I've heard the phrase 'shit a brick', but I never realized it was a gold brick.A town in Japan has come up with a novel way of beating the country's crippling recession: by extracting gold from its sewage.
The appropriately named town of Suwa in the Nagano Prefecture is collecting the precious metal from the waste it processes, earning the sewerage plant hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sewerage plant official Yoshihide Nakayama is in charge of reclaiming the gold.
"When we found the gold in the sewage we immediately put it under lock and key," he said.
Mr Nakayama's line of work is not for those with a weak stomach or a delicate constitution.
- ABC
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Ummm... OK... so how, exactly, would gold wind up in sewage? I mean, assuming someone didn't flush it intentionally... What... did they eat it?
ReplyDeleteMostly from wear and tear on rings.
ReplyDeleteSlow abrasion.
Well, dang! Wear and tear on rings, you say?
ReplyDeleteI'm going to drag out every bell I have here.
Neighbors won't be sleeping for weeks!
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG Clang clang clang clang.....
People with gold jewellry are suddenly wondering where the gold came from.
ReplyDeleteWhat!!!!!!!I am stunned! wear and tear on rings???..I still dont get it!
ReplyDeleteWhat like wedding rings?..Do they chew them?
Like the rest of you,I bet,and prompted by Lee's title, my mind went straight to the most unsavoury imaginings of how the wear and tear might occur. But it's very simple, I suppose: every time you wash your hands you may wash away a bit of your ring. And won't there be industrial washing processes around gold too, on a larger scale? It's a novel idea, though, I must say.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderfully innovative way of making money! Well done Japan!
ReplyDeleteI'll be! This is sure to start a good conversation at the water fountain.
ReplyDeleteWear and tear on rings? Hold on, is it April 1st???
ReplyDeleteHey! A new and fun way to make money for my mum - I could collect all the dog poo around these parts and 'pan' it for gold. Lee, thank you. I've been wracking my little brain for ages trying to think of ways to make some money AND have fun in the process:):):)
ReplyDeleteewww.. I wudnt want that shit load of gold..
ReplyDeleteregardless of the value..
eeeewww
Excellent! Glad they're recycling, LOL!
ReplyDeleteWear and tear on rings? You mean when people with rings on their fingers wipe their behind, the leave a bit of gold...ummm... behind?
ReplyDeleteactually, all this news has done for me is be wary of where I buy gold jewelry from now on.
ReplyDelete(oh, yeah. Like WHERE I buy gold jewelry is a big concern....)
And then there are the items that are lost. My wife lost an ear ring in the shower just the other day.
ReplyDeleteSo, always eat your carats.
ReplyDeleteWell it would not work too well here Lee at the moment. I am bucketing all my shower water on the garden. That little guy in Japan would not get any overtime in Melbourne! LOL
ReplyDeleteEeeeuuuwww...I can't imagine the gold dug from there..Maybe should stop wearing gold..wait I've already stopped that long ago!
ReplyDeleteIf its wear and tear on the gold rings we wear on our hands and some of the gold washes off when we wash our hands they must have to do an awful lot of dredging to find such minuscule traces of gold?!? ♥
ReplyDelete