Human manure

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Human manure
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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 05 11:23 am Post subject:
Certainly people do do it and I have also thought about medicine residues being a problem, so if it's yours then you will know what's in it.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 05 12:22 pm Post subject:

monkey1973 wrote:

Surely well rotted human manure, particularily your own, as you know at least what you have put in, so to speak, would be no worse than digging in well rotted horse manure.

WAAAAY worse.

There are a whole heap of bactera at the far end of your digestive system, bacteria that you'd rather not get back to the top end. Really. Washing your hands after taking a dump isn't just abour ptorecting other people, it's also about protecting you.

monkey1973

Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 683
Location: Bonnie scotland

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 05 12:25 pm Post subject:

cab wrote:

monkey1973 wrote:

Surely well rotted human manure, particularily your own, as you know at least what you have put in, so to speak, would be no worse than digging in well rotted horse manure.

Even after it is well-rotted?

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 05 12:51 pm Post subject:
Well rotted human manure is really what the sewage treatment is about. IF done properly it'll get rid of the nasties. Leave it to the professionals and stop trying to put me out of a job

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 05 12:56 pm Post subject:

monkey1973 wrote:

Even after it is well-rotted?

I wouldn't test my own composting skills in that way. Too risky for home composting. Not for all the well rotted matter I can make!

monkey1973

Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 683
Location: Bonnie scotland

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 05 1:01 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

Well rotted human manure is really what the sewage treatment is about. IF done properly it'll get rid of the nasties.

Leave it to the professionals and stop trying to put me out of a job

But I thought that was the whole point of downsizing ie. taking responsibility for your own 'actions' ...ahem

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 05 1:06 pm Post subject:
Ahhhh...but when your 'movement' towards self sufficiency start impinging on the health of the local community (with their individual movements) sometimes it's best to work collectively and all move together.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 05 7:30 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

Ahhhh...but when your 'movement' towards self sufficiency start impinging on the health of the local community (with their individual movements) sometimes it's best to work collectively and all move together.

Perhaps you should put that on your next leaflet.

There are many, many people in Europe with various schemes running, some must work? I also know somone with a local treatment works emptying into to local river. I'll have to ask them what happens to the sludge.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri Aug 05, 05 8:17 am Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

Perhaps you should put that on your next leaflet.

Having your own treatment works is rather different to composting it or rotting it down for use as fertiliser. I'd be curious to know how smaller scale operations work too.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Aug 05, 05 8:27 am Post subject:
The traditional way of disposing of the sludge from septic tanks was to spread it on the land. However the EA are starting to frown on this and are looking to get people to have their tank emptied by a "competent body". What they mean is to pay someone to empty it, tanker away the crud to a sewage works where it gets treated. I'm not sure that this is really necessary.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Fri Aug 05, 05 9:24 am Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

The traditional way of disposing of the sludge from septic tanks was to spread it on the land.

When we moved here, we found a strange-looking implement at the back of the barn. It looked a bit like a small wok on the end of a very looong handle. Couldn't for the life of me work out what it was for. Then a friend came over and said, with glee, "It's a s**t scoop"! Presumably for doing just that.

It is still at the back of the barn - untouched

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Aug 05, 05 9:26 am Post subject:
The results of this event might be interesting then: https://www.big-green-gathering.com/index.php?pageid=39#loos

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Aug 05, 05 9:40 am Post subject:
Fascinating Although I nearly felt the need to take issue with some of thier dismissive comments!

Róisín

Joined: 30 Jul 2005
Posts: 578

Posted: Fri Aug 05, 05 9:59 pm Post subject:

The first thing I thought about when I read through this thread was the amount of history behind this matter. In Japan, it was a good move:

Quote:

The use of human waste matter as fertiliser, meant that contamination of the water supply was avoided and the risk of spread of disease minimised. In the West, the practice of pits or cesspools for disposal of such matter meant that there was a heightened risk of polluting water supplies. In England, the invention of the water closet initially caused epidemics of infectious diseases as Londoners flushed their waste into the Thames River.

In Australia they used to:

Quote:

The nightman would collect the pan from a small door in the back of the toilet, (the toilets generally backed on to alleys), empty it, and replace it unwashed. The collected "nightsoil" was often dried and used as fertiliser in the outer suburbs.

What was most in my mind was the example the Dutch followed in the seventeenth century - the practice of collecting the human waste in canalboats at night and using it to fertilise in the hinterland. This was one of the practices that made them as massively powerful and rich as they were at that time.

China are doing it right now but people are objecting bigtime to it, especially in Australia, where people are calling for food imported from China to be labelled as to how it was fertilised.

ETA: I should have said that what struck me is what's the difference between then and now? More chemicals passing through our system? But surely that's the case with animals too?

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 05 8:58 am Post subject:
On my travels I've seen a rotation system used on paddy fields where a field is taken out of production, a 'portaloo' erected and the field is used as the bog before being ploughed in a couple of months later.

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