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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2010 8:04:50 GMT
There is talk of dry toilets in Europe from time to time, but frankly most people live in areas with plenty of water and do not see any reason to convert to such a hard core ecological solution. However, this interesting article about South Africa shows that in certain countries, there can be more than one advantage.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 14, 2010 14:24:35 GMT
First I've heard of that intention Kerouac - and Durban is only 1 hour away from me! But then I am not an avid newspaper reader (front to back) and rely on the TV news mostly. Unfortunately this won't stop males from taking out their aparantus anywhere and everywhere, no matter if traffic or pedestians are passing in full view, and hosing down the nearest blade of grass or wall. It sounds as if it would suit a family unit where they all benefit from the sale, which is implied by the reference to 'garden toilets'. Most people living out in rural areas and a few suburbs, will have no indoor plumbing or toilets.
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Post by myrt on Nov 14, 2010 18:31:32 GMT
I think dry toilets are very interesting........the charity I work for is running a project on a local allotment site. Because we need a toilet up there for our people it has been decided to erect a composting toilet. It will be a real talking point on the allotment site I expect... And will be used by some of the other alloment holders I expect just out of curiosity probably, or maybe desperation! ;D I don't really understand why they are seen as something 'hard core' - surely it makes much more sense to use our waste products, rather than simply flush it all away? The local farmers about here are pumping treated human waste on the fields at this time of year - they have installed underground pipes as it is apparently better than simply spraying over the surface. And far better to use it to grow our food rather than find it all floating about on our seas and beaches... I think anything which maximises our productivity and recycles our waste to better effect is a great idea
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2010 18:41:16 GMT
A dry toilet makes perfect sense in the middle of nowhere. (Of course, it makes perfect sense anywhere, but the thought still repels us in the Big City.)
I remember reading articles about when the Khmer Rouge controlled Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) and every family was required to provide a certain number of kilos of human waste to the authorities every week as fertilizer or face the consequences. So strange that something that makes perfect sense ecologically sounds so terrible when it becomes obligatory.
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Post by myrt on Nov 14, 2010 18:49:32 GMT
Ah but folk are just so odd about what comes out of their bums aren't they? I think eventually there will be collections of toilet waste just like there is with glass, paper and other waste. Actually I think that's the most positive thing I've ever heard about the Khmer Rouge........the peasants used to use their Rhubarb patch as a toilet you know - fine fertiliser for fantastic rhubarb.....but of course in those days they didn't have e numbers, additives and God knows what else floating about in their guts. I seem to be having a bottom day on here atm - maybe I should go elswhere on the board and post something lovely about flowers or chocolate.... I'm not really all that odd...........
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2010 19:01:33 GMT
When I visited the Mekong delta in Vietnam, as we cruised in small boats through the waterways, it was pointed out to us that there were fish tanks under the outhouses on stilts (basically, chicken wire contraptions going around four posts). "Those are for the shit fish," the guide told us. These are fish that live almost exclusively from eating human excrement. And indeed, I did see a few restaurant menus in the area that listed 'shit fish' in the English version.
These are now one of Vietnam's principal export items -- panga. I don't think that the exported ones have the same diet as the ones I saw, but who knows? It is interesting to note that most Vietnamese do not eat panga at all, just the families that live on stilts over the water.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 3, 2010 3:42:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2012 7:07:18 GMT
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Post by mossie on Nov 13, 2012 8:43:01 GMT
Not sure I should thank you for bringing this up again. It did remind me of our camp in Egypt which existed on the "bucket and chuck it" system. The buckets were emptied by a gang of locals into the so called "honey wagon". They would take this out to their fields to use as fertiliser, then sell us the resultant melons . We had two dysentery epidemics inside a year, in the worst one there were 250 men in the sick quarters, and well over 300 got it.
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Post by auntieannie on Nov 13, 2012 12:35:16 GMT
to me, it feels odd that drinking water is used to flush toilets. if it weren't so, then we wouldn't really talk of dry toilets in many parts of the world, I guess...
One of my friends who is "the bees knees" in terms of sustainability etc... she really knows her stuff and will debunk crazy ideas in no time... has recently installed one on the first floor of her cottage, on her smallholding. She says it doesn't smell at all (it has a modern design) and it is only a question of being a bit careful and emptying the container every other week. I am not sure what happens to the "results" but there are very strict laws here as to what can and cannot be used on private land so I know she follows these. I agree with Myrt that hopefully collections of toilet waste will happen soon-ish (well.. if they were to start with collections of food waste in my area, that would be fab... you can only put wood cuttings and lawn cuttings into the "composting" bins for collection here so most of my bins are full with the peelings I cannot use to feed my wormery)
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Post by mossie on Nov 13, 2012 15:39:16 GMT
Many years ago such waste, known as 'night soil' was collected in London, loaded onto barges and sent upriver to be used in Essex. There is a village in Essex called Mucking where such cargoes were deposited. No jokes about 'coming up, smelling of roses', please. ;D ;D
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Post by mossie on Nov 13, 2012 15:41:14 GMT
Here, in wooliest Suffolk, food waste can go in the composting bin.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 13, 2012 16:32:24 GMT
I'll bet far more raw human waste, or at least insufficiently treated sewage water, goes on the crops we eat than we'd ever suspect.
I moved into a subdivision in Louisiana that had been semi-abandoned during the oil crunch. It had an open settling field covered with reeds to handle waste water. It was actually a pleasant looking, isolated area that didn't stink at all. Great idea except that as time went on & more people moved in, it developed a pronouced perfumed soap odor. The subdivision got popular & the field then developed a definite odor of poop.
It would be far better to save precious water, have more control over the waste, and to reap the benefits in the form of non-chemical fertilizer. Dry toilets seem to offer those benefits.
If you live in an area with water problems, as I do, you cringe every time you have to flush the toilet. A woman I know lived in a house backed up to an arid hill on the edge of the city. Her landlord build a nice little outhouse into the hill with a composting toilet. It was perfectly clean and not smelly at all.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 22, 2012 12:35:23 GMT
Reading this thread again reminded me of a few dry toilets in Kruger National Park. These are found at 'sleep-over' bird hides and picnic areas. The latter proves to guarantee a fly infested lunch, as no sooner do the flies get wind of delicious ripe brie being opened with a host of cold meats and pickles, they communicate via the bush telegraph, leave the dry toilet and arrive to join in whether you like it or not!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2012 12:40:32 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Nov 22, 2012 13:11:06 GMT
Well, they say parmesan cheese smells like baby sick....... ;D
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 22, 2020 19:32:04 GMT
No matter what kind of toilet you use, a bit of cleaning is required afterwards.
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Post by bjd on Jun 23, 2020 18:07:11 GMT
I just saw a short video about a slum in Nairobi where a Kenyan company is installing dry toilets to be shared by several families. The excrement is recycled and sold as fertilizer.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 23, 2020 20:31:58 GMT
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