Sawdust Toilet Statistics
One hundred pounds of human body weight will fill approximately three gallons .4 cubic feet, 693 cubic inches, or approximately 11 liters in a sawdust toilet per week - this volume includes the sawdust cover material. One hundred pounds of human body weight will also require approximately 3 gallons of semi-dry, deciduous, rotting sawdust per week for use as a cover material in a toilet. This amounts to a requirement of approximately 20 cubic feet of sawdust cover material per one hundred pounds...
The Oldfashioned Outhouse
Next up the ladder of sophistication is the old-fashioned outhouse, also known as the pit latrine. Simply stated, one digs a hole and defecates in it, and then does so again and again until the hole fills up then it's covered with dirt. It's nice to have a small building or privy over the hole to provide some privacy and shelter. However, the concept is simple dig a hole and bury your excrement. Interestingly, this level of sophistication has not yet been surpassed in America. We still bury our...
Compost Thermometers
REOTEMP 10656 Roselle Street, San Diego, CA 92121 USA Ph 858-784-0710 Toll free 800-648-7737 Fax 858-784-0720 email reotemp reotemp.com website www.reotemp.com A Sampler of Commercial Composting Toilets and Systems For more information about these and other composting toilets, search the internet. For more information about these and other composting toilets, search the internet. Clockwise from top left Sven Linden, Sven Linden, Aquatron, Dutch Hamar, Alascan, Bio-Sun, Sun-Mar. Clockwise from...
Microorganisms In Compost
Actinobifida chromogena Microbispora bispora Micropolyspora faeni Nocardia sp. Pseudocardia thermophilia Streptomyces rectus S. thermofuscus S. thermoviolaceus S. thermovulgaris S. violaceus-ruber Thermoactinomyces sac chari Aspergillus fumigatus Humicola grisea H. insolens H. lanuginosa Malbranchea pulchella Myriococcum themophilum Paecilomyces variotti Papulaspora thermophila Scytalidium thermophilim Sporotrichum thermophile Source Palmisano, Anna C. and Barlaz, Morton A. Eds. 1996 ....
Thermal Death Points For Common Parasites And Pathogens
Ascaris lumbricoides eggs Within 1 hour at temps over 500C Brucella abortus or B. suis Within 1 hour at 550C Corynebacterium diptheriae Within 45 minutes at 550C Entamoeba histolytica cysts Within a few minutes at 450C Escherichia coli One hr at 550C or 15-20 min. at 600C Micrococcus pyogenes var. aureus Within 10 minutes at 500C Mycobacterium tuberculosis var. hominis . Within 15 to 20 minutes at 660C Necator americanus Within 50 minutes at 450C Salmonella spp Within 1 hr at 55C 15-20 min. at...
Compost Biodiversity
Compost is normally populated by three general categories of microorganisms bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi see Figure 3.3 and Table 3.6 . It is primarily the bacteria, and specifically the ther-mophilic bacteria, that create the heat of the compost pile. Although considered bacteria, actinomycetes are effectively intermediates between bacteria and fungi because they look similar to fungi and have similar nutritional preferences and growth habits. They tend to be more commonly found in the...
Fertilizers Once Marketed
Sources Rodale, J. I. et al. Eds. . 1960 . The Complete Book of Composting. Rodale Books Inc. Emmaus, PA. pp. 789, 790. 1955 . Commercial Fertilizers - Their Sources and Use, Fifth Edition. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York into and concentrate in sewage sludge at wastewater treatment facilities. One study indicated that roundworm eggs could be recovered from sludge at all stages of the wastewater treatment process, and that two-thirds of the samples examined had viable eggs.45 Agricultural use of...
Fecophobia And The Pathogen Issue
The belief that humanure is unsafe for agricultural use is called fecophobia. People who are fecophobic can suffer from severe fecophobia or a relatively mild fecophobia, the mildest form being little more than a healthy concern about personal hygiene. Severe feco-phobics do not want to use humanure for food growing, composted or not. They believe that it's dangerous and unwise to use such a material in their garden. Milder fecophobics may, however, compost humanure and use the finished compost...
