Night soil

Night soil is largely an outdated term used in historical contexts, while fecal sludge management remains an ongoing challenge, particularly in developing countries.

[clarification needed] This system may still be used in isolated rural areas or in urban slums in developing countries.

Some municipalities create compost from the sewage sludge, but then recommend that it only be used on flower beds, not vegetable gardens.

[4] The term is known, or even infamous, among the generations that were born in parts of China or Chinatowns (depending on the development of the infrastructure) before 1960.

The collection method is generally very manual and heavily relies on close human contact with the waste.

Chinese has a similar euphemism for night soil collection, 倒夜香 dou2 je6 hoeng1, which literally means "emptying nocturnal fragrance".

[clarification needed] The presence of the United States occupying force, by whom the use of human waste as fertilizer was seen as unhygienic and suspect, was also a contributing factor: "the Occupationaires condemned the practice, and tried to prevent their compatriots from eating vegetables and fruit from the local markets".

The Aztecs, in particular, are well known for their famous chinampas, artificial islands made of mud and human waste used to grow crops that could be harvested up to seven times a year.

To stabilize the chinampas, trees were often planted on the corners, primarily āhuexōtl (Salix bonplandiana) or āhuēhuētl (Taxodium mucronatum).

[11] A gong farmer was the term used in Tudor England for a person employed to remove human excrement from privies and cesspits.

Gong farmers were only allowed to work at night and the waste they collected had to be taken outside the city or town boundaries.

The Indian government's Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment stated in 2003 that 676,000 people were employed in the manual collection of human waste in India.

The Japanese name for the "outhouse within the house" style toilet, where night soil is collected for disposal, is kumitori benjo (汲み取り便所).