[This message has been edited by Hudini (edited 03-12-2020).]

quote Originally posted by maryjane: City Boy...

Hold on there, Farm Boy...

I'll have you know that I've had plenty of experience using an outhouse, and the paper just goes down the hole along with everything else. No muss, no fuss.

And here's the view from that aforementioned outhouse. Gawd, I love those trees!




But (butt?) back to the septic system... I've known several people living in rural areas just outside of Vancouver, and they simply flushed the TP. That's why I was surprised that you didn't.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 03-13-2020).]

An outhouse is a lot different than an indoor toilet that empties into facility that can't handle paper. We had an outhouse at a weekend home we had many decades ago. Had an awful smell to it, you could see the maggots down below and ya had to beat the spiders and wasps off before you sat down and hoped there wasn't a venomous serpent coiled up in the corner.
In Vietnam, we had 'multi-hole' outhouses. The poop fell into 1/2 55 gallon drums and about every other day, someone would have to come along with a truck, drag out the cut drums full of feces and pour about 4 gallons of diesel in the drum and set it afire. Had to keep it stirred so it would all burn. Worst job..and smell in the world too.


I assume they still do it the same way today in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(some paper is approved for a classic one compartment septic tank but no 2 or 3 compartment aerobic system that I know of will handle toilet paper..they have pumps and aerators in them that would plug up with paper and the paper could collect on the floats that tell the electronics when to kick the pumps on. I have an aerobic wastewater treatment system because I live in a flood plain)
This one:

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 03-13-2020).]

quote Originally posted by maryjane: ... and ya had to beat the spiders and wasps off before you sat down and hoped there wasn't a venomous serpent coiled up in the corner.

This won't be nearly as interesting as your post (seriously, it was quite informative!), but the quote above reminds me of one of my trips up the coast (where the outhouse is located) about 20 years ago. I was finding small piles of feces scattered around the woods near the house. I asked my girlfriend's kids, who were quite young at the time, if they knew anything about it. They blamed the dog. I couldn't prove otherwise... until one day I again found fresh feces, but this pile had easily visible corn in it! I knew damn well the dog hadn't eaten corn on the cob with us the previous evening. I confronted the kids with the evidence, and the boy finally admitted that he was scared of the spiders down the hole in the outhouse.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 03-13-2020).]

quote Originally posted by maryjane: Not in my world. There hasn't been anything made of paper flushed down my toilet since we built the place in 2008. Only way 'they' can turn my water off is if they cut the power lines, and then, they have to wait for me to run out of fuel for my genset.

What are the products that could be made from--"of"--paper flushed down a toilet? Are there any completely new such products? As for already existing products, would making them from paper flushed down a toilet cost out as price-competitive, vs the more traditional methods and sourcing that are already being used; i.e., using one of the "never flushed" grades of paper that are already manufactured in volume by virgin or recycled paper mills?



Just playing "Devil's Advocate." Maybe there's an opening here for "greener" products that would move society in a more Thunberg or AOC-friendly direction.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 03-13-2020).]

[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 03-13-2020).]