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Airports Had to Deal With Over 2B Litres of Airplane Toilet Waste in 2019

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Re: Airports Had to Deal With Over 2B Litres of Airplane Toilet Waste in 2019

#41

Post by bcrosby95 »

mattmaroon wrote: post #20
iamgopal wrote: post #16

That is just 2B. A simple STP plant can handle this. Not every billion is a big number. Edit : Writer of the article also thinks that.

That’s true, my small city processes the waste from over a million people (they provide sewer to the suburbs) every day which is about the same as the number of Americans who fly. Plus they process all the other water that goes down the sewer from showering, laundry, etc. So just one small city is probably processing much more than all the planes in the country combined.

And people actively avoid using airplane toilets, so airplane usage would be even lower.

Re: Airports Had to Deal With Over 2B Litres of Airplane Toilet Waste in 2019

#42

Post by Brave-Steak »

S_A_P wrote: post #39

I like articles like this that encourage you to think about details that are often missed when it comes to making everyday life run smoothly. I also get that it makes sense to time box it to a year to give a sense of scale to the problem. However the headline is written in a click bait-ey way that rubs me the wrong way. I know you gotta do it for the clicks and all, but I think we need to find a better way to capture…

No post body was provided.

Re: Airports Had to Deal With Over 2B Litres of Airplane Toilet Waste in 2019

#44

Post by bluGill »

mschuster91 wrote: post #14
fortran77 wrote: post #8

Solution: Pay toilets in the coach cabin.

That has the downside that a penny-pinching passenger might attempt to "hold it in" and then, shocked by a turbulence, involuntarily ejecting what was "held back"... leading to the plane needing an extra cleaning or being taken out of service. There's a reason why even Ryanair, otherwise the leader in borderline unethical airline behavior, quietly buried their 2010 attempt to introduce a loo charge [1]. [1]: https://…

I'm reasonably certain Ryanair was never serious about that. They like to make outrageous announcements anytime they think they are not getting enough attention for being the cheap airline.

Re: Airports Had to Deal With Over 2B Litres of Airplane Toilet Waste in 2019

#46

Post by 11235813213455 »

ravenstine wrote: post #25

I haven't had to take a dump on an airplane in years. My rule is to eat and drink as little as possible before a flight, ideally not eating at all. If I do eat, hopefully it's high protein and low in fiber. As a result I usually don't need to use the lavatory, which is nice because it has made me much less apprehensive about getting a window seat. I wish more people had this mindset. On so many flights I've had, seem…

I can't even understand why people are eating/drinking in planes, I haven't take a flight since several years but usually you've a bit of adrenaline, thus no hunger

Re: Airports Had to Deal With Over 2B Litres of Airplane Toilet Waste in 2019

#47

Post by storyinmemo »

11235813213455 wrote: post #46
ravenstine wrote: post #25

I haven't had to take a dump on an airplane in years. My rule is to eat and drink as little as possible before a flight, ideally not eating at all. If I do eat, hopefully it's high protein and low in fiber. As a result I usually don't need to use the lavatory, which is nice because it has made me much less apprehensive about getting a window seat. I wish more people had this mindset. On so many flights I've had, seem…

I can't even understand why people are eating/drinking in planes, I haven't take a flight since several years but usually you've a bit of adrenaline, thus no hunger

I fly small planes and I'm usually into a snack bar before I level off. I do try to make one liter of water last the whole flight, though, which can be up to 5 hours.

Re: Airports Had to Deal With Over 2B Litres of Airplane Toilet Waste in 2019

#48

Post by dehrmann »

josefx wrote: post #3

The total capacity is 1135 litres, how much safety margin does the tank have build in and how would an almost full tank affect flight behavior?

> how would an almost full tank affect flight behavior?

747s can fly with an extra engine under the wing. Compared to that, a full waste tank is nothing.

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/roo-tales/that-time-when-w...

Re: Airports Had to Deal With Over 2B Litres of Airplane Toilet Waste in 2019

#49

Post by dehrmann »

mschuster91 wrote: post #14
fortran77 wrote: post #8

Solution: Pay toilets in the coach cabin.

That has the downside that a penny-pinching passenger might attempt to "hold it in" and then, shocked by a turbulence, involuntarily ejecting what was "held back"... leading to the plane needing an extra cleaning or being taken out of service. There's a reason why even Ryanair, otherwise the leader in borderline unethical airline behavior, quietly buried their 2010 attempt to introduce a loo charge [1]. [1]: https://…

I disagree that they're unethical. The deal you get with Ryanair is the ticket is as cheap as possible, then they nickel and dime you. A lot of people want that. A lot of people want better service, and they can go with a legacy carrier.

Re: Airports Had to Deal With Over 2B Litres of Airplane Toilet Waste in 2019

#50

Post by supernova87a »

I would suggest that this is actually more efficient.

When people use the toilet on planes, the design of the toilets uses so much less water than a toilet on the ground, in the airport, and how much a flush of water takes.

So if you assume that people were going to use the bathroom regardless, they just saved the processing of a lot of water by doing it on the plane. Probably ounces versus gallons. (~100 mL vs. 1-2 L)

(parenthetical note, sometimes I wonder if a vacuum toilet would become available for home use, it's so effective!)

Now certainly, flying around to use the bathroom used up a lot more energy, but regardless... Also, you might ask whether people tend to drink more than average because they're offered drinks on a plane.

I used to wonder, considering the hundreds of pounds of water/soda/etc loaded on a plane, as people drink and consume it all, wouldn't it be efficient for the plane to dump that water in flight and save the weight and extend the range. Turns out (of course) that is so negligible compared to the overall weight of the plane...

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