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Eco-Friendly or "Green" Living Tips

Artificial Emotion

Artificial Emotion

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
5,314
Location
UK (Kent)
I think flushing your faeces (British spelling as I'm from the UK) and urine into the sewage system so that it contaminates our precious drinking water (shortages of which have led to complete garden hose pipe bans in parts of the country) is madness when we can use it to produce lovely rich compost for our gardens. There's nothing wrong with this as it's not a health risk if done properly from all that I've read except for our really fucking annoying Westernized cultural attitudes towards anything related to human faeces. We are quite happy to use the shit from any other animal and even their blood and bones to dig into our soil for our foods in lovely organic farming which people will pay good money for but have an odd attitude when it comes to human faeces (even their own!). I find a lot of people have an immature attitude when it comes to this issue as they literally act like school children and say 'eewe' or 'gross' and just giggle, refusing to have an adult conversation or just automatically consider me or anyone else discussing the topic to be disgusting vile people with something wrong with them. If you happen to actually be one of these people please I would appreciate it if you could refrain from posting in my thread, thanks.

Anyway, I certainly do not have a problem with this and in fact really want to take up the practice of using faeces and urine to produce compost (sometimes known as night soil) for my lovely garden. Interestingly the composting process itself will destroy any harmful pathogens whilst leaving good beneficial bacteria and other microorganisms intact that benefit the plant, protecting it from harmful pests such as pythium (root rot) and other nasty infectious plant diseases a non-protected plant can be susceptible to.

I was hoping someone could tell me what the beat way to do this would be without needing to shit in a bucket? Is there any way to modify my toilet system to collect toilet waste in a clean and sanitary way that won't give off odors in my flat? Can I pay to have it done? If so will ot cost a fortune? Any advice wrt the subject area would be mh appreciated as I've been wanting to do this for a while since my new goal is to become as green and self sufficient as I am able to be within my capability, both generally and financially since things can get expensive when on the road to self sufficiency, often defeatingbthe whole point of doing whatever it is that you're doing lol.
 
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Thanks for the reply theotherside :) I'm glad you weren't disgusted and didn't flame me or being gross!

How much space do you need for it (like minimum width and length)? I ask since I have a very small garden. Also do you think I would need planning permission from the council?
I don't need planning permission for a small normal-sized greenhouse in the garden (6' x 6') so do you think similarly if it's small i.e. the same floor area/space I also wouldn't need planning permission?

Edit: also in this outhouse above the actual bucket could I actually build a 'toilet' with a seat above the bucket so that I can comfortably sit when ai'm taking a dump, since it's difficult to squat when you're takig a shit if like me you've got dodgy legs?
 
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All the waste flushed down my toilets goes into an underground tank in my yard, this filters into another tank next to it.

This water is attached to my sprinkler system and waters the garden. :)
 
Artificial Emotion said:
I was hoping someone could tell me what the beat way to do this would be without needing to shit in a bucket? Is there any way to modify my toilet system to collect toilet waste in a clean and sanitary way that won't give off odors in my flat? Can I pay to have it done? If so will ot cost a fortune? Any advice wrt the subject area would be mh appreciated as I've been wanting to do this for a while since my new goal is to become as green and self sufficient as I am able to be within my capability, both generally and financially since things can get expensive when on the road to self sufficiency, often defeatingbthe whole point of doing whatever it is that you're doing lol.
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A composting toilet needs a bit more set up than just a bucket and an outhouse. Adequete ventilation is need to expell the gases that build up and also allow air flow to aid composting. Something like this...
NSFW:
fig6_4.jpg


There is a fine line between hero and pong, especially for your neighbours. I don't expect any council in their right mind will allow you to set up one in a built up urban area.

Poor management and a lack of understanding of how composting works will create problems with any compost toilet. Too much liquid will create anaerobic conditions with consequent odors. The aerobic nature of the organic mass can be improved by the regular addition of carbonaceous bulking materials. Compost toilets are not pit latrines. You cannot just defecate in a hole and walk away. If you do, your nose will let you know that you're doing something wrong
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From experince even a perfect composting toilet still takes your breath away. Personally I like a bit of "newspaper" time in the morning and outhouses don't give me the desired comfort levels.

Viruses are your only enemy to be honest, especially if you want to use it on your vegies. That is why animal manure is preferred, better still if they are herbivores. Carnivores have too many parasites in general.

The other option is a septic set up where the over flow is then filtered via an underground gravel(?) region. I think the process is called perculation.
NSFW:
Toilets_septic.jpg


This is then drained into a dam not the water system and can used for irrigation. It requires a lot more space so is probably better on a rural block.
 
Hey these replies have been great so far! Thanks especially to you Bustystclaire and keep the posts coming!

Another thing I'm considering doing is harvesting rainwater. I have 2 water butts that I have yet to connect to the guttering. The problem is I don't have a bath that I can just heat the water up and dump it into. I only have a power-hungry power shower, the use of which I try and keep to a minimum by spending the bare minimum of time in and not bothering to shower at weekends (I just give the vital bits a quick scrub with soapy water over the sink. Washing too much, too frequently removes natural skin oils which is not good for you ;).

I have a reverse osmosis filter and was wondering if I could use this on the rainwater so I can drink it?

I'm going to open another thread dedicated to green living tips if that's okay? If not can the SO mods let me know? If o don't hear anything saying I can't do it I'll go ahead and do it in the next few hours...
 
