Our Poop Could Be a Literal Goldmine Worth Millions

From The Blaze.com (Mar. 23):

It might not smell like roses, but sewage could be a goldmine, according to scientists who say that solid waste has a wealth of metals that could be worth millions if they were harvested.

Dr. Kathleen Smith with the U.S. Geological Survey revealed gold, silver and rare elements like palladium can be extracted from treated waste.

“There are metals everywhere — in your hair care products, detergents, even nanoparticles that are put in socks to prevent bad odors,” Smith said in a statement.

Smith, a presenter at the 249th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, explained that wastewater treatment yields treated water and biosolids. With more than 7 million tons of biosolids produced in the U.S. each year, the purpose of Smith’s research is twofold.  [read more]

Well, at least we can get some rare earth elements out of poop since China now, according to a 60 minutes story, basically cornered the market on rare earth elements. America was the leading source of rare earth elements in the beginning but a main plant shut down for a while because of environmental reasons and China took advantage of the situation. Rare earth elements are used a lot in electronics like cell phones.