Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Taboo question

InglezinhoInglezinho Posts: 568
edited March 2021 in Problem solving
Nice to see you back Monty!

My question and why it is taboo. In our house in Brazil ( which we hope to get back to sometime) we have no public water supply or waste deposal. All  water is pumped from a local lake. It is not drinking water, which we have to buy separately.
All the human waste goes into a septic tank, which has to be emptied every 18 months to 2 years. Could we ask the company that does this to spray it on the garden, especially the kitchen garden, and then go on holiday for a couple of weeks.....? Hope you all safe.

Everyone likes butterflies. Nobody likes caterpillars.
«1

Posts

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Septic tank contents normally get taken away for further treatment for health reasons. You might look into getting a composting toilet fitted though which would let you recycle some of the waste.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • InglezinhoInglezinho Posts: 568
    Thank you, but can you be a bit more specific, remember " composting toilet" is something most have never heard of.
    Everyone likes butterflies. Nobody likes caterpillars.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Composting toilets have been discussed at length on the forum over the years. Unfortunately, the search facility  doesn't work too well anymore.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    You need an outhouse with a deep hole, sawdust, and lime.  Do your business in your outhouse, sprinkle down some sawdust and lime occasionally, and when it's full you can move your outhouse to a new location.. cover the hole with some soil for a year, then dig it up and spread it around the garden.  

    In New Zealand they have plenty of composting toilets.  We stayed at a few hostels with them, and realized they used the results to fertilize the flower beds.. as there were random plastic bits from tampons in amongst the flowers.  

    Being human, I don't think it's probably good for the vegetable beds due to pathogens.  And there is a risk of things like Hepatitis and such from contamination.  
    Utah, USA.
  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    Inglezinho said:
    Thank you, but can you be a bit more specific, remember " composting toilet" is something most have never heard of.
    That is what the internet is for, now that you have the term.  😁
    Utah, USA.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    You can start here
    https://www.rolypig.com/can-you-use-human-feces-as-fertilizer/#:~:text=UK%20farmers%20use%20human%20waste%20as%20fertilizer%20and,which%20needs%20to%20be%20kept%20to%20a%20minimum.

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    If I worked for a company that emptied septic tanks I wouldn’t want to spray the contents of the tank on somebody’s garden. Do you not have neighbours? Seems rather anti social to me. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    debs64 said:
    If I worked for a company that emptied septic tanks I wouldn’t want to spray the contents of the tank on somebody’s garden. Do you not have neighbours? Seems rather anti social to me. 
    It would be illegal in the UK. I have no idea what’s permissible in Brazil but given the knowledge that the Covid 19 virus can be found in raw sewage I would think it’s inadvisable in Brazil too. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Look up composting toilets on Youtube. There a huge variety of approaches; some you make yourself, some you can buy, some do different things to the waste materials. Worth doing a good whack of research.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I asked our man about this when he came to empty the septic tank last summer.  It goes to a council composting site and gets mixed up with other green waste and goes thru "processes" to neutralise pathogens and so on.   Not an overnight process and definitely necessary.

    Don't know where you are when in the UK but there are definite olfactory considerations when spreading farmyard manure and I wouldn't want to be near human waste being spread.  In Belgium, they're not supposed to do muck spreading in warm weather cos of the smell, even out in the countryside.  
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
Sign In or Register to comment.