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Explore the Holy Land camping
Thursday, 8 June 2006
Aspects of our Green Campsites
Topic: Campsites
Subject: Providing for mother nature's calls at green campsites

Providing for mother nature's calls at green campsites

In accordance with the quest to find green camping solutions, our first thoughts were to try to invent a septic tank system that could be used to produce methane gas. Then we came across Joseph C. Jenkins' book, "Humanure" that lead us to realize that a more down to earth system of composting linked to ablution would be more practical - given that it would be possible to condition our corporate team to accept the idea of "humanure."

Let's start the conditioning by mentioning that guests at hostels and hotels in old buildings in the Old City in Jerusalem mostly don't have a problem to put used toilet paper, sanitary towels, etc. in mostly open waste paper containers in toilets. Would it therefore be such a problem for people to use a toilet where everything, including paper, even sanitary towels just disappear out of sight? Especially, of course,

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if it is built in such a way that they can't see what's "down there" - contrary to have to look at what's floating in the water in a flushing toilet system... and then to see it still there in an ineffective flushing system and having to apply mechanical means to deal with it - or leave it for the next user of staff to deal with!. Jigh...!
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Our guests out there in a pioneering situation, will not be confronted by a flushed or unflushed, clean or dirty toilet, but by a hole down which they can't look and no odor - because everybody will be required to throw an ample quantity of saw dust, or some other organic material down the toilets after they have used them that will cover what's "down there" and prevent odors. (It's ironic, but composting is a practically odorless process!)

Toilet cubicles will be raised so that the compost boxes can be put some way under

them. A short pipe of about 4 to 6 inches (100 to 150 mm) in diameter will be connected to funnel shape toilets for human "discharges" into the boxes. The pipes will be at an angle so that one wouldn't be able to see down them into the boxes.

The outlets will be cleaned using minimal amounts of water and chemicals that won't harm composting organisms. The boxes will be well ventilated to enable aerobic organisms to do their work.

Organic material from the kitchen will also be added to hasten the composting process, since the impetus, especially at new campsites, will be on making as much compost as we can in the shortest possible time to get plants, going - especially trees. Compost will also be used to filter ablution and kitchen water.


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Posted by holyland-camping at 12:45 PM
Updated: Saturday, 8 July 2006 11:27 PM

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