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humbll

Vermicomposting Human Waste

humbll
9 years ago

Hello,

I saw a video a number of years ago on the internet where a woman was showing her families system of human waste management. It was quite elementary, they would go to the bathroom in a 5 gallon bucket, and when it was full they would bring it out back where she had a number of 5 gallon buckets lined up in a row, she would open the last one and shovel out a scoop of vermicompost (with worms in it?) and inoculate the new bucket with it by dumping it on top. I cannot for the life of me find the video now, and I cannot remember what was added to the 5 gal bucket as they were using it. such as sawdust....

Basically she had about 2 dozen of these 5 gallon buckets lined up out there, and she said they let them sit for a year or 2 by which time the worms had converted the humanure into rich, black vermicompost. They would take the finished bucket and spread the stuff all around non edible plants and trees. I recall the buckets had holes in the bottom for drainage of urine and to allow the worms to come and go.

If any of you have seen this video and know where to find it please post a link to it so I can bookmark it.

Thanks!

EDIT: Found the vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZwOqLJvBA

This post was edited by humbll on Tue, Nov 25, 14 at 8:39

Comments (18)

  • barbararose21101
    9 years ago

    This is a link to pretty much the whole topic.
    I did it when I lived on 2+ acres.
    I don't do it in the city.

    Here is a link that might be useful: humanure

  • humbll
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The link you provided is not what I am looking for. These people compost the humanure, whereas the lady I am talking about would allow the humanure to sit in the buckets with toilet paper, etc in it and would add a shovelful of the finished product with worms in it into the new bucket and place the bucket wit lid at the beginning of the line, by the time 1 or 2 years or so had passed it would be finished vermicompost.

  • chuckiebtoo
    9 years ago

    "Another detail to consider is that there is more than one kind of composting worm and different varieties will behave differently"

    Another thing, and one that we posters often neglect to specify: there are more than one kind of vermicomposters here. Some of us chunk it all in the garden/yard and let nature take its slow course. Others try to maximize optimum conditions, ideal surrounding and situations, and basically get elbow-deep in those processes.

    Aged, somewhat dried horse manure, because of the partially digested composition of it, qualifies as material worthy of getting elbow-deep into. Human waste:(

    The diff? We eat fast food. Meaty, fat-laden fast food. Since we don't feed our worms meat & dairy products, why pre-process it, handle it, and force it on the wormies.

    And forget about indoor bins.

    Chuckiebtoo

    Think you had problems with flies before? Serve up that sh t. .

  • FrancoiseFromAix
    9 years ago

    Not to mention how organized you must be, you have to hide your wermicomposting toilet every time there's someone visiting !

    Even if you're an organic vegan, I don't know if it's worth it.

    And if the worms reproduce too much and then are so numerous that they're underfed and hungry, I would fear for them to jump at your butt to try and get a bite ;-)

  • humbll
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Well we use septic tanks currently for human waste, the reason I am looking into the vermicompost method is for if the SHTF and we no longer have electricity to run the septic air and sump pumps. I am definitely not interested in traditional composting methods to get rid of it, when the lady in the video i am searching for had it down pat using the worms, no turning of the pile, etc. There did not appear to be any flies around the buckets she had lined up, not saying there weren't any but I did not observe any in the area she was in. Mainly the thing I was trying to see on her video was how they kept the smell down while using the buckets, I am pretty sure I remember her saying they covered the waste with sawdust.

    They did have the buckets lined up toward the back of their property to keep them out of the way. Well thanks for the replies so far, and if anyone can remember where to see her video please post it here.

    God bless!

  • Adella Bedella
    9 years ago

    Why not just have an outhouse in the back yard and introduce your worms to that? Seems like it would be less labor intensive.

  • Charlie
    9 years ago

    Adellabedella hit the solution on the head. Build a modern (in terms of confort and appearance) outhouse in which the refuse is spread over a defined area possibly using a pump. That defined area becomes your worm bed, possibly covered, or possibly a area that can be changed as one are becomes saturated with refuse.

  • renais1
    9 years ago

    In our area, one county is making it much more difficult to go with traditional septic systems. The alternatives are either a very expensive (25k) system that requires air pumps and sump pumps, or the use of traditional cesspools. In my opinion this is an ironic situation since the reason traditional septic systems were not being allowed in new installations was to reduce nitrate infiltration to the ground water. However, I've read that the cesspools are actually working fairly well. They are a very low tech solution, and with proper design and management, there are not fly or odor problems. Anna Eddy of Solviva fame uses a similar system with her biofilters. Her test results on these are pretty impressive. I've been within a few feet of an operating system, and could not smell any bad odor, or see anything objectionable. Waste filters through the associated growth. Worms are certainly playing into some of the processing of all the material. One neat result is that you don't have to periodically pump a septic tank. There are not many maintenance issues other than maybe a removal of composted material every 10 years or so.
    Renais

  • armoured
    9 years ago

    @humbll- are you looking for a system to just be off-grid, backup for when power is out, or want it to use no power whatsoever?

