That Heady Poop Zine

THAT HEADY POOP ZINE

THAT HEADY POOP ZINE

An Academic Exploration of (Alternative) Waste Management in Portland, Oregon & An Accompanying Creative Community Collaboration

AJNA WEAVER SPRING 2016

Photo credit:​ ​ Leigh Righton​ via​ ​ Visual hunt​ /​ ​ CC BY­NC­ND

Forward

After a few days of forgetting all of my responsibilities and instead dancing my heart out, meeting new friends, and meditating under the stars, I sat down in a little tent and listened to a group of people tell me why I should really stop shitting in one of the most precious resources on Earth­­water. Last Summer, in 2015, I attended a talk called “Nutrient Cycling: Soils, Compost, and Humanure” at ​ Lightning in a Bottle​ , a transformational music Festival in Bradley, California. It was then that I really deeply, critically thought about our waste management system for the first time. I started to wonder, how did we get to using our current sewer system? Why aren’t waterless alternatives, like composting toilets, widely used?

Fast forward to Spring 2016, and I am taking my final core course for my Environmental Studies minor at Lewis & Clark College, “Situating Environmental Solutions and Problems”. I was asked to complete a project connecting this field to my major, Rhetoric & Media studies. I had previously melded the two with research into green consumerism and food eco­labels, focusing on buzzwords and the trendiness of sustainable commodities. But for this project, for some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about doing my project on something that is ​ hardly​ talked about between people, let alone in academia: poop.

So I went with it. For the past four months, I have been researching human waste, wondering how it’s talked about and how that influences the way we deal (or don’t deal) with it. And I didn’t want to be alone, so I asked my community to join me in pondering this taboo topic, hence the collaborative nature of this zine.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this conversation, especially those who documented it in some way for this collection! I must extend my gratitude to my close friends, family, loved ones, and peers who have not only put up with me talking about poop for months, but have engaged thoughtfully and playfully with the subject themselves. I am eternally extending my gratitude out for the Deckhouse crew, whose love, support, and toilet troubles have fueled my heart throughout this semester.

Thanks to my Environmental Studies Professor Jessica Kleiss, who not only allowed me to craft my minor capstone as a weird zine about poop, but offered encouragement and guidance throughout the process. I am grateful to Amy Dvorak, for the rad changes she spearheads on our campus, and for connecting me to so much information for this project. I feel lucky to have met Don Mills who enthusiastically met my curiosities and recommended some of the materials that have guided the background research for this Zine. Thanks to Evan and Gregg Madden for introducing me to the company PHLUSH, which has been an incredible resource throughout my research. Many thanks and blessings to Laura Dvorak for her comprehensive and inspiring master’s thesis that not only primarily informed this work, but truly inspired my spirit. Thank you to Tryon Life Community Farm for the space that you all hold, and for linking me to Laura’s thesis. And lastly, thanks to everyone else out there ​ doing​ the Work!

THAT HEADY POOP ZINE

History: How’d we get here?

CONTENTS

(Some) Benefits and (Many) Costs & Tradeoffs With our Current System Potential Solution: Composting Toilets Situated Conext: Portland, Oregon Portland: What happens when you flush your conventional toilet?

Portland: Costs & Tradeoffs With our current system Case Study: Lewis & Clark College’s composting toilet Portland Activism & Politics Concluding Thoughts: Talking Shit Holding Space Call For Submissions Contributions Travis Meng​ : “Thoughts on the Evolution of Perceptions of Human Waste in Urban China” Samson Harman​ : “Toilet” Kaylie Engel​ : Untitled (writing) Mika Mandeville​ : Untitled (drawing) Isabelle Forstmann​ : “From the Restroom at the McDonald’s on the Corner of SW 6th and Main” Molly Danielsson​ : "Imagine Our City Without Sewers" Caroline Gray​ : “Shitty Alaskan Memoir” Haines Whitacre​ : “Ode to a Bolivian Toilet” Ina Enriquez​ : Untitled (poem) Sharna Dewy​ : “Boo Loo” Laura Dvorak​ : “A Practice of Awareness” Anonymous​ : “Beyond Bowels: From (Mis)Diagnosis to Discovery” Lex Shapiro​ : “When the Going gets Tough . . .”

Molly Danielsson​ : (Diagram) Charlotte Copp​ : Untitled (Writing & Photography)

References & Resources

(Who needs page numbers anyway?)

How’d we get here?

I don’t need to tell you that humans have been pooping for the entirety of our existence. Yet ​ where​ we do it and what we do ​ with ​ our excrement has changed and varied greatly over time and depending on location. Waste management, the act of collecting/transporting/disposing/treating unwanted byproducts, has fascinating manifestations for different regions and communities around the globe. I have pieced together a brief global history of how human excreta has been dealt with in some civilizations. See references & resources for further (and more extensive) reading on these histories.

De Decker gives an outline of waste management as it has evolved in Europe (2010). De Decker explains that after the fall of the Roman Empire and into the 19th century, people would defecate all over­­ in the streets, backyards, courtyards, and other surface areas. The result was that a lot of poop would inevitably end up in city drinking water supply. This water contamination lead to recurrences of typhoid fever and cholera epidemics, resulting in a lot of deaths.

In the later portion of the 19th century, cities got even more crowded, and people finally pieced together that much of the death and disease they were experiencing was related to the contamination of their water.

Instead of putting their waste in the water, they followed their agricultural model of using ​ animal​ dung as manure and added or substituted their ​ own​ waste in the mix. People relieved themselves in privies (basically outhouses) which stored the waste with a mixture of soil or ashes, to be collected regularly. In Europe, this first iteration of waste collection is known as “Night Soil”, because collectors came mostly at night to pick it up (De Decker 2010).

The transportation of water through piping was available in the early 19th century (before and during Night Soil being collected) but it was only used for stormwater drainage (Lippincott 2012). Human waste wasn’t added to the water pipes until a little later. This creates sewage, the mixture of human waste with water​ . This can be rainwater, as well as other household wastewater (from the shower, sink, washing machine, etc.). In the 1860s, sewers were implemented in London to try to reduce odors and pathogens, but according to writers at PHLUSH, this “simply displaced the problems to downstream communities” instead of providing clean water (“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation” 2015).

Fast forwarding to the mid 20th century, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were established to remove solids and clean wastewater to dump back into the waterways, with the intention of doing so more safely than before (“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation” 2015). The construction of these WWTPs came from the political action in United States in the 1950’s and 60’s that created legislation like the Clean Water Act (Lippincott 2012). In 1972, the Clean Water act required treatment with microorganisms, and in the mid­1990s dumping solids from the treatment into water bodies was outlawed at the same time that applying the material to land became the dominant practice (“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation” 2015).

Over time, requirements and regulations to wastewater treatment in the West continue to change and be revised as new insight, demand, and technology emerge.

Beyond detailing the Western world’s ills and waste management history, De Decker parallels with an explanation of how human waste was dealt with in other locations. He notes, “the grim sanitary

conditions of the Middle Ages and the early Industrial Revolution were a purely western phenomenon” (2010). For over 4,000 years, human excrements have been valued products in Eastern countries such as China, Korea and Japan. While people in Europe were still pooping just about everywhere without a care, Eastern societies fed their large population and kept clean drinking water. The Chinese rivers remained unpolluted because human excrement was going into the agricultural system instead. It wasn’t a matter of scale that accounted for these differences, as the Chinese population was just as big as the Americans and Europeans, and also had many densely populated cities like in the West. It was their utilization of a closed loop system (see Image from Jenkins 1999 on following page).

