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Summary
part 1 of a 3 part podcast
Paul, Steven, Clay and Alan talk about waste management systems.
Paul pays tribute to Joseph Jenkins for the development of the humanure system but says that it doesn't scale up well.
Alan agrees, he has designed systems for all sizes from individual families to town-sized. Jenkins's system is good for a small group.
Paul raises the point about why bother composting human waste. Most systems for dealing with waste are imperfect. When it comes to human waste, you have to consider pathogens. Alan says that the baseline for health is lower than in the past so this is more relevant than it used to be. This is why you have to manage waste effectively. The common sewage systems in place arose from transporting the waste effectively to a treatment site.
Paul discusses the development of waste management as population density increases, from pooping on the ground through sewage treatment plants.
Alan comments that in a number of states, the "bio-solids" from the sewage plants are put on agricultural land but this is a bad idea as it poisons the land with heavy metals and other stuff that doesn't break down.
Alan comments that there's a minimum size to make a compost heap, or it won't work: about 1 cubic meter is effectively the lower limit for effectively dealing with pathogens. Larger is better.
Paul aims to compost 1000lbs of material and get 50lbs of awesome compost out, i.e. 5%. However, much of the carbon and Nitrogen is lost to the atmosphere which is not so good as if it could be in the soil.
Now we come to willow feeders. Willow is excellent at absorbing waste, preventing it entering the water system. It's much better than a drain field. At Wheaton labs they have had willow feeders for 10 or 11 years and now it's quite well sorted although it took 2-3 years to get it optimized.
Alan talks about the output from the willows, and how it's broken down. Paul describes how the material is processed, over a 2 year period. Depending on the environment, the can may continue composting. Alan wants to outfit a can with sensors for oxygen, moisture and temperature to find out how it does it. He suspects that part of the process is anaerobic in part. Paul feels that the output indicates that it's very slow but aerobic.
Relevant Threads
Composting forum
Toilet Alternatives forum
what is a willow feeder
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This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Neath
Bill Crim
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Kerry JustTooLazy
Jocelyn Campbell
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