Although its neither organic nor self sufficient have you thought of tapping in to a system that is already set up for processing human boisolids? If you were to find out were in your local area they are used you may be able to get a small amount for free? It would probably be cheaper and less smelly.

I know when I used to live in the country the farmers were none too protective of their shite stockpiles. They get it for free after all. This was in Australia though it may be a different story where you are. Although it seems they are used in the UK.

http://www.southwestwater.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2465&searchkey=biosolids

Also just out of interest what is likley to be in your rain water over there that you need to filter it so stringently?
 
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Indoors composting toilets actually are manufactured at least in Sweden. I honestly would not recommend you to DYI it, especially if you don't have a septic tank, as malfunction might not only be messy but potentially hazardous as well. Romans did not perfect sewage disposal and dedicate a goddess to preside over it just because they found it gross :).

So if I were you I'd look into purchasing a pre-made composting toilet. If I'm not mistaken, they run in the $2k - 4k range.
 
Artificial Emotion said:
I'm going to open another thread dedicated to green living tips if that's okay? If not can the SO mods let me know? If o don't hear anything saying I can't do it I'll go ahead and do it in the next few hours...
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good idea!

let's just rename this one as such... PM me if you'd like something different.
 
Given your restrictions you may be better of settling for just pissing on your compost heap now and then. The ammonia acts as an accelerator and speeds decomposition, probably best conducted under the cover of darkness for your neighbours sake.

Another option if you had the space would be a reed bed. They can be built yourself, and are aesthetically pleasing in a garden.

http://www.reedbedsirl.com/home
 
EWWWWWWWW POO IS SO YUCK!!!!

But seriously, i dont have a problem using shit to do good things, i agree that its silly - the attitude western culture generally has towards feces.


However, human feces, unlike other animals, STINKS alot.. i mean, have you ever just taken a shit on your lawn? I have(dont ask). It smells. It stunk up the whole fucking lawn pretty much.

Now, the other part is, that most people dont have a big enough property for it to be worth doing. Because the majority of people live in flats or small dwellings, and dont have much of a lawn let alone garden, its practically impossible, or extremely inconvenient and useless, to do any sort of shit compost program.

Now, its great if your on a farm or larger property, but that accounts for a very small number of people.

However, when i was watching TV one day, it was some crazy japanese channel or something, but anyway they had a show and it was about toilets and new technologies. One had been designed that was about, the size of a portaloo but a bit bigger, and it basically had a system that completely turned shit into gas and broke it down. Enough so that if just one person uses that toilet, you never have any physical waste leave it. Just heat and gas, which is used(just the heat i think) to create eletricity, which is needed for the light inside and also for turning/mulching the feces.

I think the only downside was that you needed to add sawdust now and then, but thats barely a downside.
 
Busty St Clare said:
There is a fine line between hero and pong, especially for your neighbours. I don't expect any council in their right mind will allow you to set up one in a built up urban area.
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well said. thing to keep in mind is that manure is not made in the city or the suburbs, it's on big, wide open farm land where the stink of shit has room to dissipate. if there were a way to get all humans to go out to uncle bob's farm and take a shit in the far corner of the field then it might be somewhat practical to use human shit as compost but what's the point when all the cows are already out there on the farm creating compost alongside the milk, meat and leather we need anyway? just because an idea is smart doesn't automatically make it practical.
 
^ I think the point is to dispose of our waste in a useful way. And cut down on the use of chemical fertilisers.

The treated human biosolids dont have too much of a smell. In many places the local governemnt or water authority does the processing and distributes it to farmers. Funnily enough the one thing that survives the treatment is tomato seeds. The hu poo stockpile had tomato plants sprouting out of it left right and centre. The actual waste had a swampy mud smell about it.
 
Idea for green energy - would this work?

I had a crazy stoner idea about harnessing the power of microorganisms to produce useful amounts of heat. I do quite a lot of composting and have noticed that given the right conditions, a well aerated compost heap containing things like grass clippings and high nitrogen-containing organic matter can generate so much heat as a result of microbial activity that it can spontaneously combust. In winter it gets to such a high temperature that it can literally steam throughout the whole winter, especially with biological compost accelerators.

So, I was wondering if we can harness this energy by using the heat generated by composting large amounts of organic matter to keep things warm like housing for animals like chickens, dogs, cats, rabbits etc.? Or even larger structures like a room in a house by surrounding some of the walls composting organic matter (I realise this is very unlikely to work, but it was worth a mention)?

Would this work at all?
 
It can be work on a smaller scale, the Victorians were doing it for glasshouses. I'm sure its being used in some application or other all over the place.

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/compostheatedgh.html

Your idea for surrounding a house with decaying matter in order to heat wasn't really worth a mention. The presence of energy is one small factor in the equation, you've overlooked all the factors that make the production, harvesting & storing of this energy, plus sourcing of start products & disposal of biproducts possible & viable.
 
I believe your idea has the slight flaw that as you steal the heat the reactions which produce heat slow down :S

That being said the micro-organisms are also generating methane which can be burnt for heat or to generate power. Huzzah!
 
^ I don't think so, since the heat is naturally dissipated anyway. The rate at which they metabolise can be increased by providing extra aeration, nutrients and simple carbohydrates I believe.

I'll take a look at that link, thanks bandandwicked.
 
Hmmm on a large scale you are correct that a heat exchanger could make use of 'excess' heat in large enough amounts to make it viable.

In single residence size application though I think the requirement of keeping the reaction temperature high enough would almost require insulation rather than a heat exchanger.

Here's a cool link as well http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/627930.html
 
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