In most industrialized nations, human waste is disposed of in drinking water. In contrast to this, much of China and Japan utilize a close loop system . Site­built composting toilets, usually constructed with on­site or recycled materials, have been used for many centuries in regions like China and Japan (Dvorak 2007). In China “The stools and urine of those 400 million people were collected in terracotta jars, with airtight seals. The matter was gathered from every home, from the tiny country villages to the great cities.” This was the case in other parts of Asia as well. For example, throughout the 20th century in in Japan, one could pay cheaper rent if they left their landlord higher quality feces (De Decker 2010)! In modern day Japan, waste management without water (dry sanitation) is still used extensively (Danielsson and Lippincott, n.d.).

Other nations have struggled with developing waste management systems and many people today, all over the world, including the U.S., continue to lack access to safe and healthy spaces to defecate. In India, over half a billion people live in dense urban environments where only the wealthy can afford flush toilets and manual collection of waste still occurs (despite it being outlawed), which is the cause of much spread of disease. Dvorak states: "For many post­industrial countries, like the United States, most communities have the comfort and privilege of not having to think about sanitation issues. The infrastructure has been established and . . . most people are content with it” (Dvorak 2007).

Although there have been noteworthy advancements in many fields of waste management, there are many people whose basic needs are not met. Poor hygiene and lack of access to clean water cause many deaths from preventable disease for poor populations worldwide. Lack of safe, accessible public toilets is a problem in developed nations as well, particularly for houseless folks. When talking about these issues, I have found it important to be mindful of the severity of these circumstances, as well as the ways they show up differently based on power and privilege. Sunita Narain, when prompted to give a message to “northern countries” about “water and sanitation”, Narain responded:

"I think the only message in this case is: Yes, you have from all evidence been able to manage your water systems. But your answers are not particularly our answers. My message is, therefore: Please do not preach. Please do not push these as the solutions that will work in our part of the world. And do this with humility. We all need a lot more humility in advocating solutions and approaches " (Dvorak 2007)

It is on this note that I move forward to speak about some of the benefits and drawbacks to current dominant system of waste management in The United States.

Source: ​ The Humanure Handbook Joseph Jenkins​ , Inc., Grove City, PA 16127 To order, phone: 1­814­786­9085

(Some) Benefits and (Many) Costs & Tradeoffs With our Current System

There are pros and cons to the current trend of sewage systems used for waste management, however the pitfalls are not always brought to light because of the dominance and ubiquity of the system at this point in history. “While capital and resource intensive, ​ they encourage density and growth​ . Although polluting, they provide centralized, controllable outcomes​ ” (Lippincott 2012; italics added). The dominant waste management system of sewage and wastewater treatment has the main benefits of being easy and convenient for users, its ability to be implemented at a very large scale, and the ability to return some nutrients to the soil through increasing popularity of land application. The benefits of this centralization match many of the 19th century drives for “centralization, professionalization, bureaucratization, and control” (Lippincott 2012). The contemporary municipal wastewater treatment infrastructure can deal with the waste for an entire city, and the experience is easy for average individuals who don’t have to do much of anything beyond flush and pay. But what are we overlooking by forgetting about our waste once it’s down the drain? The cited problems with our current sewage system range from economic, environmental, and even spiritual and psychological themes.

Photo credit:​ ​ liborius​ via​ ​ VisualHunt.com​ /​ ​ CC BY­NC

"Sewers’ inherent inefficiency at excrement collections means that their costs can be shifted between ecology, energy, money, and society, but never mitigated”​ (Danielsson and Lippincott, n.d.) ​

Financially, the costs of our system are very real. Wastewater treatment is an incredibly expensive process. Sewers and flush toilets put waste management into government control, which minimizes surprise costs by implementing (very high) steady, municipal taxes. Costs of this system go beyond economic ones too though. The bulk of arguments I encountered against sewage systems were environmentally oriented, concerned with the health of people and ecosystems. The current, dominant system we are utilizing in the United States engages in constructing and maintaining sewers, chemically treating water and sewage, and producing inorganic fertilizers (De Decker 2010). The combination of these processes is incredibly energy intensive (“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation” 2015). The reliance on fossil fuels to run equipment and facilitate transportation of waste compromises our air quality and is linked to contributing to rising carbon levels and climate change.

Another primary concern is wasting water, especially as certain areas, like California, have been experiencing extreme droughts. America’s sanitary infrastructure was built with assumption that there would always be a sufficient amount of water to use in transporting waste (“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation” 2015). In light of lack of access to clean drinking water across the globe, and increasing droughts in certain areas, it seems odd to defecate in a precious resource ​ needed​ for the sustenance of almost all organic life.

Beyond wasting water, there is also talk about ​ nutrients​ being wasted. Our soil needs to be replenished with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphates, which just so happen to be the same nutrients that come out of our bodies! But we flush these nutrients away, combining them with chemicals and water. When they are not recirculated into the soil (a closed loop system) the soil becomes depleted.With our current sewage system, some nutrients are returned to the soil, but a lot of our nutrients also turn into pollutants when not used properly. For example, when put in water, nutrients in excess can cause algae blooms that create “marine dead zones” threatening the lives of many species (Dvorak 2007).

“On the one hand, we have livestock and people, who together produce 166 million tonnes of nitrogen and 72 million tonnes of phosphates. Almost all of this is wasted, wreaking ecological havoc . . . At the same time, our factories produce 99.9 million tonnes of artificial nitrogen fertilizer and 37 million tonnes of phosphates.” (​ De Decker 2010)

Let me emphasize, again: nutrients come out of our bodies. We put these nutrients into our water, which creates an excess that destroys ecosystems. Meanwhile, our soil lacks these very same nutrients. So we use large amounts of money, energy, and other resources to create synthetic fertilizer.

The environmental concerns with wasting water and nutrients tie in directly with concerns surrounding the pollution of both water and land. Basically, the way we are managing our excrement is turning what could​ nourish the land into what is​ contaminating​ water sources. But even when applied to the land, some argue that our sewage system is still polluting due to the combination of chemicals that end up in the sewage mix. Mathew Lippincott explains that the implementation of the sewage system and wastewater treatment was coupled with legal changes in the United Kingdom and United States that allowed for

industrial pollution of rivers (2012). Today, the system still has loopholes that allow for industry to dump toxins into the watershed (Dvorak 2007).

David Stabler explains that wastewater treatment doesn’t remove all health hazards, “it just accelerates the natural process of decomposition until the treated sewage meets national health standards for recycling it in rivers and on farms” (2012). Additionally, US sewers spill more than 850 billion gallons of raw​ sewage per year (Danielsson and Lippincott, n.d.). This all means that chemicals, pathogens, pharmaceuticals and even heavy metals are still present to some degree, ending up in our water ​ and​ soil (“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation,” 2015). Experts disagree about if the regulatory standards for these levels are rigorous enough. Yet some adamantly feel that the levels of contamination are a serious threat to future food security and current food safety (“Problems with the Status Quo,” 2011).