Four Stages Of Compost
There is a huge difference between a backyard humanure composter and a municipal composter. Municipal composters handle large batches of organic materials all at once, while backyard com-posters continuously produce a small amount of organic material every day. Municipal composters, therefore, are batch composters, while backyard composters tend to be continuous composters. When organic material is composted in a batch, four distinct stages of the composting process are apparent. Although the...
Conventional Sewage Treatment Plants
The only sewage digestion process producing a guaranteed pathogen-free sludge is batch thermophilic digestion in which all of the sludge is maintained at 50oC 122oF for 13 days. Other sewage digestion processes will allow the survival of worm eggs and possibly pathogenic bacteria. Typical sewage treatment plants instead use a continuous process where wastewater is added daily or more frequently, thereby guaranteeing the survival of pathogens see Figure 7.2 . I took an interest in my local...
Fecofrigginfobia
There seems to be an irrational fear among fecophobes that if you don't die instantly from humanure compost, you'll die a slow, miserable death, or you'll surely cause an epidemic of the plague and everyone within 200 miles of you will drop like flies, or you'll become so infested with parasitic worms that your head will look like spaghetti. These fears exist perhaps because much of the information in print concerning the recycling of humanure is confusing, erroneous, or incomplete. For...
Vermicomposting
Vermicomposting, or worm composting, involves the use of redworms such as Eisenis fetida or Lumbricus rubellus to consume organic material either in specially designed worm boxes, or in large-scale, outdoor compost piles. Redworms prefer a dark, cool, well-aerated space, and thrive on moist bedding such as shredded newspaper. Kitchen food scraps placed in worm boxes are consumed by the worms and converted into worm castings, which can then be used like finished compost to grow plants....
The Ceaseless Cycle Of Compost Making
Allow to age. j Fill second side, let first Empty aged compost. Allow second side to age Start filling first side again. Let second side age and shrink. If you want your compost to age for two years instead of one, add a fourth bin to the system. Turning the compost is not necessary read Chapter 3 . A roof over the center bin will keep the cover material dry and unfrozen in the winter months in cold climates see figure 8.4 . attract flies should be dug into the top center of the pile. Keep a...
Mexican Biological Digester
Well, where it goes depends on the type of waste disposal system used. Let's start with the simplest the Mexican biological digester, also known as the stray dog. In India, this may be known as the family pig. I spent a few months in southern Mexico in the late 1970s in Quintana Roo on the Yucatan peninsula. There, toilets were not available people simply used the sand dunes along the coast. No problem, though. One of the small, unkempt and ubiquitous Mexican dogs would wait nearby with...
Builtin Sawdust Toilet With Hinged Seat 1
The above diagram and photos below show a simple sawdust toilet permanently built into a toilet room. The compost receptacle bucket sits directly on the floor. A standard toilet seat is attached to an 18 square piece of plywood, which lifts on hinges to allow easy access when removing the compost material. Bucket setback from the front edge of the plywood is 1 amp 1 2. Top surface of plywood is 1 2 lower than top of bucket rim allowing bucket to protrude through cabinet to contact bottom of...
Four Necessities For Good Compost
Compost must be kept moist. A dry pile will not work it will just sit there and look bored. It's amazing how much moisture an active compost pile can absorb. When people who don't have any experience with compost try to picture a humanure compost pile in someone's backyard, they imagine a giant, fly-infested, smelly heap of excrement, draining all manner of noxious, stinky liquids out of the bottom of the compost pile. However, a compost pile is not a pile of garbage or waste. Thanks to the...
Hookworm Larvae
Sand room temp lt 4 months Soil open shade, . . lt 6 months Soil Moist Dense shade . .9-11 weeks Soil Water covered varied 10-43 days Soil Moist 0 lt 1 week Heated soil with water covered 15-27 9 after 2wks Unheated soil with water covered 15-27 3 after 2wks Sandy, shaded 25-36 31 dead after 54 d. Sandy, sun 24-38 99 dead after 15 d. Loam, shade 25-36 3.5 dead after 21 d. Loam, sun 24-38 4 dead after 21 d. Clay, shade 25-36 2 dead after 21 d. Clay, sun 24-38 12 dead after 21 d. Humus, shade...
