Sewage -- yes, poop -- could be a source of valuable metals and critical elements

Now researchers are looking at identifying the metals that are getting flushed and how they can be recovered. This could decrease the need for mining and reduce the unwanted release of metals into the environment.

A talk about their recent work will be one of nearly 11,000 presentations here at the 249th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, taking place here through Thursday.

"If you can get rid of some of the nuisance metals that currently limit how much of these biosolids we can use on fields and forests, and at the same time recover valuable metals and other elements, that's a win-win," says Kathleen Smith, Ph.D.

"There are metals everywhere," Smith says, noting they are "in your hair care products, detergents, even nanoparticles that are put in socks to prevent bad odors." Whatever their origin, the wastes containing these metals all end up being funneled through wastewater treatment plants, where she says many metals end up in the leftover solid waste.

Read More: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-03/acs-s-y022015.php