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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| From the 7th Annual Toilet Summit: Our friend Human Waste |
| 2007-10-16 |
| A cheap system to recycle human waste into biogas and fertiliser may allow 2.6 billion people in the world access to toilets and reduce global warming, an Indian environmental expert said Tuesday. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, said his group plans to push the system at the seventh annual World Toilet Summit [bet the first 6 summits weren't as interesting], to be held in New Delhi at the end of October. The organisation is dedicated to providing toilets to nearly 730 million people in India who lack them. |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #3 Any kind of toilet system would significantly reduce waste-borne diseases in India and the third/fourth world. Even without recycling, merely sequestering the waste and keeping it from drying to contaminated dust that settles everywhere would make a difference. 40+ years ago my father had a hell of a time convincing one Indian village's locals that concentrating the poop in one place (with proper leaching, etc. of course) was healthier than going randomly in the fields. No amount of evidence seemed enough to refute their "logic". They all passively resisted digging the first latrines until my dad picked up pick and shovel and started digging it himself. They quickly began falling all over themselves to prevent sahib from doing work that was beneath him. Eventually the idea caught on and people began using it when that saw that the damn thing really worked. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-10-16 17:37 |
| #2 To bad s**t doesn't flow uphill, or the most cost-effective system of disposing of India's human waste would be to pipeline it directly to Pakistan. You get rid of the waste in the most necessary part of the world for it. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-10-16 16:02 |
| #1 Any kind of toilet system would significantly reduce waste-borne diseases in India and the third/fourth world. Even without recycling, merely sequestering the waste and keeping it from drying to contaminated dust that settles everywhere would make a difference. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-10-16 14:02 |