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Disposable Toilet To Change the World
captn ecks writes "A biodegradable and self-sterilizing bag for people of the toilet-disenfranchised world (40% of humankind) to dispose of their bodily waste and turn it into safe fertilizer has been created by a Swedish entrepreneur. It's a dead simple and brilliant solution to a vexing problem. From the article: 'Once used, the bag can be knotted and buried, and a layer of urea crystals breaks down the waste into fertilizer, killing off disease-producing pathogens found in feces. The bag, called the Peepoo, is the brainchild of Anders Wilhelmson, an architect and professor in Stockholm. “Not only is it sanitary,” said Mr. Wilhelmson, who has patented the bag, “they can reuse this to grow crops.”'"
You'll sh*t bricks!
If you're a poor peasant living in some place where they don't even have toilets, can you really afford bags to poo in? Chances are food and fuel are more important to you.
...and goes on to give it a name that five-year-olds everywhere can laugh at until they piss themselves. Presumably that's how he'll collect the urea crystals.
Nothing lasts forever but the certainty of change.
Maybe he'll donate a bunch of them to the Red Cross? It still needs to be continually supplied in a viable fashion.
The best solution I can imagine is making deals with local governments... not that they care about the population over there, mind you.
Nothing lasts forever but the certainty of change.
Hell, these things would come in quite handy during Mardi Gras when you're on parts of the parade route with no porta-johns.....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
And so what do the poor people in $DEVELOPING_COUNTRY do when the initial "complimentary" supply runs out?
Too bad for Nintendo as I hear Peepoo was supposed to be the name of their next gen console. It actually works with their current naming scheme too. Wii (We) Peepoo (People).
Occam's Razor at work. Much respect to Mr. Wilhelmson.
Living With a Nerd
and here I am using a Mountain Dew bottle like a chump.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Joseph Jenkins --author of the Humanure Handbook-- has been doing this for close to thirty years. His concept also has the benefit of being patent free and simpler. Look see here:http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html
All you need is a 5 gallon bucket, some cover material (rice hulls, sawdust, shredded newspaper, or coffee grounds), and teensy bit of brain power.
You can get the book on Amazon or download it for free from his site: http://humanurehandbook.com/downloads/Humanure_Handbook_all.pdf
The most important factor is cost. It will have to be fantastically cheap to manufacture and distribute this if you want to sell it to people who subsist on $0.10 of rice per day. People who are used to flinging poo out the windows of their shacks will probably be perplexed by the idea of paying to take a dump.
And yes, I have dodged chamber pots in India. Prepare to be depressed if you ever visit the third world :-/
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
ok these bags may be better than the current method but it's still pretty much a band-aid solution. It's hardly going to "save the world".
What I don't get is, why doesn't Kenya and all these other 3rd world countries build a real sewer system? It's not rocket science; the Romans did it over 2000 years ago using nothing but hand tools, rocks and some volcanic cement. Yes it was labor intensive, but AFAIK labor shortage isn't a problem in most 3rd world countries, is it? Besides they should be able to get access to some heavy diesel equipment on loan through UNICEF or World Bank or some such organization.
http://www.thepett.com/ http://www.thepett.com/index.php?PageLayout=PRODUCTS&pageID=95 Too late. These are already in use. The "poo powder" is some kind of fungus that reacts w/the heat and liquid and gives off gas that kills the bacteria, so you can toss the bag in a trash can, landfill etc.
This must be the famous Sack of Shit I keep hearing about.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
I'm really glad to see that someone found a way to make human waste safe for crops.
That has been a big issue in general for farmers in countries where there are less than adequate water safety facilities.
It's hard to afford fertilizer in war-torn or otherwise de-stabilized countries when you have a bunch of kids to feed.
I'm here for the experience, not the Hyperbole.
"What stops people digging latrines?"
I think you missed the part where it said ". . .a layer of urea crystals breaks down the waste into fertilizer, killing off disease-producing pathogens found in feces." The difference between shitting in a hole and burying this bag of shit in a hole is that the latter is not only sanitary, but it also helps crops grow.
