A little bit of poop can assimilate into land without any big issue; but at these quantities, there is an elevated risk of contaminating water, attracting vectors, and eventually ingesting excrement by bacteria, parasites, worms, and viruses. And while urine is generally considered sterile, it is easily contaminated by feces. Urine is also rich in nutrient, which makes it a good fertilizer. However, with the average adult discharging at least one liter of urine per day, peeing directly into the ground could cause nutrient imbalances in the soil.
Where toilet facilities don’t exist, human waste can be managed on an individual scale, either by collecting and disposing of it where it can be contained. It is often referred to as packing it out, or by dispensing of it in situ in the most sanitary manner possible.
The following is a menu reviewing the available techniques and products. A few conscientious trekkers and travel agents have already introduced a few to Nepal, risking revulsion, alarm, or bizarre stares from their fellow sojourners. More of those in the hospitality business should consider these options and set the standard for traceless tourism, especially in the high Himalaya and areas where the terrain precludes construction of permanent toilets.
Of course, burying or packing-out systems should not be taken as an answer to improving access to sanitation. Also, by primarily centering on collection of human waste, this should not overshadow the urgent need for coincident treatment and recovery of human waste.
CATHOLES
A cathole, or digging a pit into the ground, is a solution for low density sites that are at least 60 meters away from a water source and receive reasonable sunlight. Catholes are simple, except the proper method must be followed in order to optimize decomposition of feces. This means digging a 20cm hole into the ground, making your deposit, stirring it in the soil, and refilling the hole with the original dirt. Eventually the stool should become soil.
SMEARING
Smearing is exactly as it sounds. It involves spreading feces over a larger surface area on rock or snow. Studies have shown that in alpine and arid zones, this method kills all fecal bacteria within three months. However, it is not a recommended solution as it in/advertently exposes animals and humans to infectious microorganisms, and it has not been tested for fecal viruses and protozoa, which could survive in more limited captive conditions.
HUMAN WASTE PACK-OUT SYSTEMS
Packing out human waste is a sanitary and acknowledged practice in many national parks and wilderness areas in the United States. Essentially, the ubiquitously unexploited plastic bag or home-grown bagging options are adequate vectors for carrying human waste to where the infrastructure can account for it. Nevertheless, technology and market incentives have led to an alchemizing of advanced prototypes of the poo bag. The Biffy Bag designed a large, green, funnel-shaped bag that ties around the waste like a diaper. Cleanwaste’s Wag Bag is easier to use when inserted into a hard-shell commode or bucket, in line with their motto, “When plumbing’s not available.” Both bags will biodegrade in about six months. Each bag comes with special powder or gel that solidifies and deodorizes and decomposes waste to various degrees, and comes with a larger transport receptacle.
CONTAINERS
For sturdier collection, bucket-shaped commodes or portable toilets can be used with disposable bags. Some prefer to poop directly into the tank, later disposing of the waste, and washing and reusing the container. These come in various shapes – cubed, rectangular, and cylindrical – and with various luxuries – toilet seats, yielding cushioning, carrying straps – and generally allow for a seated experience. The entertainingly-named Boombox or Ammo-Box alludes to a critical issue when using this system – if not properly pressurized or treated with chemicals, methane gas from human waste could belch the lid out and bring about an unfortunate explosion.
URINE CARRYOUT
Pouring water over the urination spot is sometimes recommended to dilute excess nutrient contribution to soil. Another alternative is to pack it out. Restop has designed an urination bag with a one-way valve filled with deodorizing agent and super-absorbent polymers that can absorb upto half a liter of urine. The similarly-sized Cleanwaste Pee-Wee also contains a gelling and deodorizing agent, with the added advantage of being fully biodegradable.
For women who would rather not squat and expose themselves, a versatile new product has been designed. GoGirl is a silicone cone that allows females to siphon urine out while standing, thus taking advantage of their pants’ discreet up-and-down zip.
CONCLUSION
Nepal’s tourism industry should account for environmental impacts in its credits. Unfortunately, these products are quite expensive even if bought in bulk, and most must be transported from abroad. At two to four dollars per poo bag, plus shipping and handling, the incentives to buy them are slim.
However, there is ample room for use of indigenous inventions and materials to develop cheaper versions of these products. However be it, but that an out of sight and out of mind mentality will eventually face an unwilling reality cannot be avoided.
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