Lastly, and uniquely relevant to my personal interests, are the problems that this system inflicts subtly, socially and emotionally. Our sewer system is seldom questioned. “It is viewed as an obvious technology and generally regarded as a sign of civilization . . . The reason for this is because we have been conditioned to believe that the water closet and the sewer system are the only alternatives to stench and disease.” (De Decker 2010). Our current system is built upon fear of our waste, and a deep disconnection from our bodies and the land.

The sewage system allows us to put the problems outlined above out of sight and out of mind. In her thesis, Dvorak touches on this theme especially well. She says, "When we flush our excreta ‘away,’ we are also flushing away personal responsibility and true understanding of what our bodies have created . . .

By flushing our nutrients away, by not even realizing that our excreta are resources, we generate unconscious feelings of shame and self­loathing. Our collective unconscious is also scarred by the shame of involuntary participation in an exploitative, destructive society . . . Social ecology teaches us that in order to heal environmental crises, we must also simultaneously work to heal social crises­ namely those of race, class and gender" (2007).

Whether one experiences explicit feelings of shame or fear related to their poop or not, our culture breeds certain norms that abstract us from our physical reality. Poop is a taboo subject to talk about, and a source of anxiety and embarrassment for many to acknowledge. How does this manifest in individuals’ disassociation with these systems? How does it influence cultural priorities? The economic and environmental issues with our current system are not separate from social issues we concurrently face.

And it’s time we face our shit, all of it.

Potential Solution: Composting Toilets

Along with my research into the history and complications of waste management and sanitation, I have explored a potential solution to some of the social, economic and environmental downsides to our current system. Present toilet systems are either sewered systems or on­site septic systems. Both use water to transfer excrement to a treatment system. I have investigated methods of waste management that don’t involve water, specifically the “dry sanitation” technology of composting toilets. Composting toilets use biodigestion, meaning that bacteria break down organic material­­ this process allows human waste to be turned into fertilizer that can return to the soil.

Composting toilets can address many of the issues raised with the sewage system. Composting toilets require no water, so that eliminates worries about wasting or contaminating this precious resource.

Additionally, because they are a closed­loop system, the problem of waste of (or polluting with) nutrients is immediately dissolved as well. As for the economic cost of composting toilets, this depends on many factors, including type of toilet and details of where and how it is being installed. Even less concrete, are the potential social, psychological, and spiritual benefits this alternative may have, yet this aspect is still conceived of by some of those who are most passionate about this technology.

With the intensity of issues raised about our sewage system, and the seeming ability of composting toilets to address these issues, I have remained curious: why aren’t composting toilets widely used? What barriers exist to their implementation? To explore these questions in more depth, I have situated my research in a particular location of the United States: Portland, Oregon.

Situated Conext: Portland, Oregon

Portland has been praised as a haven for sustainability, and Business Insider is one among many media outlets that has called the city of Portland “America’s Greenest City”. A lot of this hype has to do with policies and infrastructure implemented like banning plastic bags, successful and well­utilized public transportation, presence of LEED­certified buildings, and having some of the cleanest water (Insider 2016). Dvorak points out that the “livability” of Portland isn’t simply a function of governmental structures, but that it is home to a thriving and passionate community of people dedicated to grassroots citizen involvement and a “unique do­it­yourself mentality” (Dvorak 2007). Portland’s fame for sustainability and environmental activist culture make this a particularly interesting site to look at our current waste management system as well alternatives. In my research, I have explored The City of Portland’s waste management system, as well as some on­the­ground efforts to implement alternatives to it, specifically composting toilets.

Some Portland Waste Management Background

The City of Portland​ ’s “Environmental Service’s” webpage outlines in detail how the current system developed. They start their timeline in 1864 with the advent of a covered wooden trough that acted as a sewer that dumped into the Willamette River and Columbia Slough (“Evolution of Portland Wastewater Treatment” 2016). The Slough is a 60­mile­long series of slow moving lakes, channels, and wetlands in the southern floodplain of the Columbia River (Shimer 2002). This contaminated the water, killing fish and harboring disease (Stabler 2012). As awareness and concern for water pollution grew, citizen action brought about water treatment policy, and the ​ Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant (CBWTP) was opened in 1952. Waste was pumped in a combined sewer system, that brought both human waste and stormwater runoff to the plant. The plant improved water quality, but when it rained combined sewage overflows (CSOs) occurred, where the large amounts of stormwater would overload the pipes, causing all of the untreated contents to go directly to the river. In 1991, Portland set out on a project to reduce these hazardous CSOs. Between 2000 and 2011, the “West Side Big Pipe” and “East Side Big Pipe” were developed to increase the system’s capacity (“Combined Sewer Overflow Control” 2016).

CBWTP continues to expand and alter their practices and processes since its conception, as new technologies emerge and needs arise.

Portland: What happens when you flush your conventional toilet? ●

Your waste, combined with water and other Portlanders’ waste, goes into a network of pipes that extend more than 2,256 miles long. There are 96 pump stations that help move the flow of this liquid. (“Evolution of Portland Wastewater Treatment” 2016).

●

Your bodily waste is combined with industrial waste too, as various chemicals are dumped into the system. Dvorak gives an example of Blackline, Inc., which uses chromium and other metals and has been sending the potent toxin to Portland’s sewage treatment plant, and eventually the Columbia River, in illegal concentrations since 2004 (Dvorak 2007).

●

Most pipes carry a combination of sewage and stormwater runoff (“Evolution of Portland Wastewater Treatment” 2016). In especially rainy times, when large amounts of stormwater fill the combined sewers, combined sewer overflows (CSOs) can occur, and all of the untreated substance goes directly into the river. According to ​ The City of Portland​ , at this point these system overflows happen an average of four times in the winter and once every three summers (“Combined Sewer Overflow Control” 2016).

If conditions permit, your waste won’t end up directly in the Willamette, and will instead go to The Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant CBWTP), which serves 614,000 residential and commercial customers (“Evolution of Portland Wastewater Treatment” 2016). “At the first stop, giant rakes scrape off floating debris ­­ 16 tons a day of cellphones, condoms, false teeth, sticks, rocks, rags ­­ that gets trucked to the landfill” (Shimer 2002). It is then boiled and treated with Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) for disinfection (Stabler 2012). From here, your waste goes through treatment for pathogen reduction. The treated water is put back into the river, and the remaining products are Biogas and Biosolids (“Treatment Process” 2016).

○ BIOGAS: The CBWTP generates biogas as a by­product of stabilizing wastewater solids.

This gas is an alternative fuel to produce heat and power for the treatment plant (about 40% of their electrical needs) and is also delivered via pipeline to a nearby industrial facility (“Beneficial Reuse of Biogas” 2016).

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○ BIOSOLIDS: the material left over after the water from sewage is treated and extracted used to be mostly put in landfills, but in Portland they are now “recycled” by being applied to land as fertilizer to help aid the growth of farm crops, gardens, forests and parks (“Beneficial Reuse of Portland Biosolids” 2016). “Every few hours, day and night, a truck pulls up below the hoppers, fills up and heads to eastern Oregon . . . Farmers have applied human­waste fertilizer to their fields for eons, but only relatively recently have cities turned to farmers to dispose of their biosolids” (Stabler 2012). Some biosolids may end up in the landfill, or are burned, but virtually all of Portland’s biosolids are applied to the land (Shimer 2002).

