I came across an excellent article yesterday evening called Humanure Composting. It not only covers the author’s own personal experimentation in this area (which believe it or not, makes for intriguing reading), but it also offers insightful commentary on the topic of human waste management in general - effectively highlighting how, despite our so-called advancements in modern sanitation, we have in a sense gone backwards.

Here is a great excerpt from the article:

The fundamental (so to speak) error in the way we have thought about human wastes for a couple of centuries is to think of them as waste at all, i.e. as dross or discard, a substance with no value — or a substance with extreme negative value (dirty, pathogenic, icky). The collection of humanure and urine into centralised processing centres to be biocidally or biotically neutralised and then dumped into bodies of water means that we have interrupted the nutrient cycle, turned what should be a circular energy diagram into a linear one. Instead of returning the excess or byproduct of our metabolic function to the soil that produced the food we ate — as every other living creature on Earth does in a healthy biotic system — we have intervened; we “flush away” our own metabolic byproducts and (in modern times) dump them far, far from the fields which fed us. We thus impoverish the soil (by removing nutrients, minerals, elements which are not replaced), and increase the cost of agriculture by having to replace artificially the missing nutrients, etc.

If this is a topic area that even remotely interests you, I highly recommend that you check out the full article: Humanure Composting (on the ‘Feral Scholar’ blog).

This is one of those topics that will almost certainly make some (if not many) readers squeamish. After all, we’ve essentially been programmed to think of our ‘waste’ products as dirty, disgusting, and dangerous - better known as the ‘3 Ds of Doo Doo’ (ok, so I just made that up) - so it can require a pretty substantial paradigm shift to wrap our heads around the notion of dealing with our own wastes in any manner other than what is considered the ‘norm’ (i.e. the porcelain genie that makes it magically disappear).

As many readers probably know by now, I’m very passionate about this idea of wastes being ‘misplaced resources’ - hence the Compost Guy motto, ‘turning wastes into resources’. As such, the topic of human waste is certainly a topic of interest (not in any sort of creepy, obsessive way, of course - haha), and something I’ll definitely be writing more about here. Aside from blog posts, I will be putting together a resource page all about composting toilets as well.

Back to the article…

The author was originally inspired to start her own humanure composting experiment after she read Joe Jenkins’ “Humanure Handbook” (incidentally, a book I myself own and plan to write more about here) - but rather than going the thermophilic composting route, she opted for vermicomposting. I’ve heard of numerous examples involving the successful use of composting worms in a compost toilet, so I wasn’t too surprised to learn how well they thrived in her outdoor humanure heaps. Nevertheless, I was in awe of her bravery for trying this out in a small suburban yard (not in a conventional composting toilet, or even a rural property), with neighbours only a short distance away. In fact, she continued with the project for 2 years (likely without anyone suspecting a thing) - clearly a indication that such practices don’t necessarily create a horrific, smelly mess, at least not if done properly.

I’ve been looking forward to someday having my own composting toilet. To me, the idea of flushing it all away (along with countless gallons of clean water) just doesn’t make much sense. I could only imagine what would happen if we (society) put more focus on these materials as nutrient resources. As the author of the article points out herself, it’s pretty crazy that we have such strong feelings about the safety concerns associated with human waste, yet we have zero issues with spraying all sorts of nasty pesticides (and other chemicals) on our properties (among countless other hazards we just don’t take the time to consider).

Anyway, despite my keen interest in all this, it’s not too likely that I’ll be making my own low-tech humanure bucket system (as the author did) anytime soon - it’s enough of a challenge just keeping my wife happy with all the worm bins (and other experiments) in the house!

Technorati Tags: humanure, human manure, poo, doo doo, feces, composting toilet, compost toilet, joe jenkins, humanure handbook, urine, compost, composting, vermicomposting, worm composting

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The verdict is in!!

I came across a funny article (relating to composting) last night and of course couldn’t resist writing about it here on the blog. The article appeared in the Sunday Star Times (link to follow) back on December 16 and discusses a bizarre ruling made by the Aukland (New Zealand) Regional Council, relating to the health and well-being of composting worms.

Here is a blurb from the article (Toilet worms can’t be browned off):

Coll Bell, who invented the “wormorator” as an alternative to septic tanks, was told by an Auckland Regional Council staff member to get an expert’s report on the psychological impact on the worms after she became concerned during a site visit.

“She felt that the worms were being unfairly treated, being expected to deal with human faeces, and that it could affect them in a psychological way,” says Bell. “I said, `Well, what do I do about that?’ and she said `you have to have someone with the necessary qualifications to say the worms are happy’.”

In the wormorator, a colony of tiger worms, in a chamber, filters solids from the toilet waste. The leftover water is filtered and disposed of in underground trenches.

The ARC was satisfied after vermiculture consultant Patricia Naidu reported the worms were in excellent health and breeding happily.

Believe me, as a worm composting fanatic myself I certainly have a soft spot for the little wiggly guys, but C’MON - ‘psychological’ trauma??! That seems like a bit of a stretch to me. There are undoubtedly countless (newbie) home vermicomposters who have caused a lot more worms a lot more harm than this composting toilet system would. The fact is, if the system didn’t work, the worms would simply die.

As humorous as this article was, it also struck a chord with me - reminding me of this negative association people have with ‘waste’ materials - especially, it seems, when they come from our own body. People forget that all organic wastes can become a valuable resource for some other living organism, even if they seem ’stinky and gross’ to us. Of course, that’s not to say that a composting toilet will always provide the ideal environment for vermicomposting, but chat more about the requirements shortly.

Using composting worms in compost toilet systems is certainly not a new invention (but regardless, I’m still very happy to see someone running with the idea). There are two full editions of the old Worm Digest (#8 & #9) dedicated to the topic. I was able to find an online article on the new site as well: The Worm Composting Toilet (scroll down to find it).

As with any worm composting system, if you provide with worms with enough high quality habitat before starting to add large amounts N-rich wastes (such as pee pee & doo doo) you should be ok. I’d recommend starting by setting up the composting toilet like a giant worm bin. Add lots of absorbent, carbon-rich bedding (such as shredded cardboard, peat or coir) mixed with some very well aged manure or food waste. Make sure the mix is well moistened and then let the system age for a little longer before adding the worms.
After the worms are added and the system is left alone for a little bit longer (to allow the worms time to get settled in) you can start using it as a composting toilet.

Aside from providing the worms with a safe zone to retreat into, it also would be very important to add ample amounts of carbon-rich bedding with each ‘deposit’ made into the toilet to kelp keep the system balanced.

Technorati Tags: composting toilets, compost toilets, composting, compost, worm composting, vermicomposting, red wigglers, red worms, wormorator, septic tanks, sewage, feces, organic waste, vermiculture, worm bin, worm bed

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