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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

#31

Post by jmclnx »

fortran77 wrote: post #8

Solution: Pay toilets in the coach cabin.

Do not give them any ideas, flying is miserable enough as it is. But here is another idea which maybe Airlines can do to make flying even more horrendous.

Eliminate the bathrooms and make everyone wear Depends. I would not be surprised this happens. The bathrooms could be replaced with a few seats and they save money by forcing people to clean up themselves :)

I now refuse to fly, I would rather drive or take a train or even a bus. Of course with covid driving is probably the better option if you can spare the time.

Of course I heard many people now drive instead of fly, which is making medium travel distances (say under 1000 miles) not enjoyable. Never mind the CO2 being pumped out.

Again the US needs a good public transportation system, which of course will never happen. If pols just stop talking about this, it would probably lower CO2 emissions from all their hot air they are expelling.

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

#32

Post by benbristow »

manarth wrote: post #30
benbristow wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another reason could be due to smokers. There's a reason toilets on airplanes still legally need to have an ashtray - there's still people who are willing to break the rules to have a fix so it's safer to at least provide somewhere safe to put a cigarette out. Charging for the toilet could just encourage those same people to light-up in the main cabin.

Surely the premise for "smoking in the toilet" is the possibility of not getting caught (hence dedicated detectors in most airplane toilets). Smoking in the main cabin would make them much more easier to identify, stop, and convict, no?

True. Addiction works in mysterious ways though.

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

#33

Post by notahacker »

lmilcin wrote: post #6
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?

First of all, all that pee is on the plane when it lifts off, in one form or another. The only thing that changes is distribution of mass (depending on where the tank is and where they keep bottles with drinks). A tonne of pee gathered from all over the plane is most likely less effect than 3-4 people moving from one end to another end of the plane. So a stewardess with help and a cart. Second, pilots can trim the pl…

I imagine they have less than 1135 litres of beverages on board, which helps. Also 40k litres of fuel, much of which gets used up over the course of the flight...

On a related note, although the tanks can't be intentionally discharged in mid flight, airline sewage systems do occasionally leak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_ice_(aviation)

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

#34

Post by astrea »

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…

One could also consider that not everyone is in the healthiest state due to illness or chronic disease and not just immediately assume moral failing.

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

#35

Post by toast0 »

lmilcin wrote: post #6
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?

First of all, all that pee is on the plane when it lifts off, in one form or another. The only thing that changes is distribution of mass (depending on where the tank is and where they keep bottles with drinks). A tonne of pee gathered from all over the plane is most likely less effect than 3-4 people moving from one end to another end of the plane. So a stewardess with help and a cart. Second, pilots can trim the pl…

> Third, no safety margin is needed here because this is not a safety problem.

Sewage overflow is certainly a safety problem. Just health safety though, not flight safety.

1.7L per passenger is a large volume of excretions, but flight operations may require multiple flights before emptying the tank, especially if there's a problem with the emptying equipment at some airport. Would a failure to empty the tank prevent a plane from taking off? Probably only if the remaining capacity is likely to be insufficient.

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

#36

Post by noodlesUK »

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 get this for short haul flights, but I can’t imagine not having to pee over the course of a >12h flight…

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

#37

Post by throwawayboise »

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…

Holding back on food is fine, but you should try to stay adequately hydrated while flying, especially longer flights where you may be more susceptible to deep vein blood clots.

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

#38

Post by Broken_Hippo »

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…

* My only explanation is that they're overnourished on the Standard American Diet. Imagine how much less waste would have to be pumped out of airplanes.*

A lot of folks poop on a schedule: Making sure you don't poop on the plane might very well involve adjusting food for a few days before a flight, depending on how often you poop. Some folks poop multiple times a day, some folks poop a few times a week. Some women poop more during their monthly cycle, too - which, by the way, does not happen at the same time every month nor do you always have notice.

You'd be able to eat not too long before the flight, though, if you are healthy simply because most folks don't process food too terribly fast (but the timing varies). Adjusting what you eat for days just isn't worth it, and not everyone can do this.

Also, not everyone on the flight is going to be American, but the chances are higher if you are taking in-country flights in the US. I personally don't encounter many Americans on flights - I'm often the only one. But then again, I don't live in the US either.

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

#39

Post by S_A_P »

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 the attention of readers.

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

#40

Post by markus_zhang »

Sebb767 wrote: post #4
markus_zhang wrote: post #2

I wonder if it has enough liquid to cause a tank overflow. Let's say just dump drinking water into the tank...

It seems very likely to me that they carry more than 1L of fluid per passenger, plus there's also the crew. So yes, they could :) Of course, if they dump all their drinking water, it'll be hard to reach the maximum pee capacity per passenger. But you could always resort to dumping food.

I'm thinking about the alcohol and soft drinks on plane. But maybe they don't have much on board.
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