Long story short: When you flush your toilet in Portland, Oregon, your waste is probably either in the Willamette River or in farm soil. Whatever the destination, there are some contested implications about these locations and the processes in between . . .

Costs & Tradeoffs With our current system specific to Portland

The Big Pipes & CSOs

The Big Pipe project (referenced earlier) addressing combined sewage overflows (CSOs) is the biggest city­paid construction project to date. And it is fully financed by taxpayers. Complaints about the cost of sewer bills were ranked third in calls to Portland’s mayor’s office, right behind police brutality (Mirk 2010)!​ ​ The City has budgeted $1.4 billion for the project, which amounts to approximately $2,500 per man, woman and child living in the city (Dvorak 2007). Dvorak says, “By any stretch of the imagination, the money could have been spent a number of other ways, including purchasing prefabricated composting toilet units for each household" (2007).

With the Big Pipe projects, CSOs have been reduced about 99% (“Combined Sewer Overflow Control” 2016). This is an amazing improvement! But the remaining combined sewage overflows, in addition to all of the dumping of municipal and industrial waste over time, have contaminated the Columbia Slough and Willamette river with heavy metals and toxins, poop, and whatever else goes down Portland’s toilets (use your imagination). This has made these Portland waterbodies unsafe for marine wildlife and subsequently other creatures up the food chain, including us. The toxins found in Columbia Slough fish have been studied and may affect human development, reproduction, immune system, and cancer susceptibility (“A Solution to Sewage & Septic” 2010).

Biosolids

Biosolids, the consolidated remnants of wastewater treatment, are another disputed part of the Portland wastewater treatment process. Some praise the use of biosolids applied to agricultural land as environmentally progressive, as they return nutrients to the soil instead of polluting the water. With this fertilizer, the amount of vegetation and cattle­rearing is cited as being massively increased (Stabler 2012).

On the other hand, many of those who oppose the use of biosolids feel that they are not safe to use due to the trace metals and contaminants from combining sewage with industrial waste. The City claims that the level of metals is “well below limits set by an extensive EPA risk assessment” (“Beneficial Reuse of Portland Biosolids” 2016). But “An Unsolicited Design Review,” among others, claims that this system has not historically been accountable for risk assessment (Danielsson and Lippincott, n.d.). Additionally, Nina Bell, executive director of the Portland­based watchdog agency Northwest Environmental Advocates, says that biosolids are the source of various infections, lung diseases, and asthma. She says that the EPA has “repeatedly, and over many decades” attempted to suppress this information.The EPAs Bob Brobst counters: "I would argue that that's founded on fear as opposed to science" (Stabler 2012).

Despite these strongly opposing views, the heart of this argument is not questioning if human waste can or should be used for agriculture, but is really centered around the safety of mixing industrial and agricultural chemicals with our sewage. Many who argue against biosolids feel that human excrement could be treated and reused as agricultural fertilizer, but the addition of toxic byproducts from industry brings safety into question. Which leads us to composting toilets . . .

Case Study: Lewis & Clark College’s composting toilet

The more I learned about the nuances of waste management in Portland, the more I thought of alternatives. If the sewage system still upholds polluting practices, why does the city continue putting enormous amounts money and labor into reworking it? Could composting toilets in Portland mitigate the need for costly projects like The Big Pipe? To better understand how composting toilets work, and what goes into their implementation, I focused on one site in particular, Lewis & Clark College’s undergraduate campus. Just this year, Lewis & Clark College (L&C) installed a composting toilet on campus. To better understand how this process went, I interviewed Amy Dvorak, the Manager of Sustainability for L&C and Don Mills, the Sales Director for Clivus Multrum, the manufacturer of Lewis & Clark’s Composting Toilet.

Chatting With Amy: Barriers & Collaboration to the Installation

Sitting in her office, Amy was enthusiastic to talk to me about her work with the composting toilet. She was originally inspired to bring this technology to the school when she realized that porta potties were always brought in for events at one of the school sports complexes. Due to some complications, this specific location was restricted from major upgrades, so Amy found another location that had limited toilet access (lower Griswold). This location change was the first of many unforeseen challenges to getting this toilet installed.

Amy started the process of trying to get the toilet installed 2 years ago, in 2014. Yet under the state plumbing code, composting toilets were not allowed in commercial applications, which the school was considered to be. Amy still didn’t give up. She and a group of law school students researched commercial installations throughout the U.S. and argued their case to the City’s Alternative Technology Advisory Committee. Despite being heavily questioned (mostly about health concerns), the team was successful.

Even after the project was approved, the design has to go through numerous regulatory bodies and failed these review sessions numerous times.

As Amy told me about all of these tiring challenges, I was curious if the only barriers to getting the composting toilet were coming from the City. When I asked about any challenges from within L&C, Amy

laughed, mentioning that initially some people thought it was “gross and weird”. She also explained that some colleagues made comments about the cost (about $25,000 for the particular model) being inefficient for installing a singular toilet. She went on to explain though that this doesn’t compare to what the costs would be for installing a system connected to the sewer.

After talking pretty extensively about the barriers she faced, I was curious about her thoughts on why composting toilets aren’t more commonly used. Amy explained that at L&C specifically, a lot of our buildings are very old and would be challenging and costly to renovate, not to mention their historical significance. They are much easier to implement when constructing new buildings. Amy went on to the broader scheme, noting how many political and economic blocks there are to establishing or renewing code that allows for composting toilets and other alternative technologies. I couldn’t understand why.

Amy had me consider that taxpayer money goes to utilities, meaning that essentially the state makes money from wastewater treatment, while “off­grid” options, like composting toilets, take away from that revenue. This conversation kept me inspired to continue my research. The challenges that Amy faced were fascinating to me; I hadn’t thought that composting toilets would be such a politicized topic, and after talking to someone in the manufacturing business, this was even more affirmed.

Meeting Don: Questioning The Source of Limitations

A little over two weeks after meeting with Amy, she emailed me that a representative from Clivus Multrum, the manufacturer of the composting toilet, was coming to campus to make some adjustments to the system and give a run down to the caretakers on how to maintain the toilet. Amy invited me to join. 8 am that morning, as I stood outside the composting toilet in the pouring rain, I realized this was something I had become pretty passionate about.

I introduced myself (and my research) to Don, the Clivus Multrum Sales Director, and he was very open to talking to me. He was full of stories and information, and shared this with me while we waited for the others to show up to the meeting. Once others arrived, Don gave us a detailed description of how the composting toilet works and what upkeep is required (a pretty simple process actually). After the training, I stuck around to keep chatting.

When I asked Don about why composting toilets aren’t widely implemented, he quickly responded: “this is a political limit, not a technical one.” Surprised and excited by this response, I prompted him to elaborate. Don proceeded to explain how outhouses and other localized forms of waste management disappeared in a ​ generation​ . This quick transfer to the current sewer system happened because government intervened and said that septic and sewer were the only options. Don was insistent that policy is powerful and changes social norms.

Don and I then got into a conversation about big money and corporate interests influencing the government. We talked about how the Environmental Protection Agency often protects Industry, and in the case of composting toilets, that means protecting the sewage system. Industry dumps harsh chemical waste into the sewer, as detailed earlier, and essentially we as taxpayers are funding this corporate pollution.

