American site, the subject matter for those that don't understand the title is about composing i.e. re using human poo instead of just flushing it down the loo-out of sight-out of mind....which of course we wont be able to do post collapse-so why not make use of it?
http://shaunsbackyard.com/191/human-wast.../#more-191
Humanure. Lots of houses already do it, my place has a soakaway system that feeds everything back to the land, never needs emptying. It's been there for 200 years, but when recently building regs changed it needed a certificate to say it was exempt.
when I lived in a cottage on Dartmoor it had a soakaway, 2 chambers with a VERY small hole between both, solids went in the first chamber, broke down and went into the 2nd, from there it soaked away onto the land. in the woods on the bow making course they had 2 loos, one was a compost loo the other was a "long drop" one.
There are plenty of articles on this. Things have improved significantly over the last 20 years and you can even buy composting loos now but they are easy enough to make.
The piece says to cover the waste with sawdust, but I am guessing that ordinary soil would do the job in the same way,..or better, or am I wrong
and if your toilet is a pit dug from the ground, then all you are doing is filling the hole back in
(22 September 2013, 17:44)Highlander Wrote: [ -> ]The piece says to cover the waste with sawdust, but I am guessing that ordinary soil would do the job in the same way,..or better, or am I wrong
and if your toilet is a pit dug from the ground, then all you are doing is filling the hole back in
if your leaving IT in situ as it were then soil is fine. if your actually composting it then you will be covering it with other composting material, kitchen waste, garden waste, tea bags, newspapers, grass cutting etc.
Google The Humanure Handbook. It's a free pdf & covers it all. Including how to make your own.
Even in a post TU situation, I really don't want to go around smelling human shit all the time although I guess I'll have to get used to it.
(Just spray a little more Chanel No 5 darling)
Actually I'm looking to snag an incinerating toilet but at over £2K
its a little pricey even for River's refined tastes
if everybody composted it there wouldn't be ANY smell! but I suppose the sheeple will just dump it in the hedges and back alleys along with the rest of the rubbish.
the ash from the wooden stoves is especially good for covering waste in dry closets. chopped dead tree leafs are good also.
i have friends running a tourist farm and they use saw dust, wood stove ash and mowed grass for covering human waste in dc for years with good results. no smell, great compost.
but i would not throw the white bleached paper in the compost bin, especially those shiny magazines paper. this paper is probably toxic to the microorganisms in the soil, burn it.
eco toilet or tissue papers are quite all right for compost