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
It would be interesting to see a corporate model that allows these items to be sold to the hiker/camper crowd in the first world with revenue for those sales being used to donate the bags to places with a need. For example, I could easily see the Seattle area yuppie hiker crowd paying $10 for three bags at REI. Let's say it costs $5 to produce, package, import, market, and retail these bags. $4 of the remaining $5 could be used to produce more bags and donate them to international aid organizations.
RTFA
it's for URBAN areas where people already crap in plastic bags and throw them helicopter style, this addresses the sanitation/disease problem.
He based the idea on an existing observed behaviour. But he's using a bio-degradeable bag instead of a polyethylene bag.
Finally, we can get those kids off jenkem!
Twinstiq, game news
From the article: "He also found that slum dwellers there collected their excrement in a plastic bag and disposed of it by flinging it He plans to sell it for about 2 or 3 cents — comparable to the cost of an ordinary plastic bag."
I don't know why, but in many parts of India, the government needs to pay people to use a toilet. Even when the government supplies a deluxe porta-potty, the likes of which you can only find at a multi-millionaire rapper's BBQ, the people simply won't use it. I don't know if it's a cultural taboo, or that squatting on the side of the street is believed to be cleaner or easier, but the people just won't use them. I wonder if this bag would be useful in that kind of situation, or if the people just wouldn't use it either.
Remember, we live in a world where many Africans believe that having intercourse with a virgin will cure HIV. Then there are some cultures that punish women with floggings, execution, or even immolation, for having the audacity to be raped. Men are killed for wearing shorts, and lesbians are raped in an effort to cure them. Some people even believe that the moon landing was faked, and that the U.S. government caused the 2001 WTC attacks.
Even if people own a shovel, many simply won't use it because they're too lazy, or too stupid.
They may already use bags like this, but they certainly aren't buying them at the market for that purpose. These are the kinds of places where people live on half a dollar per day. No poor person is going to devote 6% of their income to crapping. They'll reuse an old bag if they can find one, but barring that, they're just going to take a dump on the ground or dig a small hole.
e.g.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=methane+digester
You get methane which can be burned as fuel and the digestate is high in nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium.
Alternatively, lower tech without the gas tight fittings, drop the methane capture idea and use a dry toilet. It's more a matter of education and organisation than anything else.
I'll just point out that by not doing this in the west, we are effectively extracting phosphorus, nitrogen and calcium from our fields and pumping it into rivers and oceans. We then burn a load of fuel to dig up more phosphorus and calcium elsewhere and burn natural gas to produce nitrates to put back on the fields. It's dumb.
Deleted
Urea, hmm were else is that found, hmm.
Oh I know, urine. All we need to do is get them to shit and piss in the same latrine, or were you thinking they would use a seperate one for each?
is the bag flammable?
Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.
The disposable toilets could also be used after disasters such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes or tornadoes. It also might be useful for homeowners to use during a several day long power outage after a wind storm or an ice storm. It would be an alternative to grabbing a shovel and going in the back yard or on undeveloped land nearby.
Baby wipes or similar disposable disinfectant wipes could be used to clean the person's hands afterwards, if no working water faucet is available. I sometimes use a baby wipe for my hands after using a Clivus Multrum composting toilet or an old pit toilet in the national forest, where no running water is available. I usually keep several in my day pack when hiking, just in case. The baby wipes could also be used on overnight backpacking trips when camping where no running water is available.
As a child, I remember visiting a several older relatives such as my grandparents, who had an outhouse on each of their farms. Grandpa's was a three hole outhouse. If I remember correctly, they had a small bucket of lime and would sometimes sprinkle a little over the poop. There was also some corn cobs and an old Sears catalog, just in case they ever ran out of toilet paper. If I am not mistaken, the corn cob is supposed to be used together with a page from the Sears catalog. As a child, I also enjoyed using the hand operated pump for pumping water from the well.
Of course they did also have one toilet and running water in the house, but as a child I found it more interesting to use the outhouse and the hand pumped well.
...who brought you "The Gimp." Another great product no self-respecting adult will ever ask for by name.
"What these people real need is a stable government and economic growth", and population control. I mean, come on. A guy can't afford a can of beans to share with his special other, but they can fuck all night long for years, creating more mouths to feed. Most Americans can't imagine the poverty in some of this world's cities - but no matter how poor, there is always a ready supply of babies.