Portland Activism & Politics

My talks with Amy and Don opened my eyes to the complicated political dimensions to waste management and subsequently composting toilets. The amount of legislative restrictions and barriers L&C was up against in their efforts to install a composting toilet, plus the power of industry that Don and I chatted about, could have left me feeling pretty discouraged about the potential of composting toilets and other innovative technologies in general. But it hasn’t. There are brilliant and fired­up folks in this city that have given me a lot of hope:

● PHLUSH, ​ Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human, ​ is an advocacy group Portland that centers around community collaboration to ensure safe cities, waters, and soils. They have produced incredible resources, such as the “Public Toilet Advocacy Toolkit” that helps citizen advocates and city officials to plan for, provide, and maintain public restrooms. They also have a focus on “ecological sanitation” that includes information on composting toilets (“PHLUSH” 2016).

● Portland is home to ​ The City Repair Project​ , a non­profit, volunteer organization that seeks to reclaim urban spaces as community­oriented places. They facilitate artistic projects that “honor the interconnection of human communities and the natural world” and aim to provide support and resources transform where they live (“Mission” 2016). The City Repair Project has helped with building structures at Tryon Life Community Farm.

● Nestled quite close to Lewis & Clark College is ​ Tryon Life Community Farm​ (TLC), a non­profit organization that fosters intentional living, alternative education, many land projects, and much more. TLC is also home to a composting toilet, and is the origin place for RECODE.

● RECODE​ is a Portland­based nonprofit whose mission is to ensure access and accelerate adoption of sustainable building and development practices (“Recode” 2016). The group was founded in order to look at how greywater could be captured from household sinks, showers, and laundry machines and reused to water gardens and flush toilets (“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation” 2015).

Since then, Recode has successfully legalized graywater reuse for Oregon in 2008 and then broadened composting toilets rules in 2012.

They call they problem­solving approach “performance based”, meaning that they advocate for codes and regulations to define desired or necessary ​ outcomes​ , but do not dictate how those outcomes need to be achieved (“Recode” 2016). Molly Danielsson, director of RECODE, explains that this allows code to grow as we learn more. She believes that “systems don’t have to look a certain way. They have to work. It’s really important that we don’t specify how systems look because this might prevent us from having innovation we’d really like in the future” (“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation” 2015). Molly gives an example with composting toilets, saying that instead of dictating the dimensions, materials, and other specific parts of production, performance based code would set an outcome goal. This would lead to questions more along the line of: “What is your nitrogen reduction? What is you phosphorus reduction? How much are you reducing pathogens by? Is it durable? Watertight?” (“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation” 2015)

Concluding Thoughts: Talking Shit

Portland has come a long way from the days of using the Willamette as an open sewer, and their reduction of combined sewage overflows has been quite effective. But the enormous costs of the project for taxpayers and the remaining concerns of industrial pollution and continued sewage spillage makes we wonder how far we have really come from our medieval european roots. We are still thinking and speaking of what comes out of bodies as “waste” when it really can be a ​ resource​ . We are still treating water as an abundant medium for transporting toxic contents, instead of cherishing and protecting it. What perpetuates this mindset?

Dvorak sites a basic Permaculture design principle, which is “mistakes are tools for learning.” She elaborates, “let us consider a few mistakes we have made that are relevant to this story: continuing to use the flush toilet system; perceiving human excreta as a waste product we should fear; encouraging other cultures to adopt our ways; and preventing access to alternatives such as site built composting toilets by making them illegal” (Dvorak 2007). Although there has been much development since Dvorak was working on her thesis, there is still minimal awareness, dialog, or excitement about dealing with our shit.

By contextualizing the vast, global history of sanitation in Portland, I really clearly came to see how money, power, and tradition operate the functioning of this system. Yet I also have seen how the power of dialogue and action can really shake things up. Yes, there are political constraints on composting toilets, but our lack of dialog surrounding these issues may be a big part of what holds these restrictions in place.

When looking into the technical and historical dimensions of our waste management system, themes of fear and disconnection from our what our bodies release is an underlying presence. It seems that those who are excited about composting toilets have different goals than the City and general public. Most people don’t want to think about their poop. They don’t want to see it, smell it, talk about it, or know where it goes. The flush system, and the large amount of money and resources that maintain it, allow a large amount of people to stay abstracted from the process. Those involved with composting toilet technologies have had to fight for the ability to implement this technology, and have had to be incredibly, intimately aware of and involved in the entire process within and beyond their bodies. This might sound like a nightmare to most, but in the Humanure Handbook, author Joseph Jenkins suggests that learning to recycle human excreta may in fact be the key to our spiritual salvation (1999). Dvorak states that "Part of my reasoning in choosing to research composting toilets is in order to come to a better appreciation of my own body and its many functions, rather than listening to what the corporate media tells me my body is for and how I should treat it” (2007).

Throughout my research, I was really amazed with the interconnections between the different actors in Portland related to alternative waste management. Recode emerged from the Tryon Creek Community Farm, ​ and​ was involved with assisting Lewis & Clark in getting their composting toilet approved. I began to see what a truly niche field I had wedged myself into. But I also began to see how the passion and excitement of these handful of actors could have ripple effects beyond this small circle. The work being done in Portland is creating models and structural opportunities for similar changes and developments throughout Oregon, and throughout the nation. Not only in relation to composting toilets and waste

management, but to all sorts of new technologies. None of this would be possible without the words and work of the people in touch with these processes.

Part of my intention for this project was to connect environmental analysis with rhetorical analysis. I wanted to look at the issues of our sewer system and see how this material is talked about and ​ not ​ talked about, to understand how did we got to using our current system and why waterless alternatives, like composting toilets aren’t widely used. Both our current sewer system and composting systems have limitations and advantages. I still cannot speak confidently about the technical functioning of composting toilets. I am still curious about the scale of their capacity as they currently function. Further research could look into the costs and capabilities of this technology to be implemented on large scales and even the possibility of being incorporated into municipal systems. But regardless of these facts, what Don said to me that rainy morning still echoes within me. This is not about technical limits; “it is a political limit”.

And I would even expand that to be a ​ rhetorical​ limit. When Portland needed to address CSOs, the conversation was within the paradigm of sewer systems. What if that same amount of thought, dialog, money, and energy was put into a waterless alternative?

This Zine is not meant to provide concrete solutions or incentives, but rather make this information accessible and spark conversation. If and how we talk about things influences if and how they manifest in our reality. How our personal, bodily processes relate and contribute to larger systems is something not many think about. Awareness of our personal bodily functions is a radical practice at this point in itself.

And even more radical, more daring, is sharing those insights with others.

Holding Space

In concluding her research, Dvorak said that she “learned that people really appreciate anyone who takes the time to think and write about shit, because so few of us are doing it.” She thought at first that no one would engage with her about this topic, but she ended up getting emails from all over the country from people wanting to learn more (including myself). When she finished her project, Dvorak’s friend Martin Schulk commented that, “the real work is not going to be in memorizing all of the facts and figures and trying to convince others of the science behind the issue. Rather, the real work is going to be in holding space for people to talk about their experiences, and to do so in a tactful and empowering way.”

