Preventive Medicine-Waste Disposal

Sorry this took so long to get out. Here goes:

Waste disposal is probably the biggest concern that every individual will face after the SHTF. Face it, we all create waste, and it must be dealt with. To not will make you sick, possibly even kill you. The following are ways to deal with waste. Learn them, live them, love them.

We'll start with human waste. Feces is solid, urine is liquid, and the two should never meet. With the exception of a cat hole or a straddle trench, this is always true, regardless of the way that your systems are set up.

On the road, use a cat hole. For the unknowing, this is a small hole dug 6-12 inches deep. Use care when operating that one doesn't lose their balance while squatting over the hole. Also watch what is below, nothing worse than missing said hole only to hit your own pants. When done, cover and get moving.

In a camp that will be used for 1-3 days, dig a straddle trench. Think of this as a group cat hole. Dig it 1-3 feet deep, at least 4 feet long, and 1 foot wide. To use, simply straddle, drop your pants, and squat (if needed). When done, you can cover with dirt. Once a day, a layer a few inches deep should be added to the trench and packed down.

In a camp that will be used greater than 3 days, deep pit latrines and urine soakage pits are to be considered. A deep pit latrine is 4 feet deep, a couple feet square with a form of a seat, hopefully with a lid. Urine soakage pits are 4 x 4 x 4 feet in dimension. They are filled with gravel, or small stones, to allow the urine to trickle down into the earth. This helps to keep surface runoff to a minimum. Urinal mint is your call.

Some things to consider when constructing, maintaining, & closing off latrines/soakage pits:
-Consider the length of stay, the water level, and the soil conditions. Do not extend depth of latrine or pit below underground water level.
-Make sure they are located 100 yards from your food & water sources and down hill from the camp.
-Provide for privacy, a way to wipe & wash your hands, and dig drainage ditches around these sites.
-Police the area around these sites. Keep lids closed, seal all cracks if possible. Clean with soap & water daily and use insectisides when available.
-Latrines should be closed when waste is 1 foot from the surface. Fill with 3 inches of dirt, pack down, and repeat until dirt from the hole is mounded over the top. Spray with insectiside when done.

For wash, bath, and liquid kitchen waste, you can use the urine soakage pits. A grease trap will be needed to catch grease and soap from the water. Basicly, this is a large container filled with sand & gravel, set over the soakage pit. The bottom has a screen or small holes while the top is a piece of canvas stretched over the opening. Too use, pour the water slowly over the canvas. If the water starts to flow over the top, you are pouring too fast. Let this settle and scrape the residue off the canvas to be dried and burned later. Close the soakage pit when it is clogged with standing water. Use 1 foot of compacted dirt to fill in the top.

Finally we have solid waste (Garbage) melbo . Most of the info I have concerns burial. Incineration as well as composting are options that would be good to know. (Any help here would be great.) Locate the burial pit no more than 30 yards from the mess, and no closer than 100 yards from your water source. Fill with the days waste, and then add dirt and compact. Start again the next day. Pits should be 4x4x4 in size. Close these when waste is 1 foot from the top. Use the same method as you would use for filling in a latrine.

Hope this helps.
phishi

 

I got lots of used sandpaper!

Bring big catalogs with you, I guess.

 

Great Read, this is one that needs to get printed and put with all BOB's!

My thoughts on the solid waste disposal. Composting: Not worth it unless you plan on staying put for months. If you want to do composting, you can just about any kitchen type scraps, except meat products. If you are staying in one place and have a garden, a compost pile would be ideal. As you harvest and rotate crops, putting the plants, leftovers and scraps into the compost you can have a new soil/fertilizer in as little as a couple of months. If anyone is interested I can post some gardening and composting links.

As far as the incineration goes, I guess you could actually burn anything that wasn't composted. It all burns given that the fire is hot enough. But you may generate quite a bit of smoke from it, and if you are trying not to be noticed that would not be a good thing.

Just my thoughts

Ryan

 

Actually, if you are a homesteader and plan on staying put for not just months, but years, I strongly suggest getting yourself a copy of The Humanure Handbook.
The author has made compost out of his and his family's feces and urine for years...and safely, to! His take on it is that "digestive byproducts are not waste unless we waste them".
In the book he tells how high temp composting destroys any and basically all pathogens, bacteria, parasites, etc...and creates excellent compost...pick up a copy, good reading over the dinner table!

 

There is a book called "How to shit in the woods" Good read, small book. Lots of really good info.

 

As to substitutes for TP? Get used cotton clothing from the thrift store and cut into 1 ft squares. Wash, boil (if you feel it necessary) and reuse. Any strong soap, such as lye soap or fels naptha should get rags clean enough when used in hot water.

 

corn husks work for wiping, lil rough but do the job safely
as far as a reusable wipe, try a nice soft leather chamois
good for many years, easy to clean, soft on your delicate bottoms

 

Wonder if the sham-wow would work? Would it hold too much bacteria? Could it be washed well enough? I will have to try it and find out. If it gets irreparably funky i will know!

 

one thing bad with leather chamois
you cant boil them to sterilize
theyll shrink and get hard
boiling leather was how they made some of the first body armor
just so you know

 

Guys..guys. We have tons of these...they are free every year, have tons of pages and best of all, the paper is relatively easy to break down...PHONE BOOKS. We like the Yeller Pages ones, because quantity is best. They are easy to store, easy to use an provide an amusing thing to peruse while doing your business. Just ball the paper sheet a bit to "soften" the fibers, and bada bing instant TP substitute.
YouTube - ‪Scenario-- Birth and death in our WROL community‬‏

 

One issue with Phone books is that the ink is not a high quality and may tend to leave other markings on you....

 

how many phone books you gonna carry in your BOB when TSHTF?