultaneously existing societies taken together," Marx
stated, "are not owners of the earth. They are simply its
possessors, its beneficiaries, and have to bequeath it in an
improved state to succeeding generations as boni patres
familias [good heads of the household].

Tentative Holistic Reflection
•We Can´t Solve Problems by Using More of
the Same Kind of Thinking (Paradigm) we Used
Creating Them!
•Conventional Waste Water Solution – with
Mixing & Dilution – Best Solution to Polution?
•Why do Human Beings with Two Outlets
Design and Use Toilets with Only One Inlet?
•When the Solution is Simple,
God is Answering!

Flow or Stream of Material
•Human urine contributes to about
80 % of the load of N and 50 % of
the P load of conventional domestic
wastewater
•Human Urine treated conventional
requires large amounts of energy
producing problematic sludge

Flow or Stream of Materials
•We Excrete most of the Nutrients we
Consume
•Human Urine contributes with only 1
% of the Volume of Household
Wastewater but contains 80 % of N, 55
% of P and 60 % of K and less than 0.6
% of Cadmium and 0.06 % of Lead

Phosphorus
•One Person Excrete 1 KG P/year.
•0.7 KG in Urine and 0.3 KG in Faeces.
•Human Phosphorus Returned to Soil
Would Cover 80 % of P Demand
•In Agriculture Short of Phosphorus
Human Excreta could be a Golden
Opportunity.
•In 100 years Phosphorus Could Be Gone.

To Make Gold out of Human Urine

Row 1 Row 2 Row 3 Row 4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3• Mg/kg DM
• Mg/kg DM

• Mg/kg P
• Mg/kg N

Row 1 Row 2 Row 3 Row 4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3

Cadmium in Irish & Swedish Soils
Ireland Median values 0.33 mg/kg DM
5 % > 1.65 mg/kg DM
25% > 0.64 mg/kg DM
15% > EU Treshold limit = 0.8 mg/kg DM
Sludge Prohibited on soil > 1 mg/kg DM
Sweden Median values 0.19 mg/kg DM
5 % > 0.45 mg/kg DM
Soil Quality Limit Value 0.5 mg/kg DM
Sludge Prohibited on soil > 0.45 mg/kg DM

Cd in Human Bodies, Soil & Willow
WTI based on Kidney tollerance
2.5 microgram Cd/kg BW/W
Average Cd intake in Sweden
1 - 1.45 microgram Cd/kg BW/W
Swedish average agricultural soil 600 g Cd/ha
Cd in Willow steams 0.9 – 2.4 mg/kg DM
Cd removal 7.2 - 20 g/ha/year

Self-Experienced

A Way Out

http://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publikationer/2003/87-7972-734-4/pdf/87-7972-
735-2.pdf
Manure and sludge allowed in
Danish Gardens

http://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publikationer/2003/87-7972-734-4/pdf/87-
7972-735-2.pdf
Human Urine from
Diverting ToiletsNot Allowed
As Fertilizer in Danish Gardens
A Way Out

New Paradigm of Closing The Loop
With Alternative Sanitation
•Alternative Questions and Answers
•Different Streams and Flows
•Source Control
•Nutrients, Organic Material, Water etc.
•Diversion and Concentrated Collection
•Reuse of Resources to Plant Growth
•Re-Defining
•Re-Designing

Alternative Approach and Design
•Human Urine (Yellow Water or
Golden High Quality Anthropogenic
Nutrient Solution) and Human Faeces
•Diverted and Concentrated Collection
•Waterless or Reduced Water Flush
•Alternative Sanitary Components
•Alternative Sanitary Systems

Alternatives in Recycling
Nutrients and Water
•Nutrients Directly From Toilet
•Direct Local Use or After Transport
•Household Wastewater Directly into
Willow Evapotranspiration System
•Transported Septic Sludge
•Wastewater and Sludge from CWWTP

Selected Components
•Waterless Urinals
•No-Mix/Diverting Toilet Stools
•Vacuum Toilet Systems
•Separator
•Collection and Composting Units
•Willow Evapotranspiration Systems
•Short-Rotation Energy Willow Plantations

Flow or Stream
of Material
•Urine
•Faeces
•Toilet Paper
•Flush Water
•Grey Water

BeerCycling ROSKILDE
FROM PISS TO PILSNER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_j6oo1tq30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_rAakt1tWo
BeerCycling 54000
litres of Pee into
100000 litres of Pilsner
300000 botles

BeerCycling ROSKILDE FESTIVAL
FROM PISS TO PILSNER

BeerCycling ROSKILDE
FROM PISS TO PILSNER
BeerCycling ROSKILDE FESTIVAL
FROM PISS TO PILSNER