In honor of Dvorak’s research, and the powerful work people are doing on the ground, I have curated stories and art related to poop, waste, bathrooms, and bodily functions from within and beyond my social network. I posted on my social media sites and around my campus the prompts included on the following page. The responses I got blew me away, and spoke to exactly what Dvorak found: people want to talk about this, but just need the space to do so. Everybody has a poop story, because everybody poops. I hope that the collection of art in the remainder of this zine sparks conservation and inspiration to talk about all sorts of things that aren’t easy or common to hear. Lastly, I leave you with some questions that Dvorak proposes, to perhaps further prompt investigation into your relationship to all this shit:

“what does it take to get people to start talking about the taboo topic of human excreta?

where is your watershed?

Where does your food come from?

Where does it go?

What is your bioregion?

Where is The Great Turning in your life?

Has it begun?

Does it involve relationships?

With people? Animals? Places? Stars? Water? Soil? Does it ever end?

Are you ready to dive into this wave of opportunity?

The waters of life need us.”

Thoughts on the Evolution of Perceptions of Human Waste in Urban China Travis Meng

The Chinese expression for pooping is 拉屎 (la shi). Having lived 12 years of my life in Beijing, I can say that one of the most notable differences between large cities in the U.S and China is the presence of human waste. Growing up in Beijing, it was common to see people spitting, urinating, and occasionally pooping in dense, crowded urban environments. I myself adopted some of these practices (with the exception of feces) and have to always be cautious (both socially and legally) about performing them in the U.S. I have not done any formal research into the topic, but I have a somewhat sociohistorical interpretation for why current perceptions of waste are the way they are in urban China. Also, I want to mention that the content of this text does not pertain to all Chinese people living in urban environments, but only from my experiences. Since there are so many people in China, if 0.001% of the population has a certain lifestyle practice, it can be easy to mistake that behavior as social consensus.

For some context, the subsistence agriculture peasant population in China is massive and is most likely 23x that of the entire population of the U.S. During the period of communist development in the midlate 20th century, the Chinese government essentially forfeited the educational and economic opportunities of 45 generations of this social class for faster economic growth. Since then, the migration of these rural workers into the cities has exponentially grown. Because of this, these workers from the countryside bring in different behaviors and morals to their apparently “more civilized” urban counterparts. I believe the stigma against human waste is less apparent in rural agricultural communities in China due to the recycling of human waste as fertilizer.

On a side note, my grandparents always tell me that manners in China deteriorated after the 1960’s. They tell me that the Cultural Revolution cultivated feelings of fear and the loss of communal care. No one trusted anyone because unlawfulness and resentment towards the loss of culture was not morally permissible or legally tolerated.

Behaving with the mannerisms that were culturally ingrained through many generations became condemned. Morality was becoming worn down and people became more selfish because of it. Many stopped caring about the public environment because it wasn’t their home.

Nowadays, the government does not see themselves as a basic service provider. Public restrooms are not well maintained and sewage drainages are managed locally for the most part. From my understanding it is not considered rude for children to relieve themselves in public areas. That being said, I have seen plenty of children urinating and sometimes even defecating. I don’t think it’s necessarily the most common practice, but it’s not definitely not controlled and stigmatized like it is in the U.S. Public spaces are traditionally treated with a level of indifference. Open crotch pants are popular with small children in the major cities of China. I think that human waste in urban parts of China are symptomatic of rapid change, where ideas of place become increasingly dynamic. Personally, I can see how urban planners and cities see this as a problem, but I associate the freedom of being able to excrete waste in public as a sign of home.

Toilet Samson Harman

My extension brings to the forefront a crude portrait of one of life’s most basic necessities: using the bathroom. This portable device comes at a moment when transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming people (particularly Black and brown trans feminine folks) are witnessing heightened violence in the forms of “bathroom bills” and an unprecedented number of murders. The toilet is taken out of context and presented as a protest, intended, quite literally, to allow someone to shit anywhere (giving public “sit­ins” a whole new meaning). Inspired by a tweet from Reina Gossett.

Untitled Submission Mika Mandeville

From the Restroom at the McDonald’s on the Corner of SW 6th and Main Isabelle Forstmann I catch my breath in the bathroom.

It is dank, slippery, and it’s peeling walls slant like fun-house corridors.

It is where junkies with hands like parched earth fumble with needles and oblivion.

It is where you don’t dare ask, “What’s that stain?” because the answer is sure to eclipse the most outrageous yields of imagination.

It is comforting to call it blood or guts and leave it at that.

A strange aroma permeates the whole joint.

I’m not sure if it denotes a juicy burger or dead flesh.

It is tinged with something sickly sweet like rotting fruit and you wouldn’t dare admit, It makes you hungry.

I catch my breath beneath golden arches.

This McDonalds is a house haunted by living specters.

Where those souls who dwell in the pedestrian’s blind spot, and vanish into the fabric of littered sidewalks stake their claim to visibility.

This is sanctuary for the homeless pilgrims in whose gaze, we’d rather not linger.

Just as we’d rather not meditate on our own excrement and name the unwanted products of our bodily functions: Waste.

This is the only democratic restroom for blocks.

Where everyone’s poop smells just as putrid

and through the crack in the stall door I watch a woman enter with an urge and swiftly exit with an upturned nose, so just to spite her, I make audible my relief and flush.

At home later that day, I am blinded by the glisten of bathroom tile.

A pristine palace, it’s character drowned by sterility and suddenly, I am unable to fathom why the chamber allocated to the repulsive juices of our corporeality is kept so meticulously neat.

I’ve heard that cleanliness is close to godliness, but I’m not so sure if we’ve gathered here today to worship my shit or my asshole.

"Imagine Our City Without Sewers" Molly Danielsson

Shitty Alaskan Memoir Caroline Gray

Â

Teaching a class on how to poop in the wilderness (LNT style). Prince William Sound

Shitting in paradise. Lecture Hall

Scouting my five-star poop spot. Mordor

Taking that dump. Perfect view. Chugach Range

In grizzly bear country, we had to poop in groups of four.

Waiting for Ben to finish up.

Tonsina Glacier

Ode to a Bolivian Toilet Haines Whitacre This may be the jungle where yellow bugs wait to get their daily meals and waterfalls hum through the night with you, but at daylight come cameras and park rangers without badges to watch the scattered trails and you have no choice but to negotiate the price of a bowel movement at the park gates.

The señora measures the paper around her palm and waits clucking with the chickens, just outside this door that will not lock.

But hell! Today there’s a seat and a waste basket, not just a cardboard box no mid-air squats.

Today you know better than to think about what spots stain the porcelain (or maybe it’s plastic), and you wore thick boots so you can forget what liquid puddles on the tile at your feet.

Tiles!

Ceramic, smooth like American Sunday mornings.

There are bananas hanging young in their trees just outside these lofted windows and red-striped serpents swimming under today’s waterfall, so why hold back?

You paid your two coins and who knows it might even flush.

So let loose and get back to that jungle outside!

Ina Enriquez

This is a poem that my brother once encountered written on the wall of a port-o-potty. He proceeded to memorize it and recite it to me. I then memorized it and carry it in my back pocket to share for a laugh whenever anything related to bathroom art happens to come up. Now I share it with you because it needs to be shared and possibly memorized by more:

Here I sit brokenhearted Tried to shit but only farted Went outside to take a chance Tried to fart and shit my pants Came back in to clean it up There's no TP So now I'm fucked

From ​ R.E.S.O.U.R.C.E. Reclaiming Everyone’s Soil: Opportunity to Understand Relational Cycles of Ecology Laura Dvorak

Title: Praying to the Porcelain God Author:​ ​ The Puzzler​ /​ ​ photo on flickr

Beyond Bowels: From (Mis)Diagnosis to Discovery Introduction

Everything in my life revolves around my poop. I mean everything. I know this zine has a wide array of poop related art and literature—from poo-etry to poo-llages I’m sure. And though I’d love to contribute to the fun, creative and outlandish nature of this bowel booklet via a lighthearted glitter glue submission saying “poop is life,” the purpose of this entry is one of confession, catharsis and communion—to those who do not know how to ask, do not know at all or are looking for more information related to the life-altering gravity of poo issues.