Survival Of Polioviruses In Soil
96-123 after sludge applied 89-96 after effluent applied less than 11 after sludge or effluent applied SURVIVAL TIME OF SOME PATHOGENIC WORMS IN SOIL Soil Moisture Temp. 0C Survival
A Constructed Wetland Requires Four Components For Functional Success
1 A substrate such as gravel 4 Naturally occurring microorganisms both aerobic and anaerobic Two or more growing seasons may be necessary before plants are completely established. Sources University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Circular 912, Aquascaping Planting and Maintenance. and National Small Flows Clearinghouse, Pipeline, Summer 1998, Vol. 9, No. 3 Constructed Wetlands, A Natural Treatment Alternative. Broad-leaved cattail Typha latifolia Plants for constructed...
Spread Of Pollution Through Dry Soil By Outhouses
'' A' . i r I'- i.-jZ , Outhouses will transmit pollution three meters 10 feet vertically and one meter 3 feet laterally, in dry soil. Low-Cost Technology Options for Sanitation, A State of the Art Review and Annotated Bibliography. World Bank. p. 52. Outhouses will transmit pollution three meters 10 feet below the outhouse hole and one meter 3 feet sideways in dry soil. They can be expected to leak pollution 50 feet sideways in wet soils, following the direction of groundwater flow. Another...
Ownerbuilt Composting Toilets
Owner-built composting toilets are in widespread use throughout the world since many people do not have the financial resources required to purchase commercially-produced toilets. Owner-built devices tend to be low-temperature composting toilets, although they can conceivably be thermophilic toilet systems if properly managed. The objectives of any composting toilet should be to achieve safe and sanitary treatment of fecal material, to conserve water, to function with a minimum of maintenance...
Compost Testing Labs
WOODS END AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE, INC. PO Box 297, Mt. Vernon, ME 04352 USA Ph 207-293-2457 or 800 451 0337 FAX 207-293-2488 email com-post woodsend.org website woodsend.org Ascaris and coliform testing as well as full nutrient tests. Sells the Solvita R Maturity Test Kit which is now approved in CA, CT, IL, MA, ME, NJ, NM, OH, TX, and WA. Has developed a soil-respiration test kit that is approved by the USDA for soil quality investigations. WOODS END EUROPE AUC - Agrar und Umwelt-Consult GmbH...
Compost Miracles
Compost microorganisms not only convert organic material into humus, but they also degrade toxic chemicals into simpler, benign, organic molecules. These chemicals include gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, oil, grease, wood preservatives, PCBs, coal gasification wastes, refinery wastes, insecticides, herbicides, TNT, and other explosives.59 In one experiment in which compost piles were laced with insecticides and herbicides, the insecticide carbofuran was completely degraded, and the herbicide...
The Compost Bins
A sawdust toilet requires three components 1 the toilet receptacle 2 cover materials and 3 a compost bin system. The system will not work without all three of these components. The toilet is only the collection stage of the process. Since the composting takes place away from the toilet, the compost bin system is important. 1 Use at least a double-chambered, above-ground compost bin. A three-chambered bin is recommended. Deposit in one chamber for a period of time e.g., a year , then switch to...
Two Cell Constructed Subsurface Flow Wetland For Graywater Or Blackwater
Adapted from Pennsylvania DEP 1998 . Working With Nature - New Wastewater Technologies for Pennsylvania - Onlot and Small Flow Systems. Most biological recycling of organic nutrients occurs in the upper layers of the soil, called the bio-active zone. Typical wastewater systems, such as septic systems and leach fields, are placed below the bio-active zone allowing little nutrient recycling to take place. A constructed wetland allows the nutrients in wastewater effluent to be beneficially used by...
Composition Of Humanure
Fecal Material 0.3-0.6 pounds person day 135-270 grams , wet weight Organic Matter dry wt. . . .88-97 1.75-2.25 pints per person per day 1.0-1.3 liters Source Gotaas, Composting, 1956 , p. 35.
Waste Stabilization Ponds
Perhaps one of the most ancient wastewater treatment methods known to humans are waste stabilization ponds, also known as oxidation ponds or lagoons. They're often found in small rural areas where land is available and cheap. Such ponds tend to be only a meter to a meter and a half deep, but vary in size and depth and can be three or more meters deep.14 They utilize natural processes to treat waste materials, relying on algae, bacteria and zooplankton to reduce the organic content of the...
