From faeces to fertilizer: a sanitary solution

 

                       From faeces to fertilizer: a sanitary solution

                                  First published in The Carmel Beat, in October 2020.

 

    Sanitation is an essential part of our daily lives. At a time where discussion surrounding better sanitation for rural schools and the need for toilets in every house is gaining momentum, it is imperative that we examine what sanitation actually entails.

     “Sanitation is not a question of just taking care of waste,” says Mr. G. Gautama, director of Pathashaala PCFL-KFI, a residential school in Tamil Nadu that has taken several steps in conserving water and other resources. “Sanitation is about closing the loop. If we look at ways for human beings to dispose of their bodily waste- it’s one thing to take care of it and quite another to provide a facility where it can be taken care of. ”

     Regular flush toilets use 10 litres of water per flush, and out of the 135 litres of water an average human being uses per day, maximum is used when flushing the toilet.

     It may not seem like much- because we accomplish this job with a simple press of a button or pull of a handle; we don’t even see all the water go down the pipes. And we certainly don’t see where it ends up, or how it looks at the end of its linear journey.

     However, we are aware of what is happening. “We are aware that we are wasting good resources, creating pollution, and our lifestyle is unsustainable for future generations. We know it’s not working. But we already have an existing model in place that we are hesitant to replace,” says Mr. Gautama.

     Luckily there are several solutions that have come up over the years. Examples include screw conveyors that transport waste to be composted in a centralized location and several eco-sanitation models popularized in Finland and Sweden. However, what is applicable in a country of 5 million people will not work in a country like India with its population of 1.38 billion.

     So is it possible for each household to take care of its waste? This, according to Mr. Gautama, is the most basic question we must ask ourselves. We have become so used to throwing out our waste, knowing that someone else will take care of it and we can go on with our lives. Therefore, is there a way in which we can take care of our own waste?

     Enter- the dry composting toilet.

     Dry composting toilets or waterless closets as they are otherwise known do not use water to remove the waste from the commode. Instead, your liquid waste (urine) and solid waste (faecal matter) are separated in the commode itself, with your liquid waste passing through a pipe to fertilize the plants outside while your solid waste remains in the commode.

     After using the toilet each time, you cover your solid waste with a carbon additive such as sawdust or ash. This creates aerobic decomposition that essentially, after six months, turns your human waste into compost that can be used to fertilize plants and crops.

     “The approach of dry toilets is very interesting. First of all, it doesn’t use water for removing the waste therefore you save an enormous amount of good water,” says Mr. Gautama. “You also prevent the entire cycle of converting good water into bad water, then pumping it far away to treat it and subsequently pumping that same water back to be used again.”

     In this process, you don’t use water to pump your waste down a pipe but only to wash yourself after you have done your job.

     Pathashaala has only dry composting toilets for all its students, staff and support staff to use. As a former student of Pathashaala for 8 years myself, the knowledge that with each time I used the toilet, I was not contributing to the depletion of such a valuable resource was extremely humbling and empowering at the same time.

     “Conserving when a resource is scarce comes naturally and is easy, but to conserve a resource that is available in abundance is very difficult and needs immense consciousness. And this is what using dry composting toilets has taught me,” says Saahithi, a former student of Pathashaala.

     But in our urban setting, given that we live in apartments, how feasible would it be to adopt these changes?

    It is possible, says Mr. Gautama, to find a solution.

    “Even the urine separation needed in a dry composting toilet is still possible in any urban toilet. But what is more difficult is how we can treat the waste once we collect it.”

     For instance, in every apartment, the height of the toilet roof is lower than the rest of the house so there is almost a foot and half space available there.

    “That space can be used to collect the material in a manner that can be taken out and then it can be treated using Effective Microorganisms (EM),” says Mr. Gautama. “And then you’ll find that you’re actually helping your waste matter become compost and you’re not using much water except for washing yourself. And all this you can do in your existing latrine system, you don’t even have to remove anything.”

     Oftentimes, there are certain fears and apprehensions that come with using an alternative toilet facility. These fears include having to endure bad smells and hygiene, even though this is not the case if kept clean and moisture free. For people like us, having been so used to someone else dealing with the waste we create, making these shifts can be daunting to say the least.

     But as Mr. Gautama asks- are we willing to be inventive with our lifestyle? Are we willing to live with some problems while being part of the solution? And most importantly, are we willing to shift from a consumer mindset to a creative one?