For the sake of the limited capacity of a zine and the inevitably longwinded nature of writing about my near fatal yet revelatory relationship to my digestive system, pelvic floor and bowel movements, I divide my entry into two sections: (Mis) Diagnosis and Holistic & Integrative Discovery. Whereas the first section discusses the terrifying yet eye opening journey through a broken biomedical system, the second section gives a glimpse into the possibility of healing that exists within the holistic and integrative medicinal realm.

(Mis) Diagnosis

I have been constipated for as long as I can remember. Suppositories, laxatives and a bit of bulimia colored my youthdom just as much as ditching middle school classes to huff whip cream cans, smoke weed and eat donuts.

I have also been riding my bike everywhere, dumpster diving food and not giving a literal shit for as long as I can recall. That said the repercussions of this combination of lifestyle choices and belief systems all hit me hard in the winter of 2013.

In short, the intermittent panic attacks and bouts of constipation I had throughout high school and the freshman year of college grew into a chronic itching burning and knife splitting sensation not just in my anus/rectum, but in my vaginal opening/vulvar region— something eventually diagnosed as “vulvodynia.” (This was all catalyzed after three months of pinworms went misdiagnosed and spread to my vagina —thank you inadequate L&C health center!).

Though I had finally got a diagnosis from the head of the vulvar clinic at OHSU (after 20 doctors in two states)—and having seen every kind of specialist at OHSU who couldn’t tell me shit except “it’s all in your head take a pill”—I was still told to take a fucking pill.

Apparently vulvodynia is not necessarily linked to constipation, or anything else in your life for that matter, except the fact that you’re a crazy bitch who needs to be on medication. So naturally I refused to accept that. So did my mom.

Holistic & Integrative Discovery

After nine months spent taking anti-depressants and sleeping with an ice pack between my labia, I found an integrative practitioner who specialized in Chinese medicine and hypnotherapy (and held a free clinic for activists in Oakland during the civil right era).

He was the same doctor who helped discover my mom’s autoimmune condition after she had been told by a slew of practitioners that “nothing was wrong” but rather she was “taking on too much” trying to have a law career and raise a family. Like me, she refused to accept that.

It was through this discovery of holistic and integrative medicine that I was finally instructed to conduct a series of CDSA tests, (fecal, blood and urine), that enabled me to be referred to a team of specialists: a nutritionist, endocrinologist, pelvic floor specialist and urologist. So what did I discover exactly?

My years of chronic constipation, long distance bicycling, chronic sitting (stress), and nutritional deficiencies from being a vegetarian nearly killed me. The nutritionist discovered that I had Dysbiosis (the digestive opposite of symbiosis), Leaky Gut (basically meaning the same thing, a malabsorption of food/nutrients and thus a dysfunctional digestive system), and Systemic Candida (a fungal overgrowth that basically makes me feel like I have a permanent yeast infection or what is often called “vaginitis”). My pelvic floor specialist and urologist discovered I had Pelvic floor Dysfunction (weak/spasming pelvic muscles) and Pudendal neuralgia, or what used to be called “Cyclists Syndrome” in the 1920’s, (pain of the pudendal nerve, the nerve that runs from the sacroiliac joint down through the entire pelvis area—and yes, genital pain very much included. Finally, my endocrinologist diagnosed me with Hashimotos hypothyroidism, (the dysfunction of my thyroid hormone—which controls/influences everything from energy/adrenal glands to metabolism/digestive health).

Since these discoveries (three years later), I have undergone a variety of different supplement treatments, diets and physical therapies including intra-vaginal/rectal work and biofeedback. All of these are to aid in digestion, gut motility and constipation, or in other words, to help me poop. And yes, they helped a lot. But I eventually became too dependent on the supplements and less active in maintaining a balanced diet and frequent PT work. Needless to say the supplements eventually lost their efficacy and my constipation and gut dysfunction returned—along with vaginal/rectal pain and sensitivity.

Luckily, Portland is a mecca for holistic and integrative medicine. I have since undergone a treatment for something called SIBO (small intestinal bacteria overgrowth).

By treating for SIBO with herbal antibiotics I am killing off the 100,000 bacteria colonies that I apparently have living in my gut, which have been the root cause of years of constipation, bloating and indigestion (the “normal” gut has only 100 different bacteria colonies).

This tiny tale of the past few years that I have been spending as a human guinea pig of health and healing is all to say that pooping every day saves my life. If you look up any of

the disorders that I mentioned, you will find that all are related to diet, stress and exercise in one way or another. If I have been eating the right foods in the right amount regularly, getting exercise and drinking plenty of water and I still don’t go to the bathroom for more than a day, I know something is wrong and I act accordingly. Though this submission has been a long winded way to say that I have learned that pooping is essential to wellness, I wanted to include these dirty details of my illness narrative to make this particular point: it is time that we start talking about our shit, or shit will hit the fan.

Model - Trevor Brand Photographer - Lex Shapiro When the going gets tough....Stanley, ID

From ​ An Unsolicited Design Review of Composting Toilets & Composting Methods Molly Danielsson

Untitled Submission Charlotte Copp Over the summer I work for the Appalachian Mountain Club in New Hampshire as a Backcountry Caretaker. I live in the White Mountains for 10 days at a time at a campsite on the Appalachian trail. I live several miles from any road and even farther from any town. Hikers come by every night to stay at my site and ask questions about the area. I also do trail maintenance during the day before the campsite fills up. But the most interesting part of my job is to compost the Privy that is in my campsite. Our privy systems are 100% sustainable!

Every day or two I have to "homogenize" the privy, meaning I grab a pitchfork and start turning the human poop that is in the collector (70gal bucket). I do this so the process of doing a "run" (a full emptying of the privy bucket) is easier. I stir for about 20 minutes in my full PPE procedure outfit, long sleeves, long pants, close-toed-shoes, and 1/2 arm neoprene gloves. There is a special technique that every caretaker masters during their summer of homogenizing: The Anti-Cone. When 20-30 people a day use the privy, the contents fall and create a cone shape. When I go to homogenize, I have to knock down the cone (being careful that all of the waste stays in the collector).

As I stir, I do my best to create a anti-cone, by pushing all of the poop to the sides of the collector all the way to the bottom of the bucket. Now, when new deposits are made, the poop can fill up the collector from the bottom again (instead of pouring over the sides and on to the ground).

So, what happens when the collector fills up and I can no longer dig an anti-cone? Well, let me tell you! At this time the 70 gallon collector is filled with about 80 galls of human waste, and I have to do a "Run." Caretakers usually do 3- 4 Runs a summer season. The process takes about 7 hours to complete and afterward every inch of your body aches.

The Run Step one​ :​ pulling out the full collector from underneath the privy. before you even touch the collector, you have to detach the black water draining pipe. any liquid that leaks from the collection of poop drains through this pipe to a filtering bucket which filters it clean and drains it back into the ground.

