Tomato Plant On Train Tracks Grows With Help From Human Waste
- 10 years ago
Growing and tending to plants can often be a difficult process. On a stretch of tracks in Rochford, England, a tomato plant is thriving with help from human excrement.
It's amazing how plants find a way to grow in the most unexpected places. On a stretch of tracks in Rochford, England, a tomato plant is thriving with help from human excrement.
According to RMT or The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, waste that was dumped by older model trains without toilet tanks caused the plant to grow.
RMT staffers say tomato seeds had been left on the tracks prior to sprouting. When the older trains that use the route released excrement, the seeds were fertilized.
The plant is only one example of potentially dangerous exposure to human waste in the railway industry. Union officials have been trying to get the government to ban train companies from releasing waste on the tracks.
Thus far they haven’t been entirely successful, as the practice still continues.
A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group commented “Investment in new rolling stock since the mid-1990s means the majority of trains do not have to discharge waste onto tracks, and we continue to find ways to modify older vehicles.”
It's amazing how plants find a way to grow in the most unexpected places. On a stretch of tracks in Rochford, England, a tomato plant is thriving with help from human excrement.
According to RMT or The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, waste that was dumped by older model trains without toilet tanks caused the plant to grow.
RMT staffers say tomato seeds had been left on the tracks prior to sprouting. When the older trains that use the route released excrement, the seeds were fertilized.
The plant is only one example of potentially dangerous exposure to human waste in the railway industry. Union officials have been trying to get the government to ban train companies from releasing waste on the tracks.
Thus far they haven’t been entirely successful, as the practice still continues.
A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group commented “Investment in new rolling stock since the mid-1990s means the majority of trains do not have to discharge waste onto tracks, and we continue to find ways to modify older vehicles.”