Sewage Is a Gold Mine (Literally)

Americans flush millions of dollars worth of precious metals down the toilet

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CREDIT: ISTOCKPHOTO (toilet); SOURCE: “CHARACTERIZATION, RECOVERY OPPORTUNITIES, AND VALUATION OF METALS IN MUNICIPAL SLUDGES FROM U.S. WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS NATIONWIDE,” BY Paul WESTERHOFF ET AL., IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. Published online JANUARY 12, 2015

For more sewage moneymaking schemes, see Steve Mirsky's Anti Gravity column.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 312 Issue 6This article was published with the title “By the Numbers” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 312 No. 6 (), p. 17
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0615-17

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