Reddit reviews The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, Third Edition

>Do you know how unsafe a hot water heater that only goes up to 90 degrees F is? I am shocked you haven't caught legionnaire's already.

I wasn't overly familiar with it, so thanks for the heads up. I've been using chlorinated tap water and usually only 2-3 days worth at a time. I'll make sure I don't let water sit in there and become stagnant and to rinse it out with a 5% bleach solution once a week to be safe.

>Do you know how many nasty diseases you can catch from improperly disposed human waste?

Yes, actually, I did a lot of research and reading on proper composting methods before diving into it. Your average person's waste will contain large amounts of bacteria and some common parasites (pin worms, etc.) and possibly some virus's(virii?) as well. Here's a chart that shows survival times of some pathogens.


I'd suggest reading the Humanure Handbook if you're interested in the topic.

What your describing is a constructed wetlands. Its more for bio-remediation of run off from a parking lot.

Compost toilets usually either employ the bucket method, where you capture the defecate in a bucket and empty it into a barrel where it can sit for a year before being safe to compost. Or the toilet detains the defecate in a chamber beneath and dries it out using ventilation. Once its sufficiently dry its safe to mix with compost.

Either way if you build it properly and teach people how to use it, it won't have an odor.

Humanure Handbook

The Humanure Handbook covers everything you need to know. You have to have airflow and drainage or the worms will die so the bucket idea is not great. Honestly, if you don't have the room, don't do it. It's likely illegal in the city anyhow.

>without livestock, there will be no natural fertilizers.

WTF? Almost any organic waste is a fertilizer. Rotting food scraps are a fertilizer. Compost is a fertilizer. Most animal shit can be used as a fertilizer, even human shit. I refer to the Humanure Handbook. Kind of weird to fixate on cows as the only species that can take a shit. It speaks to the culture you were brought up in.

Human shit can make great fertilizer if treated properly. We should be using it in this way a lot more.

https://www.amazon.com/Humanure-Handbook-Guide-Composting-Manure/dp/0964425831/

*humanure

I recommend this book if you're interested.

I'm not sure of the proper answer but I bet you could find it here, I've heard good things about this book from a researcher that I trust: https://www.amazon.com/Humanure-Handbook-Guide-Composting-Manure/dp/0964425831

http://www.amazon.com/The-Humanure-Handbook-Composting-Edition/dp/0964425831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347232409&sr=8-1&keywords=the+humanure+handbook

>Using human poop for compost is the "right way?"

No, I'm not saying that using poop for compost is the right way, simply that there is a right way to do it that mitigates the very real issues you've addressed.

I could write a similarly fear-mongering tirade about the dangers of any number of technologies, but that wouldn't invalidate the fact that they can also be utilized safely.

I recommend giving this a read. You can probably find it at a library.