Human waste contains gold and silver

US scientists discovered one kilogram of human feces contained 0.4 mg of gold, nearly 30 mg of silver and more than 600 mg of copper.

>> Turn human waste into rocket fuel

>> Buses run by human waste

Exploiting gold from human waste

Rare and yellow metals are present in human feces.(Artwork: Guardian)

Scientist Kathleen Smith of the US Geological Survey (USGS) said they found gold and precious metals such as platinum, silver in most solid organic waste samples from waste treatment plants. America.

" The amount of gold we find is at the minimum level of mineral reserves ," Smith said. In one kg of stool contains about 0.4 mg gold, 28 mg silver and 638 mg copper and 49 mg vanadium. However, with a huge amount of excrement every year, people are throwing away a "treasure". In addition to rare and precious metals, there are heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, which are not good for the environment.

Scientists are now focused on finding ways to get this "treasure " back . Accordingly, this will not only bring material value but also value to protect the environment when it helps to reduce the need for mining as well as reduce the amount of heavy metals polluting people accidentally discharged.

Rare metals penetrate the body through human cosmetic products used daily such as shampoo, detergent even clothes or deodorant water . According to statistics every year in the United States, over 7 million tons of human solid waste is treated, about half of solid waste is used as fertilizer for fields and forests, the other half is burned or buried.

According to another study published earlier, the manure of one million Americans may contain precious metals worth up to $ 13 million. The study by Paul Westerhoff of Arizona State University says there are more than 50 metallic substances in human fecal samples, collected from 94 waste treatment plants across the United States.