6. Conclusion

A traditional practice that faded from urban use in European and northern countries with the advent of centralized drinking water networks in the 20th century, source separation of excreta has once again become a subject of growing attention over the last twenty years. In fact, it offers concrete answers to current challenges linked to energy costs, the protection of water resources and the desire of local authorities to increase the resilience of their territories by mobilizing nutrients useful in agriculture.

However, the deployment of excreta management outside the water cycle faces major obstacles that could be associated with a strong socio-technical lock-in. This lock-in is the result of a combination of factors attributable to a lack of awareness of the fertilizing power of excreta, restrictive hygiene standards, imaginations that are unfavorable to excreta,...