See more in our photo gallery: "Sewage solutions: Six
alternative toilet technologies" LOCALS call them honey-suckers,
but don't be fooled by the name. They cruise through the high-
tech streets of India's newest megacity, sucking up its lowest-
tech problem: sewage. These trucks empty Bangalore's million
septic tanks and pit latrines, where the majority of its 10
million inhabitants relieve themselves. In most places, sewage
trucks discharge their cargo into streams and lakes, adding to
local pollution. But in Bangalore, the honey-suckers head for
farms outside the city, where their stinking loads are in demand
to fertilise vegetables and coconut and banana trees. The
farmers pay good money for human waste; it produces bumper
crops. For them, it is sweet. The honey-suckers of Bangalore are
evidence that the world of excreta is being turned upside down.
Realisation is growing that our faeces and urine are not simply
waste to be disposed ... To continue reading this article,
subscribe to receive access to all of