[Greenbuilding] re: Compost issues (Glass carboys)

[Speireag Alden]

Sgrìobh Robert Tom:

>Actually, as mentioned, been there, done that.
>(For about three years).
>
>Except that instead of pooping into a bucket, it was a porta-potty.
>
>All the same features of pooping into a 5 gallon plastic bucket and 
>tossing on some sawdust, but with refinements to separation of storage 
>  from user space. (ie a built-in blast gate)

     I have used a sawdust bucket and a Sun-Mar Excel.  The latter now 
gathers dust until I can box it up and ship it to anyone who wants 
it.  Unfortunately, it's a non-standard size, and so that's a chore, 
and I haven't done it yet.

     I think that the two are as different as guppies and elk.

     One of the things which separates the two, in actual operation, 
is the fact that in the sawdust bucket, the sawdust actually covers 
everything and prevents almost all odor.  Very much not so in the 
Sun-Mar, an outhouse, a porta-potty, or any other device where the 
sawdust is thrown in, willy-nilly, rather than placed carefully on 
the most recent deposit.

     The compost in the pile is also covered completely in straw.  No 
odor, except a small amount when adding bucket contents to pile, and 
that odor for some reason far less unpleasant than that which is just 
now fresh from a human.

>Glass is, a step up from glazed porcelain and IMO, an improvement upon a
>plastic bucket.

     Maybe.  I haven't actually tried it.  But I'll keep my re-used 
plastic.  I'm physically very able (thank heaven):  6'2", in 
generally good shape, and I can bench-press my body weight.  Even so, 
a five-gallon bucket filled most of the way with urine and feces is 
an unwieldy load.  And it's a load I emphatically don't want to 
spill.  Adding the weight and fragility of glass is not an idea which 
enchants.

-Speireag.

-- 
A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true 
value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary 
pain.
--Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)