Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
1–10 of 49 posts
Re: Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
#2What happens to the leftover content after the methane is extracted?
Can it be used as a manure or is it safe to be dumped underground or in rivers?
Re: Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
#3What a "shitty" topic to talk about, shall we?
I am happy to see a growing number of headlines about "rethinking" human waste management at any scale. Flushing toilets with potable water seems just very wrong, and a luxury I always thought western societies can afford only.*
The system that the article describes is a funny one, or at least is sold with humor ("get paid as you poop"). Apart from the technology itself, I think a good amount of being easygoing on the topic is important here: as how sex sells clothing, fart jokes sell novel feces-recycling systems!
Another example (no affiliation) is Kompotoi here in Switzerland:
https://www.kompotoi.ch/ (English available)
I was honored to do a particular type of business on these $5.000 toilets in the Swiss alps at 6.500ft, and admittedly felt like a king sitting on the throne of recycling!
Bottom line: drinkingwater-flushed toilets are not sustainable, nor accessible/affordable for the majority of the world, so let's stop being ignorant and seek for solutions.
Happy pooping!
* disclaimer: I grew up in Eastern European countryside, with no daily access to water flush toilets until I was around 8yo
Re: Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
#4What a "shitty" topic to talk about, shall we? I am happy to see a growing number of headlines about "rethinking" human waste management at any scale. Flushing toilets with potable water seems just very wrong, and a luxury I always thought western societies can afford only.* The system that the article describes is a funny one, or at least is sold with humor ("get paid as you poop"). Apart from the technology itself,…
There are plenty of places around the world with western style toilets but flushed with rainwater or recycled washing machine/shower water instead. That seems like a fairly sustainable solution that already works?
Re: Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
#5What happens to the leftover content after the methane is extracted? Can it be used as a manure or is it safe to be dumped underground or in rivers?
Excellent manure, feedstock for compost. Still too toxic for dumping into rivers.
Re: Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
#6What happens to the leftover content after the methane is extracted? Can it be used as a manure or is it safe to be dumped underground or in rivers?
I'm pretty there are all sort of health issues in using human sewage as compost. Look at North Korea for an example of that.
Re: Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
#7What a "shitty" topic to talk about, shall we? I am happy to see a growing number of headlines about "rethinking" human waste management at any scale. Flushing toilets with potable water seems just very wrong, and a luxury I always thought western societies can afford only.* The system that the article describes is a funny one, or at least is sold with humor ("get paid as you poop"). Apart from the technology itself,…
> Flushing toilets with potable water seems just very wrong, and a luxury I always thought western societies can afford only.
I assume the cost and potentially even environmental impact of reusing existing potable water infrastructure to provide water for toilet-flushing is much less than manufacturing, installing & maintaining separate local systems (to collect rainwater, etc) for this purpose.
Re: Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
#8What a "shitty" topic to talk about, shall we? I am happy to see a growing number of headlines about "rethinking" human waste management at any scale. Flushing toilets with potable water seems just very wrong, and a luxury I always thought western societies can afford only.* The system that the article describes is a funny one, or at least is sold with humor ("get paid as you poop"). Apart from the technology itself,…
> Flushing toilets with potable water seems just very wrong, and a luxury I always thought western societies can afford only. I assume the cost and potentially even environmental impact of reusing existing potable water infrastructure to provide water for toilet-flushing is much less than manufacturing, installing & maintaining separate local systems (to collect rainwater, etc) for this purpose.
Depends how much water costs; in the UK water is cheap compared to the cost of a plumber, but the UK is famously moist. I wouldn’t be surprised if plenty of more arid environments would find the cost going the other way, and preferring some combination of rainwater collection, greywater reuse, or non-water-based toilets.
Re: Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
#9Re: Reimagined toilets at a South Korea university transform human waste into biogas
#10What happens to the leftover content after the methane is extracted? Can it be used as a manure or is it safe to be dumped underground or in rivers?
I'm pretty there are all sort of health issues in using human sewage as compost. Look at North Korea for an example of that.
North Korea is also terrible example about having government at all.
IIRC the problem was that they were using improperly treated waste.