Taking the 'waste' out of human waste

Recycling project creates compost that gardeners can use, while conserving water

November 03, 2010|By Lauren R. Harrison, Special to the Tribune

We do it every day.

But how many of us think about what happens after we pull the toilet lever?

Increasingly, people in Chicago and across the world are. They're questioning the sustainability of a system built on using clean water and a lot of energy to process waste, and reimagining the possibilities for what we flush away.

Call it taking the "waste" out of human waste — a movement that includes transforming sewage sludge into fuel, heating buildings with it, using composting toilets to produce fertilizer. It all adds up to a major point: Change is on the horizon, even if that horizon seems far away.

The United States used about 410 billion gallons of water each day in 2005, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report. More than 30 percent of those gallons flush our toilets, which we do five times a day on average, according to the nonprofit American Water Works Association and its Research Foundation in Denver.

Dick Lanyon, executive director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, said it costs $747 per million gallons to treat the water. The district serves 5.25 million people.

Added Reed Dring, operations manager for Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, blowers have to pump almost 500,000 cubic feet of air per minute using 20,000 horsepower. "That takes a lot of energy," Dring said. "Our monthly electric bill is $1.8 million."

Though the plant offsets some of its costs by using methane gas generated by sewage sludge to heat its buildings, receiving less water would make the job easier, Dring said. "The less (wastewater) to pump, the less motors I have to run."

Rose George, author of "The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters," said one of the problems with the current sanitation model, one she and others believe is unsustainable, is thinking of "human waste as waste and not a resource."

That's part of the reason Little Village resident Nance Klehm, 44, who calls herself a "bio-instigator," started a human waste composting project in the spring of 2008, dubbed Humble Pile. Twenty-two people signed on, each using a five-gallon bucket for three months. Sawdust was used to prevent odors and help break down the material.

Bob Sandusky, 52, who took part in the project with his wife, Lora Lode, 49, and their two children, was shocked at how "clean" the composting toilet was. "It wasn't really stinky," said Sandusky, who lives in Logan Square. "What you could smell was the sawdust, actually."

The contents were then transferred to 32-gallon bins, which Klehm picked up when full and transported to a secret location to compost.

Lode said she recently added the compost to her already established bed of anemone, hosta, hydrangea, spirea, allium and other perennials. The bed with composted soil seemed to be healthy, she said.

"I have been composting kitchen veggie scraps for about 20 years and this looks the same. I did not have any reservations about using this compost."

In August, Klehm returned portions of the 1,500 gallons of collected material to the contributors for gardening or growing vegetables. "Everything that I'm trying to do is to connect people to the land that supports them, from literally under their feet to providing oxygen and food," Klehm said.

Sayre Vickers, 34, has "used it to top dress several plants including an apple tree seedling, some tomatoes, and a citronella plant." He has noticed "no difference in taste, and I'm feeling great."

Vickers, of Garfield Park on Chicago's West Side, said he has no reservations about using the soil, "though I would let folks know that food was grown in it before I served the food to them.  Just in case they have a different comfort level with it than I do."

Todd Allen, 46, of the Northwest Side Avondale neighborhood, has used the compost on ornamental beds. "The plants are doing well. The compost has only been down for a couple months and the plants were well established, so as expected there's been no dramatic changes. Next spring the compost will be more fully integrated into the soil and the new growth should benefit."

Morgen Alexander-Young, 32, and her husband, Dorian Breuer, 38, said they have not used the compost yet. But next growing season the couple plan to create a garden outside their McKinley Park home on the Southwest Side.

Jennifer Hoyle, spokeswoman for the city's law department, said, "Composting human waste is not prohibited by the municipal code, so the use of that material that is composted is not illegal. But there are many regulations regarding how composting should be done."

She added, "The fact that the material that they're composting is not prohibited does not necessarily mean that it's legal. If the procedures that they've followed are not in compliance with municipal code and state law, then they could be cited for violating both the state and municipal code."