Bill Gates Thinks These Toilets Could Change The World

[Machiavelli]

Grunge
YouTube
November 9, 2018

A flushing toilet, hooked up to a fresh water supply and a stable sewage line, is something many people in the modern world take for granted. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 2.3 billion people don't have access to the basic sanitation afforded by modern plumbing. But all those people still turn food into waste, and that waste still has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, without plumbing, it ends up going pretty much everywhere you don't want it to go, including into soil or into bodies of water, sometimes causing the rapid spread of nasty and potentially fatal diseases. This problem weighs on the minds of plenty of people, including some of the crusading heads of charitable foundations and some of the world's most inventive scientists, who have been trying to solve the problem of poop and make widespread sanitation possible. In the latter category, for example, there's Bill Gates...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uvzKzWpRNI

[roamer_1]

LOL! simple composting is all you need.

It is dirt when it's done, end of story. Every other thing in the world craps on the ground, and all of that decomposes... Hoomins ain't no different.

And all it takes is a bucket to 'go' in, and sawdust layered in between sessions. Poop and pee, it's all the same. When the bucket is full, take it out to the compost heap and dump it. Spread it around and cover with either more sawdust or straw... two years later it's dirt. So roughly, four year-separated heaps active, till the first can be distributed.

Easy.

[berdie]

LOL! simple composting is all you need.

It is dirt when it's done, end of story. Every other thing in the world craps on the ground, and all of that decomposes... Hoomins ain't no different.

And all it takes is a bucket to 'go' in, and sawdust layered in between sessions. Poop and pee, it's all the same. When the bucket is full, take it out to the compost heap and dump it. Spread it around and cover with either more sawdust or straw... two years later it's dirt. So roughly, four year-separated heaps active, till the first can be distributed.

Easy.

I agree that could work for those of us in rural areas with lots of space.  I have lots of acreage...but I would sure want that compost heap far, far, far away from the house.  It's gonna stink before it decomposes..A LOT!.

What in the world would one do in metropolitan areas? I keep reading about San Fran. Ick 

[goodwithagun]

LOL! simple composting is all you need.

It is dirt when it's done, end of story. Every other thing in the world craps on the ground, and all of that decomposes... Hoomins ain't no different.

And all it takes is a bucket to 'go' in, and sawdust layered in between sessions. Poop and pee, it's all the same. When the bucket is full, take it out to the compost heap and dump it. Spread it around and cover with either more sawdust or straw... two years later it's dirt. So roughly, four year-separated heaps active, till the first can be distributed.

Easy.

Human excrement, as well as that from domesticated dogs and cats, needs a very hot composting pile to kill all the nasty stuff that comes out of us.

[Sanguine]

I agree that could work for those of us in rural areas with lots of space.  I have lots of acreage...but I would sure want that compost heap far, far, far away from the house.  It's gonna stink before it decomposes..A LOT!.

What in the world would one do in metropolitan areas? I keep reading about San Fran. Ick 

I agree that composting toilets make a lot of sense in ruralish areas and with competent, conscientious people.  Not so much if either of those are missing or limited. 

And, what do businesses do?  I shudder to think of that.   

[roamer_1]

I agree that could work for those of us in rural areas with lots of space.  I have lots of acreage...but I would sure want that compost heap far, far, far away from the house.  It's gonna stink before it decomposes..A LOT!.

Nah @berdie , It don't stink at all. Like any well managed manure pile, there is very little stink, even standing right next to it...

What in the world would one do in metropolitan areas? I keep reading about San Fran. Ick 

Yeah, maybe not the sort of thing for cities... Cities need sewage treatment plants, and that's just so. Though no one has tried a scaled up composting system that I know of. But on the same note, it is not uncommon for sewage treatment plants to spray their sludge on agricultural fields. Compost would be a fair bit more digested than raw sewage sludge is.

[roamer_1]

Human excrement, as well as that from domesticated dogs and cats, needs a very hot composting pile to kill all the nasty stuff that comes out of us.

Nope... 130-140 degrees, just like any other compost pile. Optimal temperature for bacterial action...
It is the time more than the temp... providing it is given enough water to make heat, about 2 years, there ain't nothing there but dirt. Less time than that if you feel like turning it now and then.

[goodwithagun]

Nope... 130-140 degrees, just like any other compost pile. Optimal temperature for bacterial action...
It is the time more than the temp... providing it is given enough water to make heat, about 2 years, there ain't nothing there but dirt. Less time than that if you feel like turning it now and then.

Needs to be a minimum of 145 for at least 24 hours. I’d probably aim for 150 just to be sure, but then again I have no plans for humanure.

[roamer_1]

Needs to be a minimum of 145 for at least 24 hours. I’d probably aim for 150 just to be sure, but then again I have no plans for humanure.

According to Dr. T. Gibson, Head of the Department of Agricultural Biology at the Edinburgh and East of Scotland College of Agriculture, "All the evidence shows that a few hours at 120 degrees Fahrenheit would eliminate [pathogenic microorganisms] completely. There should be a wide margin of safety if that temperature were maintained for 24 hours." 2

The significance of the previous graphs is that they show that the humanure compost required no coaxing to heat up sufficiently to be rendered hygienically safe. It just did it on its own, having been provided the simple requirements a compost pile needs.

http://weblife.org/humanure/chapter8_7.html

@goodwithagun
Pathogens that can live inside a human body cannot handle high fever temps, and can only live in a fairly narrow temperature akin to normal human temperature. Their eggs can handle a bit more, but not anywhere near 130-140F. Pathogens are really not the concern. The usual problem with human, dog, and etc manure is that it is too hot as fertilizer. I am not aware of any feces that does not break down to useful compost within a year.

 

[goodwithagun]

@goodwithagun
Pathogens that can live inside a human body cannot handle high fever temps, and can only live in a fairly narrow temperature akin to normal human temperature. Their eggs can handle a bit more, but not anywhere near 130-140F. Pathogens are really not the concern. The usual problem with human, dog, and etc manure is that it is too hot as fertilizer. I am not aware of any feces that does not break down to useful compost within a year.

I’m reading at least 145, but whatever. I’m hoping it’s never an issue.

[roamer_1]

I’m reading at least 145, but whatever. I’m hoping it’s never an issue.

The issue is more or less academic, as in my experience, it is pretty hard to keep internal temps under 160 in a well watered heap in the heat of mid summer. The only argument might be that the external temp (the outer 8" of the pile) won't see those temps, but that can be resolved by merely turning the pile at the 1 year mark. I don't see that being a problem, because as I said, by the time it hits 2 years, it is nothing but dirt - Broken down far more than normal compost.

As an added measure of safety, most folks won't use humanure in their gardens, opting to use the compost in orchards, flower beds, or spread on fields... So not only is there a super-wide margin in temp and in time, reduction by decomposition far, far along the procedural line toward being mere soil, furthermore, even yet, not using the compost in contact with food growing makes it ridiculously safe.

I think folks being so leery are kinda being silly, not understanding... It's dirt.
Again, it is not uncommon for treatment plant sludge to be spread raw on agricultural fields - That is considered safe because - I dunno, science... I find that to be horrid - But it goes without saying that fully composted manure is far, far better than that.