North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

It really isn't that hard to recycle human waste, and without resorting to
the old outdoor privy.  We have been using a compost toilet for over 20
years, and while the first one, a Clivus Multrum, was pretty awkward, the
Phoenix we have now is a considerably better design.  It's not maintenance
free - you use wood shavings in it along with the waste, and you need to
rake it on a regular basis.  On the other hand, you only need to remove
compost about once a year if you have the correct size for your household. 
The compost isn't smelly and we use it around trees and shrubs.  If we put
any in the garden, it's only in late fall when it has the whole winter to
completely break down, and we only plant things like tomatoes or other
plants where the fruits are used, not the plant or roots. 
It's not a perfect solution, but it's a lot better than other things, and we
never have to have the septic tank pumped (required by code, irregardless of
the toilet), not to mention much lower water use.  I believe in it enough to
have put a link to the company on my website.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, more, plus word on my grape book at
http://www.bunchgrapes.com
  
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>From: hector black <hblack@TWLakes.Net>
>To: nafex <nafex@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: [nafex] urine
>Date: Fri, Aug 17, 2001, 9:15 PM
>

>For me, one of the more important aspects of recycling human waste is that 
>we are polluting our rivers, lakes and seashores with something that we 
>should return to the land that it came from.  Admittedly, agricultural 
>waste may play a larger role in water pollution than human waste, but why 
>put into rivers, oceans and septic systems, good potential fertilizer and 
>then use fossil fuels (natural gas for Nitrogen) to replace them?  Why 
>expend energy to mine and ship potash and phosphorus when they are 
>available from this other source?  It completes a cycle, a natural cycle 
>that increased the fertility of the soil for millions of years.
>    I agree that one must be cautious - there are diseases transmitted 
>through human waste.  But there are ways - primarily composting - of 
>destroying them.
>    To those of you who say "that's a lot of shit!"  I agree, it's a huge 
>amount.  But we need to begin somewhere.
>                Hector Black  zone 6 middle TN  (where the outhouse is 
>still to be found).
>
>
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