The human is an amazing animal. He shares some characteristics with the rats and cockroaches.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Forget the article writeup, my first thought was California. All of the illegals working on the fields have no place to "go". Some farms might provide facilities but when the need is there they are too far away. Currently, the field becomes a toilet - be sure to wash that broccoli!!
I might be wrong regarding the severity of the problem in California, but I know it is a problem around Vancouver. Considering how much more produce is grown in California and its general vicinity to Mexico, I would imagine the problem being far worse. This bag provides a possible solution. One would just have to require that farms provide them for their workers. And the farms can afford them.
I agree on the merits of population control, but in a society where the primary thing is agriculture, rather than manufacturing or other industrialized stuff, one's family's productivity tends to scale with the number of hands one can produce capable of tending crops (or herds or what-have-you). Moreover, the presence of diseases, poor medical facilities, and other factors contribute heavily to child death rates, and thus being able to make more of them is a way to ensure the genetic line goes on.
Clearly, making so many that none can eat is a poor idea, but so is making too few and being unable to harvest enough food to feed the family. Simiarly, you'd feel pretty shitty if your only kid (and co-laborer) went and broke his leg, or blew it off in a land mine, or died of AIDS, or got bit by a snake, or killed by a neighboring group of people.
The results is Dis*Enfranchise*d. The definition of the word is similarly reflected by modifiers. We take the root word, negate it (as in make it negative or opposite to the original meaning) and also state that the subject it is referring to has already happened (as in the past).
The definition Enfranchise according to Merriam-Webster is as follows:
Source:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enfranchise
The first definition, "to set free" is simple enough. The second definition is simply one who has received a Franchise (our subject is a group of people after all), so let us examine the definition of Franchise. In essence, it is a right to something. (The etymology of the word is interesting, its base having the meaning "free".)
So back to analyzing the summary:
If we assume the summary refers to those people who have no access to a toilet then the definition does match the usage of the word. In addition if you have no alternative other than using a toilet (or perceive no alternative) then the word would be correct in its usage. In either case the word would be correct in usabe bacause the person(s) are certainly not free, they are constrained in either choice or action.
If we assume the usage is to apply to those who don't *like* toilets and would prefer an alternative then the word is misused.
I would recommend reading a book of grammar and the rules of the English language before commenting on the meaning of words. I would also recommend that you stop assuming that you know exactly what group of unnamed people a speaker or author refers to.
I am sure you have heard of the saying about what happens when you assume things. =)
Here would be some examples of dictionary references to the word Franchise:
From Merriam-Webster:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/franchise
From Reference.com:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/franchise
It's not that they don't have access to birth control (well, some don't, but...), it's that many/most people in those places don't necessarily want it. Change attitudes about that and they'll do a lot to get their own birth control. Otherwise, giving away a bunch of free rubbers just translates into amusing balloon tricks for the impoverished world.
You just say "Peepoo" and the sheer awesomeness of it digs it for you.
There's a business opportunity here.
A traditional "helicopter toilet" is a problem; it's shit stored in a non-degradable bag. Separating the shit from the bag to make fertilizer is non-viable (for a number of reasons) So it is hazardous waste.
But a load in this bag is quite literally a unit of fertilizer. Not immediately (there is processing time involved) but eventually that bag of shit is going to have a value.
Work out that value, subtract the cost of the bag, storage and handling costs, etc - and then give away the bags and pay people for full ones.
Not only do you encourage the use of the bags (a net benefit to hygiene) you inject money into the local economy and you make a profit - while helping improve the food supply.
Put another way:
1. Give away bags
2. Buy full bags
3. Store full bags until they become viable fertilizer
4. Sell fertilizer
5. Profit!!!
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
200 years back 90% of the world - including probably your grand parents - lived that standard of life. It is surprising how easy it is to get used to not having a SUV to drive and McD to go to. Even not have electricity and hot water for 24x7. No even have a super market to go buy groceries to and depend just on your wit to earn that extra bread that you would share with your SO.
However, even 200 years back 90% of the world - including probably your grand parents - fuxxed. Human is an amazing animal. He shares some characteristics with the rats and cockroaches.
Dude. Stop looking down on people.
