My goal is to convert human waste into (less disgusting and more useful) plant mass while decreasing CO2 (for the sake of it) and I want to find seriously the most proper plant for that (I would think is kind of an invasive plant due to its robustness and quick growth).

I've delved into invasive plants, thought to use Kudzu. But it turned out that Kudzu actually contributes to global warming. I'm no plant expert, so I hope someone can guide me what plants should I look at.

Would C4 or C3 plants be a solution?

The climate of interest is humid continental, but it will be indoors, so most climate conditions could be imitated

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    Why use an invasive plant? That's just asking for an ecological disaster to occur later on. It's always better to use plants native to a location. When you mention human waste, I'm assuming you mean waste produced by the human body. In which case, it's like any other animal fertilizer, but for some people with a significant "yuck factor". Human waste is still used as a fertilizer on crops in parts of the world. – Fred Aug 24 '17 at 3:17
  • @Fred ecological disaster shouldn't happen, it will be on the isolated territory, I just hope for a plant that grows as aggressively as invasive species. I know that human waste is a fertilizer, but as far as I know most plants can't grow on soil oversaturated with fertilizer, so that is a part of a question – Alex Aug 24 '17 at 3:48
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    Please do not raise invasive plants! They by definition will become out of control and destroy surrounding ecosystems little by little or very quick. Maybe you just mean strong, robust, fast-growing plant? – J. Chomel Aug 24 '17 at 6:33
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    Your assumption that there can be no native plants growing as aggressively as certain invasive species is incorrect. – stijn Aug 24 '17 at 8:06

Growing plants inside to consume CO2 will need a huge energy input. If your plants are indoors behind a huge window with long sun exposure, then it is ok. If you intend to provide artificial light to them, then it won't be environmentally sustainable at all: your light input will need so much energy and reject so much CO2...

Anyway, this set aside, a good choice should be bamboo, since it grow pretty everywhere, and provide great material for doing various things, from house building material, plant tutoring, little wood goods.

Hope this is helpful; Good luck with your project!


Depending on the size (esp height) of your growing spacec. One of the following would work: willow (Salix spp), elephant grass (Miscanthus fuscu), or as @JChomel mentions, bamboo.

Willow is especially useful as it can grow in ground that is saturated for much of the time. Occasional flooding with the human waste would be less of an issue. It makes an excellent biomass crop. As there are around 400 species, there may be several that are native to your particular region, lessening the need to us an invasive species.

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