The collector is as full as possible which makes it as heavy as it would ever be.

You hold on the rim of the collector (while wearing neoprene gloves) and use your legs to push against the side of the privy. As you pull out the collector, sometimes a little jiggling side to side help to move it.

Step two​ :​ take off the neoprene gloves and grab the canvas bark bags. The bark is used to help the composting of the poop. "old bark" and "new bark" is used. The old bark is the bark that has already been through a Run, and the new bark are scraps from a lumbar yard.

Scoop (still with no poopy gloves on) several handfuls of old bark into the 3'X3' mixing bin (shown in photo 1895). Then scoop in the new bark (only about half

as much). Now it’s time to add the poop! With gloves on and pitchfork in hand, shovel an amount of poop that is the same as the new bark.

Step three​ :​ Chopping! Then with a shovel, or an ice chopper, break up the poop clumps and mix it well with the old and new bark. This is the part of the process where the more times you have done it, the better the result. For me, this step takes about 20 min per 1 scoop of poop. This part is also the most important, the poop clumps need to be as smooth as can be. The more broken up you get the clumps the easier the compost can break itself up, and the better the compost.

Step four​ :​ gather all of the contents from the mixing bin and toss it in the (empty) sitting bin #1. These bins are 3'X4' and 3' tall in the front and 4' tall in the back.

Step five​ :​ repeat steps two through four until the collector is empty!

Like I said before this process takes up a full day (if you are efficient), otherwise it can take up two days. (and don't forget to wash your hands every time you step away from the process for a water break or snack break).

There are three sitting bins total and each one has a slightly different purpose. Bin #1 is for the freshest, newly mixed compost. Bin #2 has the next newest compost, and Bin #3 has the oldest compost. There are also two sets of screens, made of chicken wire, which sit on top of a wooden frame.

Once the privy is filled again (roughly 1 month later), empty the contents of Bin #3 on the screens. this compost has been sitting in bins for 3-9 months (depending on what time of year it was first composted). But this time the compost is 100% safe to touch and is now a mixture of dirt and old bark. Using a rake, spread the dirt and bark from bin #3 over the screens until the majority of the dirt falls through. This process takes anywhere up to several weeks, because the dirt has to dry in order to get the majority of the dirt off of the bark. Then leave the old bark on top of the chicken wire uncovered by a tarp out in the sun to dry. The old bark must be dry before you bag it into the canvas bag. Now this bark can be reused for the next Run.

The dirt that falls through the screens is then shoveled into 5 gal. buckets and spread back into the woods, far from the campsite. This dirt is unrecognizable a year later Now you can move the contents of bin #2 to bin #3, and the newest compost (now a month-or-so old) in Bin #1 to Bin #2.

Surprise! There are some really cool mushrooms in Bin #1, and in the middle of this bin the compost has turned an ashy white color. That means the compost has done it's job.

The compost, within the first few days can heat itself up to over 130 degrees F. Caretakers take pride in their privy. It's a system that we can watch grow and evolve. My views of poop being really gross have changed dramatically ever since I learned how to make compost out of it.

Here is one photo of something cool I found written inside my privy:

“My toilet is God’s gift to me -What I do with it is my gift to GOD! ​ Complete the Cycle.​ ”

References

“A Solution to Sewage & Septic.” 2010. ​ Composting Toilet World​ .

http://compostingtoilet.org/compost_toilets_explained/a_solution_to_sewage_septic/index.php​ .

“Beneficial Reuse of Biogas.” 2016. ​ The City of Portland, Oregon | Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment

Plant​ . Accessed May 7. ​ https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/article/344953​ .

“Beneficial Reuse of Portland Biosolids.” 2016. ​ The City of Portland, Oregon | Columbia Boulevard Wastewater

Treatment Plant​ . Accessed March 2. ​ https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/article/41872​ .

“Combined Sewer Overflow Control.” 2016. ​ The City of Portland, Oregon​ . Accessed May 7.

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/31030​ .

Danielsson, Molly, and Mathew Lippincott. n.d. “An Unsolicited Design Review of Composting Toilets &

Composting Methods” ​ Cloacina. ​ Http://www.cloacina.org​ .

De Decker, Kris. 2010. “Recycling Animal and Human Dung Is the Key to Sustainable Farming.” ​ LOW­TECH MAGAZINE​ .

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/09/recycling­animal­and­human­dung­is­the­key­to­sustainable­farmi

ng.html​ .

Dvorak, Laura Kathryn. 2007. “Reclaiming Everyone’s Soil: Opportunity to Understand Relational Cycles of

Ecology.” Portland State University. ​ http://tryonfarm­org.cftvgy.org/share/files/RESOURCE­Dvorak.pdf​ .

“Evolution of Portland Wastewater Treatment.” 2016. ​ The City of Portland, Oregon | Columbia Boulevard

Wastewater Treatment Plant​ . Accessed March 2. ​ https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/article/41962​ .

Insider, Business. 2013 Mar. 29, 555 7, and 10. 2016. “INFOGRAPHIC: Why Portland May Be America’s Greenest City.” Business Insider. Accessed April 20.

http://www.businessinsider.com/portland­green­city­infographic­2013­3​ .

Jenkins, Joseph. 1999. “The Humanure Handbook.” ​ https://humanurehandbook.com/downloads/H2.pdf​ .

Lippincott, Mathew. 2012. “A Rough History of Sanitation in the West”. ​ PHLUSH​ . November 27.

http://www.phlush.org/2012/11/27/a­rough­history­of­sanitation­in­the­west/​ .

“Legalize Sustainable Sanitation.” 2015. ​ PHLUSH​ . July 27.

http://www.phlush.org/2015/07/27/legalize­sustainable­sanitation/​ .

Mirk, Sarah. 2010. “Take Your City and Shove It!” ​ Portland Mercury​ .

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/take­your­city­and­shove­it/Content?oid=2940842​ .

“Mission.” 2016. ​ The City Repair Project​ . Accessed May 7. ​ http://www.cityrepair.org/mission/​ .

“PHLUSH.” 2016. ​ PHLUSH​ . Accessed May 8. ​ http://www.phlush.org/​ .

“Problems with the Status Quo.” 2011. ​ PHLUSH​ . January 8.

http://www.phlush.org/ecological­sanitation/problems­with­the­status­quo/​ .

“Recode.” 2016. Accessed May 7. ​ http://www.recodenow.org/​ .

Shimer, Katie. 2002. “WHERE DOES MY POOP GO?” ​ Portland Mercury​ . December 24.

http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/where­does­my­poop­go/Content?oid=28160​ .

Stabler, David. 2012. “River of Sewage Flows from Sellwood to North Portland Treatment Plant Each Day.” OregonLive.com​ . February 25.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/02/river_of_sewage_flows_from_sel.html​ .

“Treatment Process.” 2016. ​ The City of Portland, Oregon | Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant​ .

Accessed March 2. ​ https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/article/40669.​

Resources

“Clivus Multrum, Inc.: Manufacturer of Composting Toilets and Greywater Systems since 1973.” 2016. Accessed

April 18. ​ http://www.clivusmultrum.com/​ .

“Commercial Composting Toilet at Lewis & Clark College.” 2016. ​ Northwest EcoBuilding Guild​ . Accessed February 22.

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