BeerCycling ROSKILDE
FROM PISS TO PILSNER
BeerCycling ROSKILDE FESTIVAL
FROM PISS TO PILSNER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
j_j6oo1tq30
https://www.google.dk/webhp?sourceid
=chrome-
instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-
8#q=fra%20tis%20til%20pilsner%20un
dervisningsmateriale
Great secondary school educational
materials separate for teachers and
pupils

http://www.tv2lorry.dk/nyheder/26-08-
2016/1930/fra-tis-til-ol?autoplay=1#player
BeerCycling
Harvesting malt barley fertilized with
human urine. Beer ready in 2017.
http://www.tv2lorry.dk/nyheder/26-08-2016/1930/fra-tis-til-ol?autoplay=1#player

Please sit down and pee

Flow or Stream of Material
•We Excrete most of the Nutrients
we Consume
•Human Urine contributes with only
1 % of the Volume of Household
Wastewater but contains 80 % of N,
55 % of P and 60 % of K and less than
0.6 % of Cadmium and 0.06 % of Lead

Phosphorus
•One Person Excrete 1 KG P/year.
•0.7 KG in Urine and 0.3 KG in Faeces.
•Human Phosphorus Returned to Soil
Would Cover 80 % of P Demand
•In Agriculture Short of Phosphorus
Human Excreta could be a Golden
Opportunity.
•In 100 years Phosphorus Could Be Gone.

76 m² 2Rooms 86 m² 3Rooms 98 m² 4 Rooms 112 m² 5 Rooms 126 m² 6 Rooms
90 Rowhouses
Permatopia, Karise Denmark

Permatopia, Karise Denmark
Agriculture - Diversed sustainable organic production of food
based on permaculture principles. Professional farmers included
Heating - Geothermal heat pump or ground source heat pump
(GSHP)
Electricity - Wind turbines – later combined with solar cells
Wastewater - Urine from 90 individual diverting EcoFlush
toilets + further in commen house will be used on the fields
after 6 month storage in collection containers.
Greywater and brownwater go to a very large Zero Discharge
Willow Wastewater Evapotranspiration System
Composting - Organic residuals and harvested willow are
composted
Closing the loop - By taking human urine and compost back to
agriculture based on permaculture principles.

Permatopia, Karise Denmark

Permatopia, Karise Denmark

Permatopia, Karise Denmark

PERMATOPIA
90 Rowhouses

Permatopia, Karise Denmark

5 EcoFlush + 1 Waterless
Urinal- Møns Museum
Denmark
http://www2.mst.dk/udgiv/publikationer/2
002/87-7972-355-1/pdf/87-7972-357-8.pdf

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-families-
have-donated-160000-litres-high-quality-liquid-
backlund?trk=mp-author-card
Hyldespjældet, DK
10 EcoFlush +
5 x 3 m3 WW Containers
Copenhagen Universi
Testing Field Plots

Munksøgård, Roskilde, DK
100 apartments, 100 EcoFlush
+ in common houses
5 x 35 m3 WW containers

Copenhagen University
Testing Field Plots

Copenhagen University
Testing Field Plots

Copenhagen University
Testing Field Plots

Copenhagen University
Testing Field Plots

5 EcoFlush + 1 Waterless
Urinal- Møns Museum
Denmark
http://www2.mst.dk/udgiv/publikationer/2
002/87-7972-355-1/pdf/87-7972-357-8.pdf

Møn Farming Museum

ØsterGro RoofTop Farmfarm
& Restaurant ”Stedsans”
Copenhagen
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sustainable-sanitation-top-high-up-rooftop-
copenhagen-arne-backlund?trk=mp-author-card

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/m%C3%B8d-et-par-der-skifter-stort-
og-dyrt-parcelhus-med-toilet-backlund?trk=mp-author-card
A danish “Tiny House” with a
Diverting Closet without water
flush “Separett Villa 9010”

Urine Containers & Composter

Diverting Toilet with
Waterless Collection
of Faeces
•www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publikationer/2005/87-7614-811-4/pdf/87-7614-812-2.pdf
EcoDry Diverting Closet without
water flush c ombined with batch or
continuous composting units

Diverting Waterless Toilet
•Estimated Values Regarding Urine
•100 % Urine Collection for Most Men
•80 – 100 % for Most Women
•0 – 50 % for Very Few Women
•60 – 100 % Concentration
•Very Small Amounts of Nutrients Lost
During Proper Storage.

Waterless Urinals

Waterless Urinal
•100 % Collection used by Men
•100 % Concentration
•Low Storage Volume
•Concentrated Fertilizer
•No Accepted Solution for Women

Double Flushing Diverting/ No-
Mix Toilet Stool
ESTIMATED VALUES FOR
URINE
•Average Collection - 80 %
•Concentration 25 % - 100 %
•Very Small Amounts of Nutrients
Lost During Proper Storage.

