How to deal with... "waste"

[noobiechickenlady]

Mississippi State University has built a energy producer that is added onto the back end of a sewage plant. It takes in the sewage, and through a biological action, transforms it into fuel.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/forest/feop/biomass-south/proceedings/pdf/0923-1300-B2-French.pdf

I do have things I'm proud of my state for.

Yeah, you would still have to light a match occasionally for comfort. Especially if you're in the room when the act is taking place

I guess you could use sawdust in the middle of the act. Sort of the composters courtesy flush

 

[sylvie]

I guess you could use sawdust in the middle of the act. Sort of the composters courtesy flush

I'm using that line! I'll probably make a sign and post it over the composter. That is just brilliance!
I have a sign that states what not to put in, like tampons, cleaning chemicals, anything that would stop the aerobic action. But this is so cool and I'll bet users will actually think they need to do a courtesy.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

LOL

You guys are so funny.

For those of us who have composting toilets, how do visitors react to a composting toilet?

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Glad I could put a laugh in your day sylvie. I bet it would make a nice sampler too

WK, I don't have one, but I can you what my reaction was.
First came the wrinkled nose. "You have a what?!?"
Then acceptance, "Okay I gotta see this thing." I don't gross out easily.
"Where is it? Oh! That's a composting toilet? No way. It looks like a nice built-in wooden cabinet toilet."
Cautiously opened the top. Mostly full of fine sawdust *sniff sniff* Okay, is this new? Have you actually pooped here?
He offered to uncover a deposit. I politely declined his offer.

They had installed it a few months before my visit, so the pile didn't have much to it and was certainly not ready to handle. They used heavy poly roofing under the pile, with a lip to prevent runoff. Wooden pallet & fence wire sides, 2 bins plus a storage area for cover material. Almost identical to what the humanure authors built. Only no rain barrel yet. They carried the wshing water to the pile with them in an old soda bottle.

 

[sylvie]

LOL

You guys are so funny.

For those of us who have composting toilets, how do visitors react to a composting toilet?

If they gotta go, they gotta go.

Everyone is very curious about it because it is so interactive.
I also have a sign that says "please don't turn the handle" because it shouldn't be turned each time used, only once per day.
And I don't make them empty it, which probably results in a huge silent sigh of relief, lol.
I do keep a spray bottle of green cleaner, paper towels if anyone wants to housekeep before sitting or after. How many conventional bathrooms provide that?

 

[FarmerChick]

I can only imagine how The Wife would react if I told her I wanted to reuse our human waste......

Not well I am sure. Ask her and post back...LOL

 

[FarmerChick]

problem being pollution

more people, more waste

more food needed to feed people, more trouble




we are not in it for the long haul. we are in this to take care of humans in short term, to be fed today, etc. long term troubles always are created from short term fast goals


I hope someone out there can turn this around


while it helps that me and you and a dog named Blue does not use chemicals on their cucumbers, billions of people need to be fed each day. billions hit the toilet....lol


so the never ending vicious cycle rears its ugly head

 

[Wolf-Kim]

so the never ending vicious cycle rears its ugly head

Unfortunately.

That cycle has to be broken eventually. I like to think the few of us who take notice and try to change, provide living examples to those who walk around ignorant of the cycle.

It is what I try to do with my animals. That way, when people ask, I can explain and hopefully enlighten them and change their ways.

When people ask why I keep chickens, I explain 'so I know where my eggs come from' and then explain where 'their' eggs come from. Same with meat and milk.

I read that wonderful book "Factory Farms, the failed experiment" and have become determined to switch my diet and hopefully have my husband follow through to an organic diet of vegetables and a homegrown diet of meat. I choose to know what I eat and where it comes from and I think as more people become educated to where their food comes from, health issues will open up to them as well.

When I tell people I don't touch artificial sweeteners with a stick, and they ask why, it is amazing to see their realization that what they take into their bodies is carcinagenic.

This is why, I invite people over to meet the animals and then if they ask or are curious about it all, boy can I talk up a storm.

I will probably have at least one composting toilet in the house, hubby will hopefully become desensitized to it and warm up to it.

He has already fallen head over heels for the wood burn stove and the raising of our own food. I love that man.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

FC, that is one of my top reasons for this. Break the cycles. Cycles of pollution, of lost nutrients being made up for with chemical fertilizers that cause more pollution.

More people, less land to farm. So the land has be more rich to grow all that food that is needed. Chemicals are not the answer, returning nutrients to the soil is.

Kim, that is awesome!! I'm slowly getting DH to realize that "doing it our grandparents' way, only better" really means just that. Without a ton of chemicals, poisons, more naturally, but with our current knowledge of disease & how things work & why.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Kim, that is awesome!! I'm slowly getting DH to realize that "doing it our grandparents' way, only better" really means just that. Without a ton of chemicals, poisons, more naturally, but with our current knowledge of disease & how things work & why.

You would think with all our 'modern' research and science that we wouldn't be having this problem.

I think most of what the problem is, is that scientists and todays generations are looking for the 'new' cure all, modern fix to cure world hunger. So the obvious problems are overlooked, in preference to find some artificial fix.

It's hard to comprehend sometimes. Why do we have this stigma that the majority of the population views hanging laundry outside to dry for the poor? Or that raising your own meat and veggies, is for that 'poor, backwards, uneducated' farmer. Or that the people who try to connect to the land, and live on a homestead are crazy hippy folk or those people who are crazy and waiting for doomsday(Zombie Apocalypse).

It's these common views of the homesteading spirit that need to be broken. It is this reason that I try to keep everything neat and orderly, keep the animal pens clean, keep the animals clean, keep the yard neat and tidy, and make sure that I'm clean and presentable. I know that sounds strange, but I think it's needed to help change the view of the modern homestead.

Okay, sorry! I ranted.

As I said, I love the idea of a composting toilet. My worry was about if they had a smell or attracted bugs, but everyone I've talked to said that they don't and that they smell of woodchips. I would love a bathroom that smelled like wood chips. Better than those flowery aerosol sprays.