[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Re: Sawdust for Composters

Fri Nov 2 11:58:50 EDT 2007

Your vocablulary lessons are littered with truthful nuggets [pun intended] and will provide much fodder [ducks, runs] for further thought.  

I didn't really know a better term for the stuff you throw into the compost toilet bin, litter sounds pretty good.  I hope the uninitiated don't get it mixed up with the kind of litter that consists of cans, bottles, and waste paper, which would totally be the wrong idea.  

Lawrence Lile, PE, LEED AP
Project Solutions Engineering

-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of YankeePerm at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 2:06 PM
To: greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
Subject: [BULK] Re: [Greenbuilding] Sawdust for Composters
Importance: Low

A vocabulary issue here.   Sawdust can be used as mulch, but it isn't mulch 
if used for composting.   Mulch is any material or even certain living plants 
that provide a protective covering to the soil.   If you spread a layer of 
sawdust over the soil, it is mulch.   You were making mulch when you left the 
sawdust in the woodlot, and probably you are damaging your woodlot when you remove 
it.

The correct term for material applied to a compost toilet is litter.   The 
finished product is, of course, compost.   

As pointed out, sawdust is not universally available.   Grass clippings, 
chopped straw, ground corn cobs, and various forms of landscape waste are suitable 
for litter for all sorts of livestock, including people. We use the palm 
fronds that the sabal palms shed because they go through our chipper-shredder 
readily and are excellent soil building materials when composted.   If the petiole 
is sound, I just shred the leaf and save the petiole for fire starting.   
I've run red cedar through the chipper shredder when I wanted to deter insects 
from breeding in the litter.   In our chicken coop, of course, the more insects 
the litter attracts, the happier we (and our chickens) are.   

Anyway, the distinctions between mulch, litter, and compostables in general 
are simple enough.   We ought to observe them to avoid confusion.   You don't 
want people mulching with the material generated in their composting toilet!

Dan Hemenway
In a message dated 10/30/07 7:48:10 AM, LLile at projsolco.com writes:

> 
> Sawdust is one of the best mulches for composting toilets, in my
> experience.  Other things will work, like ground up leaves or dried
> grass clippings, but sawdust seems to really do the trick.  Not everyone
> has access to a big pile of sawdust.
> 
> I was cutting some firewood yesterday, and realized how much sawdust I
> was generating in the process.  I happened to be sawing some logs in
> half, where they were stacked on my front porch, because the source we
> got the wood from had sawed them nearly 3 feet long. I swept up the
> sawdust, and was flabbergasted at how much was produced.  One thankful
> of gas in the saw produced a 5 gallon bucket of sawdust! (It's a Stihl,
> A.K.A. a Real chainsaw, and the chain is correctly sharpened, your
> mileage may vary if you are using inferior substitutes) 
> 
> So I've started to modify my woodcutting practices.  Formerly, I always
> cut all the logs to length in the field, where the sawdust is
> essentially uncollectible.   Now, I cut logs into 4 or 6 foot lengths in
> the field, toss them on the truck, then buck them to length in the yard
> over a piece of plywood and a plastic sheet.  This has the extra
> advantage of saving my back: I flip an old wheelbarrow upside down, and
> use it for a sawbuck, sawing at thigh level instead of on the ground
> like you do in the field.  Once I'm done, I fold up the plastic and dump
> the sawdust in a spare 50 gallon drum.  Voila! I am my own sawmill.  The
> sawdust is also drier than the sawdust we get from an outdoor pile at
> the local sawmill, which is an advantage in a composter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lawrence Lile, PE, LEED AP
> Project Solutions Engineering
> 
> 

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