Maya Creek Ecovillage

The Waste Plan

Ideally an ecologically sustainable lifestyle would produce no waste whatsoever. We aren't sure if we will ever get there, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't aim for it. Most "waste" actually has value and can be put to some sort of use or recycled. The following are how we intend to put our "waste" to use.

Humanure

When animals eat food we actually only absorb 10% of the energy within that food. The rest of the energy and nutrients are expelled. This is a huge waste of resources and one that the modern world has dealt with poorly.

18% of the people on the planet do not have access to safe drinking water. In fact 6,000 people, mostly children, die of water-borne illnesses every day. In the United States drinking water is plentiful. In fact, it is so plentiful we actually urinate and defecate in safe drinking water and then flush it away with more drinking water. It's actually very insulting to the billion+ without safe water.

The urine and feces which are high in all kinds of nutrients are considered to be useless in this paradigm. By putting them into the water system they do in fact become pollutants, but this does not need to be the case. At Plan B we will use dry composting toilets.

At it's simplest system can be a 5 gallon bucket and a pile of sawdust or some other kind of dry carbon-rich material to keep the overall compost from getting too wet. When the bucket is full it is emptied onto a larger compost pile to "cook" for at least a year. The heat generated from the decomposition is enough to kill harmful bacteria if maintained properly and it is quite forgiving. If there is any doubt, the compost pile can sit an additional year before being used.

Even though it has been proven many times over to be safe many people are still cautious of humanure and using it on vegetables. If people are scared they can simply use the humanure on non-edible plants or on fruit trees where the fruit does not come in contact with the fruit.

More elaborate composting toilets are available, but they work on the same principles. We will likely build a nice wooden covering for our bucket as well as a more attractive container for the sawdust. Smell is often a worry for those new to composting toilets, but as long as there are regular applications of sawdust to keep everything dry there is virtually no smell and it attracts no flies.

The best book that we've found on this is the "The Humanure Handbook" which is available free on-line.

Greywater

Greywater is simply water that has been used but does not have any feces or toxic chemicals in it. Because we will be using composting toilets this means all water in our home will be greywater. Greywater can be reused in the garden as long as it does not contain any harmful chemicals. This means that we must be more concious about the things that go down our drain. Some of the common chemicals that must be avoided are:

• Bleach
• Drain-cleaner
• Greases and oils
• Dye
• Salts
• Laundry detergents with phosphates and salts
• Anything with a non-neutral pH

This website has a more detailed list and explains why these chemicals should not be used because of the different impacts they will have in the garden.

Compost

It is probably clear by now that we will be making compost from our other organic waste. Composting material is simply a way of accelerating the natural process of decomposition by giving microbes the best ratio of carbon to nitrogen and a cozy place to work.

Composting and humanure help close the nutrient cycle so that we these valuable resources do not leave the productivity of our land. In fact these processes will dramatically improve the soil structure of the land, but if we decide to sell or give away parts of our harvest we will need to replace those nutrients with another source to avoid the slow degredation of our soil. We will also likely want to increase those nutrient levels at least intitially by bringing in nutrients from outside such as manure from well-fed cattle or horses.

We will also likely have at least a few animals on the property whose manure will add to the nutrient cycle if we purchase high-quality feed for them. The manure can also serve a double purpose by being further digested with a biodigester to produce cooking gas for us. After going through a biodigester the manure is still excellent for composting, if not better.

Recycling

We will expect members to actively buy products with minimal packaging or packaging that can be recycled. Ideally we will buy most of our good locally and need no packaging whatsoever. While recycling is an excellent method for reducing waste, it is still an energy intensive process and so no packaging is still the better option.

Packaging may not be the only waste product. Simply buying things that are made of organic or recycleable material compared to products that aren't is a useful change. A plastic product versus an equivalent wooden or metal one has very little useful life if it can not be reused or repaired.