From Mike Mahowald:
I am trying to establish the best compostable toilets and how to use them for my networking website that I hope many small groups will use in small communities all over Haiti. http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/composting-toilets
There is a great video put out by SOIL that you may want to watch on this page also.
I am looking for experts who may help me with finding if there is good qualities in putting fresh (or dry)vetiver cuttings after each use instead of sawdust as most experts on compostable toilets are advising.
In my own composting use in Minnesota I find fresh lawngrass cuttings work better than anything in heating a compost pile to decompose quickly.
I would love any information that I can get to see if this would work. Although these toilets do not have a real bad smell they are not pleasant either. I am also hopeing this lemon grass may help the smell and find yet another use for vetiver.
From: Dick G
In China, vetiver leaf has been used as bedding for pigs, because, I am told, that it absorbs urine very well. It also composts well. I am sure that chopped up vetiver leaves would work well. Why don't you get those young women in the video to try vetiver in one of their rural toilets?
I am trying to establish the best compostable toilets and how to use them for my networking website that I hope many small groups will use in small communities all over Haiti. http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/composting-toilets
There is a great video put out by SOIL that you may want to watch on this page also.
I am looking for experts who may help me with finding if there is good qualities in putting fresh (or dry)vetiver cuttings after each use instead of sawdust as most experts on compostable toilets are advising.
In my own composting use in Minnesota I find fresh lawngrass cuttings work better than anything in heating a compost pile to decompose quickly.
I would love any information that I can get to see if this would work. Although these toilets do not have a real bad smell they are not pleasant either. I am also hopeing this lemon grass may help the smell and find yet another use for vetiver.
From: Dick G
In China, vetiver leaf has been used as bedding for pigs, because, I am told, that it absorbs urine very well. It also composts well. I am sure that chopped up vetiver leaves would work well. Why don't you get those young women in the video to try vetiver in one of their rural toilets?
Hi Mike, composting toilets are going up all over the earthquake affected parts of Haiti. I know a couple of organizations who are doing great work with them and are training locals to build them as well.
ReplyDeleteA partner organization, Grassroots United, based between the P-au-P airport and the UN compound, are doing some great work on composting toilets as well as another collaborator organization, Give Love, has been training locals to build these toilets.
Rather than sawdust they are using bagas, which is a sugar cane biproduct, that seems to be working quite well. This is much more accessible to most Haitians than sawdust, vetiver and definitely grass clippings.
Let me know if you'd like any other information
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteAs I'm sure you're aware, there are many composting toilet projects underway all over earthquake affected Haiti.
A partner of mine, Grassroots United, http://grassrootsunited.org as well as an altruistic group, Give Love, started by Patricia Arquette, are both implementing composting toilets and training locals of this technology. Grassroots is currently based near the P-au-P airport.
They've been using baggas, a biproduct of sugarcane, instead of sawdust as it is much more accessible to most Haitians than sawdust, lawn clippings or vetiver and seems to be very effective.
Hope this helps some.