One Year of Collection
in Kaggen
After One Year Composting in
Kaggen
After One Year Composting in Kaggen

After Eight Months in a Garden Composter

Storage - Composting
•Total Reduction in Volume - 88 %
•Big Losses of Nutrients
•High Humidity – 81.8 – 77.0 %
•Low Temperature 3 – 21.4 Degrees C.
•Large Reduction in Indicator Bacterias
•Nice Looking and Smelling Final Product

Ekoporten Norrköping Sweden
•Modernized 1995-96.
•Diverting Double
Flushing Toilets
•Aquatron Separators
•Composting Units

Separator
Estimated Values for Particle Outlet
•4.0 – 8.8 % DM and 2.7 – 5.8 % VS
•Ideal 10 % DM
•Ideal 80 % of DM and VS
•Ideal 70 % of N, P and K
•Worst Case 0.22 % DM and 0.16 % VS

Separator
Estimated Values for Particle Outlet
•4.0 – 8.8 % DM and 2.7 – 5.8 % VS
•Ideal 10 % DM
•Ideal 80 % of DM and VS
•Ideal 70 % of N, P and K
•Worst Case 0.22 % DM and 0.16 % VS

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vacuum-demand-sustainable-sanitary-
system-greek-islands-arne-backlund?trk=mp-author-card

VOD 230V Diverting Toilet
ESTIMATED VALUES
•Household Power Consumption 4 kWh
•Concentration of DM 1.9 – 5.1 %
•Concentration of VS 1.7 – 4.8 %

Willow Evapotranspiration System
MARJATTA Tappernøje Denmark
From the first known
”unknown” system
in 1991/1992 to best
known practice in
2016 Recommended
by Authorities in
Denmark for
Highest Demands
Zero Discharge Sanitation
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/worlds-first-oldest-known-on-site-zero-discharge-willow-
arne-backlund?trk=mp-author-card
Estimated 7000 – 8000 Households connected

Willow bed ready for planting april 2004
Sept. 2004 Willow are appr. 3 m tall
February 2005
June 2005
Willows August 2005 seco
growing season
4 m*38 m Bassin, 1.5 m Deep Møn, Denmark

Premises – Dimensioning Model
•8 m WIDE – with a DEPTH of 1.5m and 45°
GRADIENT on sides and ends
•Useable PORE VOLUME expected to be 40 %
•EVAPOTRANSPIRATION expected to be 2.5
TIMES calculated Potential Evaporation
• 30-years average MONTHLY RECIPITATION
and POTENTIAL EVAPORATION
•SURFACE AREA dim. to avoid water storing on
the surface in a year with normal precipitation and
with a max. of 10 cm of surface water with a
precipitation which statisticly occurs in one out of
10 years
•Same LOAD of wastewater every month

Plant 1: 184 m2
Plant 2: 912 m2
Plant 3: 528 m2
Plant 4: 720 m2
Plant 5: 320 m2
Plant 6: 720 m2
Plant 7: 784 m2
Plant 8: 1.632 m2
Plant 9: udgår
Plant 10: 240 m2
Plant 11: 240 m2
Plant 12: 336 m2
Plant 13: 212 m2
Total 6.828 m2

Precipitation 541 mm/year
Exp. Evapotransp. 1550 mm
Calculated 1406 mm
50 persons
17 houses
2.9 persons/house
1643 m3 WW/year
97 m3 WW/house/year
33 m3 WW/person/year
90 l WW/person/day
Dimensioning value 1.680 m3
Willow System area 1760 m2
95 m3 WW/house
104 m2 area/house
105 m2 area/100 m3 WW
Needed area in Guidelines single
house up to 30 PE
137 m2 area/100 m3 WW/year
1760 m2 area - 1.285 m3 WW
1680 m3 WW - 2302 m2 area

Diverting WC
at school in
Visby Sweden

MULTIFUNCTIONAL

Reduced costs using WW & Sludge
application to EWSRP
•Reduces Demand for Chemical Fertilizers
•By far Most Important Public or Private Cost
Reduction - Allocating Nutrient Removal to EWSRP
•Cost kg N Conventional N-Removal Often 10 Times
Higher than kg N price of Chemical Fertilizer
•Primary Cost Reduction Potential related to
Establishment
•Multifunctional Potential related to Cd uptake

Municipality Task Set Up (Question/Demand)
50 % Reduction in N-Outlet to Enköping Stream
Using Alternatives To Conventional N-removal on
CWWTP.
Consultant Answer/Solution
•30 t N/y Removed by Fertilizing 80 ha Energy Willow
Plantation at Local Farm
•20 t N/y Removed by use of Stored & Hyginized
Sludge from Septic & Black Water Tanks + Small
WWTP on Local Energy Willow Plantations
•10 t/N/y Internal Reductions on CWWTP.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/worlds-first-oldest-known-on-site-
zero-discharge-willow-arne-backlund?trk=mp-author-card

Small steps towards a Metabolic
Shift reducing Metabolic Rift
Human Urine - Golden High Quality
Anthropogenic Nutrient Solution from Stream
Diverting Sustainable Sanitation
& Multifunctional Willow - Plant – Soil -
Systems Reducing among Other Metabolic
Disturbances caused by Cadmium
In Soil – Plant – Food & Human Body