Need brainstorming help - Household Waste Badge for PEM

Hello friends, I'm still working on the PEM (Permaculture Experience according to Mike) program.  One badge that's different from PEP is that instead of Greywater and Willow Feeders, I'll have this badge for Household Waste Streams.  My goal is to step a bit away from willow feeders, continue to deal with poop and pee and include other waste products from the house.  Here's where I'm currently at, please feel free to add suggestions or comments!

Sand Badge (get 5 points):
- Build a single section compost bin - 1 point
- Build a large composting 3 bin system - 2 points
- Build a small compost tumbler - 1/2 point
- Build a large compost tumbler (80+ gallons) - 3 points
- System to collect and distribute pee to nature - 1 point
- Build a worm bin system - 1 point  (raising worms is in Animal Care)
- Feed appropriate scraps to an animal system (PEP) - 1/2 point
- Recycle glass:
      - Cut bottles to become drinking cups - 1/2 point
      - Crush to make gravel - 1/2 point
      - Use for wall building materials - 1/2 point
      - More ideas???
- Recycle paper into:
      - Firestarters? - 1/2 point
      - Make new paper from it - 1 point
      - Make seedling pots - 1/2 point
      - Feed into a vermicompost system - 1/2 point
      - More ideas???
- Recycle brown cardboard into:
      - Sheet mulch material - 1/2 point
      - More ideas???
- Recycle plastic into:
      - Diesel or some other fuel - 2 points
      - Melted/compressed into a useful object like a roofing tile - 1 point
      - More ideas???
- Recycle aluminum into:
      - Melted into a useful object like tiles, plant markers, signs, etc - 1 point
- Install and/or build a hand washing station that uses toilet fill water above the toilet tank - 1 point
- Use a bucket of water from a shower (PEP) - 1/2 point
- Build a better urine diverter (PEP) - 2 points
- Create a Level 1 pee spot (PEP) - 1 point

Straw Badge:
   Get 35 points - new Sand items allowed
- Humanure stuff
      - 2+ bin humanure composting system - 4 points
      - 2 hole elevated humanure composting outhouse - 10 points
      - Make a composting toilet cabinet for a bucket - 2 points
      - Replace a conventional toilet with a composting toilet cabinet - 2 points
      - Develop a humanure composting system that composts year round in a very cold climate - 16 points
- Create a level 2 pee spot (PEP) - 4 points
- Create a level 3 pee spot (PEP) - 6 points
- Create a level 4 pee spot (PEP) - 8 points
- Create a cat or dog waste composting system (sanitary) - ? points
- Take a composting toilet to a fair or public event for public use - 8 points
- Maybe some of the Greywater Mulch pit BBs from PEP but I'm not sure...  Thoughts?
- Maybe make an outdoor willow feeder system that has stationary cans - 8 points
        - Intended for light or sporadic use
        - Seat attaches to can
        - Vented with black pipe up a tall tree (in-use and resting cans)
        - Internal pipe for air intake and desiccation near the bottom of the can

What other things should be in these badges???

You have a little vermicomposting and you have paper recycling. My worms eat all my shredda (which I limit to paper I deem fit for them (no gloss, low color, no plastic windows, etc)) and I wonder if that should have a slot.

Do you want to get into melting glass or aluminum?

Does installing rain-catchment count as managing a waste stream?

Feeding kitchen scraps to livestock is a PEP BB, does it belong here in PEM?

How about using pet waste safely? I'm mostly thinking about cats, the waste from which can be dangerous, plus if you're using clay litter, that requires some thought.

What about Ruth Stout type composting, where kitchen scraps are tucked under mulch and compost in place?

Christopher Weeks wrote:
How about using pet waste safely? I'm mostly thinking about cats, the waste from which can be dangerous, plus if you're using clay litter, that requires some thought.

I like the idea of creating a pet waste composting system. Maybe place that at a straw level? Have the submission explain how their system reduces risk of contamination via its process (Vermicomposting, hot compost, ect ect)

Thanks everyone!  I added the aluminum recycling and pet waste to the top list.

Glass melting seems to be problematic to achieve.  If it is realistic, I'm game for adding it.

Good catch on Ruth Stout!  That is in PEP Gardening but not in PEM gardening so I'll add it here.

Rain catchment is in Plumbing and I'm just copying the PEP Animal Care badge so the "scraps to livestock" is covered there already.

Keep the ideas coming!  Particularly in the department of human poop and greywater mulch pits

I remembered seeing this old Instructable about making roof shingles from aluminum cans and got to wondering about other DIY recycling/upcycling options for aluminum. Do you want to include upcycling waste materials just generally instead of a few specific examples like newspaper seedling pots?

Mike Haasl wrote: Recycle brown cardboard into:
     - Sheet mulch material - 1/2 point
     - More ideas???

I've used brown cardboard as a small-project construction material - mostly shelving in my case.
Other possibilities might be kids' toys or dollhouses, architecture/engineering homeschool projects, even furniture in some cases.