POTENTIAL BACTERIAL PATHOGENS IN FECES BacteriaDisease Symptomless Carrier
yes E. Salmonella typhi Typhoid fever yes Salmonella paratyphi Paratyphoid fever yes Other Salmonellae Food poisoning yes Vibrio cholerae Other Vibrios Diarrhea yes million to one trillion viruses can be excreted with each gram of fecal material.15 Of the pathogenic bacteria, the genus Salmonella is significant because it contains species causing typhoid fever, paratyphoid, and gastrointestinal disturbances. Another genus of bacteria, Shigella, causes dysentery. Myobacteria cause tuberculosis...
Sawdust Decomposition
Average of all softwoods . . . .12.0 The lower the number, the slower the decomposition rate. Hardwood sawdust decomposes faster than softwood sawdust. Source Haug, Roger T. 1993 . The Practical Handbook of Compost Engineering. CRC Press, Inc., 2000 Corporate Blvd. N.W., Boca Raton, FL 33431 U.S.A. as reported in Biocycle - Journal of Composting and Recycling. December, 1998. p. 19. That's also why humanure and urine alone will not compost. They contain too much nitrogen and not enough carbon,...
A Simple Urinal
Want to collect urine only Maybe you want a urinal in a private office, bedroom or shop. Simply fill a five-gallon bucket with rotted sawdust or other suitable material, and put a tight lid on it. A bucket full of sawdust will still have enough air space in it to hold about a week's worth of urine from one adult. Urinate into the bucket, and replace the lid when not in use. For a fancy urinal, place the sawdust bucket in a toilet cabinet with a regular toilet seat. When the bucket is full,...
Ground Water Pollution From Septic Systems
Humans started disposing of human waste by defecating into a hole in the ground or an outhouse, then discovered we could float our turds out to the hole using water and never have to leave our shelter. However, one of the unfortunate problems with septic systems is, like outhouses, they pollute our groundwater. At the end of the 20th century, there were 22 million septic system sites in the United States, p fjCIVG O serving one fourth to one third of f the U.S. population. They were notorious...
Agricultural Use Of Sewage Sludge
Now here's where a thoughtful person may ask, Why not put sewage sludge back into the soil for agricultural purposes One reason government regulation. When I asked the supervisor of my local wastewater treatment plant if the one million gallons of sludge the plant produces each year, from a population of 8,000 people, was being applied to agricultural land, he said, It takes six months and five thousand dollars to get a permit for a land application. Another problem is that due to regulations,...
The Sawdust Toilet On Camping Trips
Humanure composters have tricks up their sleeves. Ever go on a week-long camping trip or to a camping music festival and hate using those awful portable chemical toilets that stink If you have a humanure compost bin at home, simply take two five gallon buckets with you on the trip. Fill one with a cover material, such as sawdust, and put a lid on it. Set it inside the empty bucket and pack it along with your other camping gear. Voila One portable composting toilet When you set up your camp,...
Thermophilic Microorganisms
A wide array of microorganisms live in a compost pile. Bacteria are especially abundant and are usually divided into several classes based upon the temperatures at which they best thrive. The low temperature bacteria are thepsychrophiles, which can grow at temperatures down to -100C, but whose optimum temperature is 150C 590F or lower. The mesophiles live at medium temperatures, 20-450C 68-1130F , and include human pathogens. Thermophiles thrive above 450C 1130F , and some live at, or even...
Info Num
Sources Gotaas, Harold B. 1956 . Composting - Sanitary Disposal and Reclamation of Organic Wastes p.44 . World Health Organization, Monograph Series Number 31. Geneva. and Rynk, Robert, ed. 1992 . On-Farm Composting Handbook. Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Sernce. Ph 607 255-7654. pp. 106-113. Some data from Biocycle, Journal of Composting and Recycling, July 1998, p.18, 61, 62 and January 1998, p.20. Sources Gotaas, Harold B. 1956 . Composting - Sanitary Disposal and Reclamation...