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Friday, August 2, 2013

New waste management technology for Charlestown’s summer festivals

Good for the environment, real good for gardens
By Will Collette

Now that this year’s annual flap from the residents of the Arnolda neighborhood against summer festivals at Ninigret Park has subsided, we can now focus on some innovations that could make those festivals a major environmental plus.

With the Seafood Festival kicking off this weekend, we're getting into the heart of event season at Ninigret and thousands of visitors will be in the Park, eating and drinking and having a good time.



That means lines and lines at the battalion of Port-a-potties brought in because there's absolutely no plumbing or septics in the park. 

Aside from being kind of nasty – though necessary and welcome when needed – Port-a-potties have to be hauled away and, according to most of the rental service websites, emptied into municipal waste water treatment systems.

This is a real waste in many more ways than one. It’s not just the added pollution we ship away to the city, but a wasted resource.

The Europeans have found a much better solution, one I’m glad to say I am not making up. The French company Faltazi has come up with the eco-friendly Uritonnoir. It’s a very simple construction. You take a straw bale and bang in several appropriately shaped plastic funnels (see photos).

This is pretty much a guy thing, especially a guys-who-drink-a-lot-of-beer thing, because it’s a strictly stand up and do your business mechanism. The nitrogen in the urine combines with the carbon in the straw and, after about twelve months, you've got yourself some very nice compost.

Since Ninigret Park is right next to Arnolda, as the Arnolda residents remind us often, perhaps a nice way for Ninigret Park goers to pay back the nice Arnolda people is to have the compost brought over for their gardens.

This method of elimination could eliminate the need for many of the Port-a-potties currently needed. 

Of course, the Uritonnoir only works for those people who’s toilet needs can be handled standing up. What about the needs of people who need to sit down? Are they doomed to be stuck with Port-a-potties?

Well, fortunately, we still have our research from the 2011 battle with the CCA Party over building new toilet facilities at the town beaches. If you will recall, the CCA Party regulars who own beach property could see no need for new toilet facilities. 

They argued that such new facilities would only encourage more people to go to the beach. Besides, if you can’t walk home to pee, you probably don’t belong at the beach anyway. At least so the argument went.

New readers, I’m not making this up. To take a walk down memory lane to see some of the amazing things the CCA people said, click here and here.

Anyway, one of the alternatives we found to building new beach toilets was a Japanese innovation that might very well provide the solution for those who can’t use the Uritonnoir. Click here.

I would suggest a couple of modifications – skip the chemical tablet and use biodegradable bags so that each person using the Japanese system can add their waste to the composting Uritonnoir pile. More nice nutrients for Arnolda’s gardens!