Wow, who woke up the Grammar Nazi?
How amazed would you be to suddenly find that you just forgot what I wrote and you needed to reread my post.... again.
You'd be best to keep wildlife off of your field, should they eat your crops before you harvest.
It's not humanly possible to do even in the USA. The fences around fields are just to mark property lines and hold cattle. Deer jump over the fences with ease, and coyotes crawl under, and wild pigs just go straight through.
Also not all wildlife is damaging your interests. A deer isn't going to eat much grass, compared to your 100 cows, and if you want you can eat the deer when it gets fat enough :-) If you are a farmer, coyotes and foxes aren't going to eat your alfalfa.
Fecal matter alone does not make the best Fertilizer - combining it with certain chemicals does.
The soil contains chemicals, water, bacteria, plants and small animals (worms, insects) to do that work for you. This is hardly a new discovery. Chemicals in a bag are needed only because of the bag. Perhaps they are an improvement, but one that isn't worth 3 cents or even 0.03 cents to a farmer. A city dweller might benefit from that improvement, though - if he cares (big if.)
Also, crapping on a carrot doesn't mean it'll grow bigger, it means you just infested it with waste that often carries diseases.
That's not exactly how it works. Fields are often fertilized with manure, and plants grow bigger on those nutrients. Plants's cells are pretty good on separating good and bad materials. Contamination is occurring primarily during the harvest, when bacteria are placed directly onto the produce. In any case, as I mentioned there are thousands of wild animals at or above your field, and you can't do anything about them. Typically they are not a health problem. But you are expected to carefully wash the produce anyway; that's the step that was probably missing in those recent contamination stories in the news.
No, but if you put a copy of Windows in the bag, bury it and when you come back in 10 years, you will have an old copy of Windows.
That didn't address the issue: poor peasants who can't afford toilets still live in urban areas.
All this is missing is a title page and bibliography.
The teachers will crack any minute, purple monkey dishwasher.
A joke about corruption in Latin America vs. Africa:
An African diplomat was visiting his counterpart in Mexico. The Mexican diplomat had a 10 room house and a Rolls Royce.
The African diplomat says: "How did you afford all this?"
The Mexican diplomat points to a nearby highway. "You see that highway? I got 10% of the construction cost."
Years later the Mexican diplomat visits his African counterpart. The African diplomat has a 100-room mansion and 10 expensive cars.
The Mexican diplomat says: "WOW! How did you afford all this?"
The African diplomat points to an empty stretch of countryside. "You see that highway? I got 100% of the construction cost!"
A guy can't afford a can of beans
there is always a ready supply of babies.
I have a Modest Proposal for you...
Economic growth and stable governments providing strong social safety nets are population control. Not of the mandatory, authoritarian kind, but there the one thing that has consistently led to declining family sizes in human history, because they are the things that stop people from investing in creating children as a form of old-age support.
If you're a poor peasant living in some place where they don't even have toilets, can you really afford bags to poo in? Chances are food and fuel are more important to you.
This still has applications in a semi-first world nation like the US, especially during a disaster scenario. Before you say food and water are more important, you might want to reflect back on the Superdome incident. Feces from thousands of people in 100 degree weather contained in the Superdome and it starts to become more important than food (but not water).
"During that lonely and frightening time, Norton starved himself in fear of having to use the restroom facilities. An unthinkable stench of feces permeated the Superdome. As disgusting as the restrooms were, Norton vowed to only drink water to keep from dehydrating. Fearing for his safety, he urinated only in the upper level of the dome."
Former USM student is finally able to tell of Katrina nightmare:
http://www.usm.edu/afterkatrina/Bueto.html
From the article: "He also found that slum dwellers there collected their excrement in a plastic bag and disposed of it by flinging it He plans to sell it for about 2 or 3 cents — comparable to the cost of an ordinary plastic bag."
Bagged poo flinging?! Hey, when you're poor you have to get your entertainment any way you can.
If I was poor I'd carry my poo-bag on a stick like a hobo. Then I'd use the stick as a make-shift treb-poo-chet to launch it at some rich bastards house.
That's the sound of K. S. Kyosuke's joke whizzing over your head. (Hint: Click his link, or even just pay attention to the fact it only spans one word.)