Mike Haasl wrote: Recycle brown cardboard into:
     - Sheet mulch material - 1/2 point
     - More ideas???

I used 3 boxes and a bit of bamboo to make a multi level chick exercise jungle gym. The loved it until they wrecked it!

For recycling, plastic bottles can be turned into useful cordage with the right little jig.  

For example:

https://grimworkshop.com/blogs/news/plastic-bottle-rope-maker

P.s. The above site shows how cordage from a 2 liter bottle is strong enough to pull a tractor!

Christopher Weeks wrote:I remembered seeing this old Instructable about making roof shingles from aluminum cans and got to wondering about other DIY recycling/upcycling options for aluminum. Do you want to include upcycling waste materials just generally instead of a few specific examples like newspaper seedling pots?

Yes, specifics could each be a BB.  Of course I'll have opinions about what I want to promote.  Likely things that are practical for a homestead...

George Yacus wrote:For recycling, plastic bottles can be turned into useful cordage with the right little jig.  

I knew of that idea but I'm not sure I love it from my personal permie perspective.  Something about microplastics or something I can't put a finger on just kinda turns me off on it.

Hey Mike! Some ideas...
Do the tin cans need to be melted to be used as garden markers? Maybe they could just be cut.
How about setting up a greywater system for laundry machines or outdoor sinks/showers? I think mulch pits are pretty easy. But there is an element lacking from PEP and that is planting water-loving plants nearby, not just urine-loving plants. Plants like cattails help clean the water.
Or greywater being added into a swale/ canal? Like Rob Avis did on his property in Alberta, Canada. I think I saw that in a youtube video.
I love the idea of recycling being added to this badge! How about proving you reduced your waste? Records of how much landfill-bound waste was created one month, showing less the next month.
Paper can be sheet mulch too! And a carbon source for compost. I shred paper from my kids' school papers and junk mail for my compost pile.

Thanks Rebekah!  Yeah, pop can labels would be a good one.  They're pretty wimpy so I was imagining a melted down label that is beefier.  More options are better.  I'll dig more into the greywater options.

Perhaps a grey water system for wash water at household scale that serves as irrigation for a perennial tree/bush crop? Might make a good straw badge BB.  

For example, an irrigation ditch or French drain that distributes waste water from a minimum of one each of: shower/tub, dishwasher, and clothes washer to not less than four perennials.

Good idea Matthew!

Turning waste plastic into a liquid fuel is next level upcycling. How about amend the sand level badge to specify a quantity of fuel, perhaps a quart?  Make it worth more points.  

Then you could make a straw badge for a useful quantity, maybe five gallons.

A wood badge BB might require a home production scale system that can demonstrate ann output like five gallons per month.

Iron badge could be a cottage industry scale system: 50 gallons per month.

Like Christopher and Rebekah, I see re-use/re-purpose, and upcycle, ahead of "recycle"... some of this may just be semantics, but recycling only sees the material itself. Crushing glass into gravel to me is downcycling, and recycling by melting aluminum is also resource intensive. (you may have a need for the gravel, and that's fine, and a cast aluminum project may also use up all the scraps from upstream uses)

re-use is real simple-like: it's a container, now use it to hold something different, or create a storage system using multiples of the same container... or maybe alter it to suit your need.
maybe a container altered to fit a specific item or location begins to be up-cycling, or when it is used for some intrinsic property that the item provides. The shape makes a funnel, a scoop, or a grommet, or a tube when top/bottom removed. You get a flat sheet when cut-up, or thin enough aluminum to emboss with a ballpoint pen for indelible labels, or use as flashing, or cut-out to make washers.

Plastic up-cycling could be something like make a tool (scoop, funnel, scraper) or a clothing accessory (pocket protector, sheath, knee pads) a time/labor/brain-cell saving device (super-visible key fob, a signal device/flag to show state of ON/OFF or OPEN/CLOSED at a distance, or a to-do/done task schedule board - or performance tracker)
Plastic recycling could maybe involve DIY filament for 3D printing or something like Precious Plastics creating "new material" such as planks or bricks to make other stuff from. Or reshaping by vacuum-forming or blow-molding into a new shape with a new purpose.

Glass bottles could be cut and reassembled as "stained glass" in many ways. Glass could also be tumbled to make "pebbles" or "sea-glass" to be used for decoration, art/jewelry projects, or even sold to others who want to use it but not make it...

Maybe make any of these things AND THEN: Give it to someone else to use, as a gift with new way of thinking/living. Or sell it to someone else, either online or at a local market/event?

Plastics - I'm not sure I'd include any plastic recycling that requires melting. The fumes from melting plastic are not particularly wholesome, and can lead to wide-scale contamination of the surrounding environment. Cutting plastic down into scoops, labels, washers etc, or making plastic yarn/plyarn seems better. Perhaps something about converting feed sacks into tarps to protect soil/gear?

