Alright back to soil carbon. Today i’m talking about a specific kind of composting to address the big question: in a world with limited clean water, why do we shit in it? 1/

No but really we have decided the best way to manage human waste, which must be managed is to add it to water and pipe it “away” to then be removed _from_ water and made safe-ish. But those pipes leak and it turns out sewage (shit+water) is far worse then feces alone. 3/

There is a long history of human waste being mismanaged and modern sewers were an understandable response to the disasters of growing cities. And fear has been the dominant way to make sure people are extremely careful about it. But fecophobia gets in the way of things. 4/

The alternative? Is to keep the material out of water, put it safely in thermophilic compost, and allow it to undergo pathogen death. 4/

Thermophylic refers to the healthy compost organisms that love heat. They will take compost up to the temperature ranges needed to kill pathogens. And the result is safe, carbon rich compost that could honestly be used in the garden though most people just save it for trees. 5/

There are many kinds of composting toilets I’m in transit at the moment so this thread will be words for now but I’ll go in w images &links this afternoon. For now I’ll tell you about a very successful system I lived with for a few years. Following the transfer compost method. 6/

Everybody has their favorite system. There are reasons i’m into transfer compost toilets. The biggest being they are easy to do safely and right, and they don’t require much planning. We can set up these systems with minimal warning in a natural or social disaster. 6/

I lived with 11 people in a two-house cooperative. We composted all of our waste safetly and with minimal work. We were inspired by the methods explained in “the humanure handbook” 7/ http://humanurehandbook.com 

The materials are simple: a toilet seat is attached to the cut-off top of a bucket or to a wooden box. So that a bucket can be placed under. Sawdust is obtained from a local carpenter. Woodchips delivered to the yard. 7/

Pallets rebuilt into a frane system that stacked to allow for an increasing compost pile. We’d put a layer of sticks or stalks at the bottom of a half foot deep hole. 9/

*Frame

Sawdust at the bottom of the bucket, every time you go you scoop sawdust to cover. It all goes in: human waste, urine,toilet paper. no smell other then sawdust. When full the bucket is fitted with a lid. We then put the buckets by the pile for whoever’s chore it was that week. 8/

11 people easy & a smaller house hold easier. Use a designated shovel to make the pile can be added too. Dump bucket, cover w wood chips. Move the compost thermometer. Always pay attention to how hot it is. Everything is covered in wood. You hardly see or smell anything. 9/

Then wash things down. Let the pile get high. We did about five feet high with frames that were 4x4’. Make sure it’s heating. When it’s done cover it w chips let it sit 6mo Usually we’d turn the pile after. At that point it’s 100% compost. But we’d let it sit another few mo. 10/

Indoor compost toilet systems have been legal in my town for a while they have a heating element can be pricy. 11/

The city really had no problem with our system telling us “any compost pile can be great or a disaster regardless of what the source is. More recently there are efforts to set up code for transfer toilets. 12/

The only real difference being that the final compost pile be done in a cinderblock frame with collectible drainage. 13/

We are expecting a bad earthquake here. It’s going to be a disaster. rapidly mobilizing composting toilets could save lives. People can make compost bins by punching holes in a garbage can. The main limit is enough woodchips. Another reason to be planting more trees. 13/

Obviously this is context dependent. It would work in a medium city only if there was some sort of person like a meter reader who checks in on compost once in a while. But it opens up the idea of what we could be doing. 13/

After leaving that household I’ve felt really weird pooping in clean water again. I’d rather take responsibility. 15/15