Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Secret Ingredient Revealed!!

This is the secret ingredient to a thermophilic compost system. POOP!! Most thermophilic compost systems use poop from cows or horses. But not mine. Mine uses people poop!! More commonly known as Humanure. I first learned about this system from researching sustainable off the grid waste treatment. After researching it I found that its really the only reasonable way of dealing with human "waste". Our current system wastes tons of water and energy and even after all that waste still leaves tons of pollution. Its rather absurd.
Also there's the composting aspect of it. Plants require nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. Currently we use petroleum based fertilizers to provide these nutrients for the plants. Leeching of petroleum based fertilizers is a huge planet killer. Currently there are enormous dead zones in the gulf of Mexico where no life can live caused by said leeching. Humanure provides all of said nutrients while getting rid of our waste without wasting any other resources.
I dont want to make this a lengthy rant on the evils of modern waste management so feel free to check out the Humanure Handbook for more info: http://humanurehandbook.com/downloads/Humanure_Handbook_all.pdf


So theres the compost toilet in all her glory. The way it works is you put down whats called a cover material then you pee and poop in the bucket then you put cover material over it every time you go. For cover material Im using peat moss but sawdust (it has to be tree sawdust not lumber sawdust, because the lumber has usually been treated with chemicals) is also very common for these systems. The cover material soaks up all the odor. You can put your face right up to the bucket and it looks and smells like a bucket full of dirt. Im hoping to build a more elaborate system for adding the cover material but so far its been working well.

1 comment:

  1. Why is it that I knew that the "secret" was poop...human poop. I just knew it. The odd thing once I get over my ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww factor, I can see the logic and the science. Bravo!

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