Glass - the best thing to do with glass containers is to re-use them in their original form; the embodied energy of glass is high, and the energy breakeven is re-use of a bottle about 20 times. Preserving produce/beverages/etc in the original jars/bottles should be the first option. After that, using the bottles as underfloor insulation for earthen floors, or as lights in cob walls etc is a good option. Perhaps join several together to make a solar hot water heating system? Cutting down bottles into cups or funnels for watering plants is also good. Or cutting down jars and drilling a hole in the base for using as plastic-free seedling pots. I have melted bottle glass into beads using a basic plumbers torch, which is something relatively achievable in a home setting, but for making anything big you'd want a proper furnace.

Aluminium - in a home setting, you probably are going to be limited to smaller objects (maybe not a sign), but don't need to be limited to flat things as you can do sand casting.

Other types of waste:
Ashes - fertiliser, soap, lye (for cleaning or preserving food)
Bones - biochar and grind into fertiliser
Reculcant-to-compost organics - citrus peels, walnut shells, macadamia shells, hardwood offcuts from woodworking - mulch or biochar
Hazardous waste - smoke detectors (radioactive), batteries (heavy metals), fluorescent lights (heavy metals), old paint (lead, asbestos, microplastics), stained glass (lead), plant residue from phytoremediation projects, etc. Showing responsible disposal of these types of things is important for preventing soil contamination

M Broussard wrote:Plastics - Perhaps something about converting feed sacks into tarps to protect soil/gear?

Other types of waste:
Ashes - fertiliser, soap, lye (for cleaning or preserving food)
Bones - biochar and grind into fertiliser
Reculcant-to-compost organics - citrus peels, walnut shells, macadamia shells, hardwood offcuts from woodworking - mulch or biochar
Hazardous waste - smoke detectors (radioactive), batteries (heavy metals), fluorescent lights (heavy metals), old paint (lead, asbestos, microplastics), stained glass (lead), plant residue from phytoremediation projects, etc. Showing responsible disposal of these types of things is important for preventing soil contamination

Unfortunately, most feed sack plastic is without UV stabilizers, and breaks down in a season and shreds into tiny fragments... (I tried with brewer's grain sacks, and regretted it.) I would proceed with caution here... do a test? Use only indoors or under another cover?

I do like the lens of cost/benefit and lifecycle analysis to decide: Am I "saving" anything (time, labor, materials, energy, environmental factors, money, demand-side economics) by reusing or repurposing *a thing* versus  purchasing *a thing*, and can I or will I do better than "professional" recycling or sequestration when available...

Leading to considering  when making the initial purchase: am I able to reuse the packaging? what will I do with the "leftovers" of a larger than needed package? will I just end up disposing of spoiled *stuff* in five years time? where does *this thing* end up at the end of its life, and is that as long I want/need it to be?

Re-use idea: Use up household finishes such as wall and house paints, stains and varnishes, while they are still good to be used. Touch-up/refinish worn furniture, chipped/scuffed paint in high traffic areas. Use-up paints on accessory/incidental projects, either to match a room (furniture, wall shelf, toy box, etc...) or where it doesn't matter (closet walls or shelving, basement/garage: workbench, shelving, or walls, or as a base-coat under a desired color?)

Posting here to remind myself (iteration of Kenneth's idea).  Repackage mostly empty paint cans into smaller containers for longer term storage.  Save/recreate label if you need to duplicate in the future.

Mike Haasl wrote:Posting here to remind myself (iteration of Kenneth's idea).  Repackage mostly empty paint cans into smaller containers for longer term storage.  Save/recreate label if you need to duplicate in the future.

Thoughts about storage: Most useless/ruined paints I have encountered are the result of a faulty seal. This may result in dried-up paints of both oil and water bases. Too much empty space (air) and too little product might be just as bad, so transfer to a smaller (right-sized) container might be best. There are also options for "nitrogen purging" the head space in the can, but really makes sense on a high-value commercial product not consumer-grade stuff.

Then with water-based finishes sold in a metal can, a long-term problem is rust. Both contaminating the finish with rust particles/color, and compromising the seal of the can. You can buy new quart or pint paint cans for leftovers, but rust will still get you. There are some plastic paint keeper products... but you would probably spend less buying one or two extra quarts to finish a job rather than storing the remains of that last gallon can. Paint matching is so good now, that in lieu of the original formula, a sample to scan is all you need. So while you have the paint open, make a paint "chip" on a card that you can have scanned later if need be.

Glass jars might be ideal, other than being fragile, since the color and condition can be seen without opening. To avoid rust: maybe a plastic lid rather than metal, or a layer of plastic under the metal lid? Or vacuum-sealing with one of those Mason-jar devices?

Labels in a durable medium (don't rely on the thermal ink sticker from the store) or create a "house" notebook where info can be found later. Color/formula, brand, finish, store, date, color sample, where/what used for, etc... Or photos, if you have a good filing system?