    Don't know specifics of your system but a battery back-up or solar panels might be enough. Septic air shouldn't use much power and probably no significant damage if power is out for a while. (And where is your water coming from if no electricity?)

    You might look into some forms of composting toilets, although some use electricity. Or some that are essentially worm pits below.

    It's quite likely the 'recipe' was sawdust and a small amount of soil to keep smell down/ensure the biobreakdown.

  • humbll
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Well, I am just going over my options, and I am already into worms so I thought that her system would be a good one for me to emulate, if it became necessary.

    I am in Louisiana so my water supply is practically endless, with my area getting an average of 4 inches of rain per month, and my roof can fill a 2000 gallon tank with only 2 inches of rain.

    Pumps break, so even if I had solar panels etc they would eventually become useless.

    Thanks for the reply.

  • humbll
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZwOqLJvBA

    Here is the video I was after.

  • barbararose21101
    9 years ago

    The video is informative. It shows the size of the "buckets";
    the number of buckets, and the quantity of developed VC
    that is used to start a new bucket.
    It doesn't show how the container gets moisture in Australia.
    The buckets are shaded.
    Do the buckets start with enough moisture to last 2 years ?

    I will testify from my experience using a way less elaborate system,
    that sawdust and a little soil make very nice, fragrant ! compost.
    It actually smells more like "we" want it to smell,
    than VC in an indoor bin.
    Possibly from the use of the life in earth already.
    This forum mentions adding a little soil once in a while but does not emphasize it.

    I am going to crawl out on a skinny limb here and recommend that everyone learn about composting human waste so as to be sure your attitudes are based on good information.

    It is impractical in a city on a small lot.
    For municipal solutions to the environmental issue
    send me a direct email.

    If this link doesn't work, copy & paste the url from Humil's post.

    Here is a link that might be useful: the link

  • PRO
    equinoxequinox
    9 years ago

    I feel like I live on the skinny limb. No better way to live. humbll I am glad you found the lost link. I searched a while but could not find exactly what you described. I can not remember if I have ever seen it but it is certainly similar to others but maybe a bit better because of the exact details she shares which are gold. The whole chimney thing she describes in the outhouse is way super important. And just the other details as mentioned by barbararose21101 were the little things one needs to know because those facts decide success from bad smell. I was way confused about how she closed the cover on living worms. Now I am way confused about carrying dripping, hole in the bottom bucket to the woods. They seem to be adding very little brown to the amount of green poop. But perhaps probably sawdust is a lot of very concentrated brown. I would like to cover my additions to the pot completely and not in a fitful decorative way. Nobody else gets to see my additions to the group pile. I'm just strange that way. Was I looking at a lot of wet sawdust in the illuminating video or was I looking at non well covered additions? I hesitate to go back to review the pictures more closely. In my massively non humble opinion there should 100 percent be a different collection system for much of the pee. Maybe not all. Still way better tha the poopsicle on that Alaska show. Ok spell check is just going to have to learn to deal with poopsicle.

  • PRO
    equinoxequinox
    9 years ago

    Pee should go through bio char or through something that can make good use of the resource. Possibly bokashi so none is lost to the air. Neither pee nor poos are a waste product. Both are a much needed valuable resource. Ignore the fact and we all suffer.

  • humbll
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    As for the moisture, I am sure it must have enough for the entire process without having to add more, or she most certainly would have mentioned it...

    They collect the urine in a sawdust filled bucket, not sure if it goes through the same vermicomposting process or what.

    I wouldn't be too worried about urine dripping out of the bottom while carrying it, unless someone had just used it minutes before.

    Sawdust is an excellent "brown" material.

    I do like the idea of filtering the urine through biochar to collect all that nitrogen....

  • chuckiebtoo
    9 years ago

    The answer to all the questions above: Depends

    chuckiebtoo

    Moderation, Diversity, Patience.....not necessarily THIS much diversity.

  • MisterBackyard
    9 years ago

    It doesn't seem to me like the worms would get enough oxygen being locked up in though buckets with the lid screwed on. Do you think that they are crawling our through the holes in the bottom?

    Here is a link that might be useful: My Site

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