An environmental engineer, Isaac Bryant, on Saturday, urged conversion of human urine into fertiliser and other products that would have higher environmental value.

“Urine, which most of us consider as waste, is a valuable resource which we can use directly as fertiliser.

“Urine is very safe, hygienic, easy to handle and collect, and easily available,” Mr Bryant, a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, said.

He spoke at the 2017 African Clean Up Conference taking place in Cape Coast with the theme: “Exploring New Horizon and Sustainable Best Practices in Waste Management and Recycling.’’

The three-day conference, which began on Thursday, was organised by the African Clean-up Initiative – an NGO committed to promoting environmental activities in communities and schools.

Mr Bryant said that human urine was part of domestic waste water, which could be used as fertiliser.

The lecturer said that using urine as fertiliser posed minimal health risk to both the environment and human beings.

He advised countries to tap into the resource rather than rely on chemical fertiliser which, he said, impacted negatively on the environment and posed a health risk to humans.

“Rather than use chemical fertiliser for crops, human urine is better. We can use human urine to cultivate crops such as maize, okro, tomato, pepper, garden eggs and some other vegetables,’’ he said.

Mr Bryant said that countries could instruct their universities and research institutions to pilot the usage of human urine for agriculture, and sensitise the public to the benefits.

According to the lecturer, use of human urine as fertiliser would reduce public discharge of the urine and promote a clean and safe environment

No fewer than 200 environmentalists and others gathered for the conference to discuss environmental problems peculiar to Africa and proffer indigenous solutions.

According to the Convener, Alex Akhigbe, experienced environmentalists were expected to deliver papers on how best to manage waste and sustain best environmental practices in Africa.

“The intention of the 2017 Africa Clean Up Conference is to create a platform for Africans to recognise and discuss their peculiar environmental challenges and determine indigenous solutions.