A big pile of it

I couldn’t make this up if I tried: An Auckland company has proposed filling a quarried volcano with treated human waste. Once filled and shaped to mimic the original look of the cone, the area would be rehabilitated and turned into a regional park.

Watercare Services, owned by local governments in the Auckland region, proposed this as a way of dealing with the 61 tonnes of biosolids (cleaned, treated and dried human waste) produced each week at its Mangere treatment plant.

A vulcanologist with Auckland University has helpfully reassured Aucklanders that they’re unlikely to have “biosolids” raining down on them in the event of an eruption because the next one will almost definitely form a new volcano, rather than come from any existing one.

If this project goes ahead, it’ll probably be the first time that government has deliberately set out to create a big pile of shit.