I'm hoping to find out about any bright ideas for dealing with toilet waste in remote places, including alternatives to corn starch bags. We have a concessionaire who has been trying to do the right thing by getting their customers to use these when camping, and then depositing them in one of our long drops on the way past. Unfortunately, this is a toilet that we pump out whenever it gets too full, and the bags clog the pump and have to be manually removed. Even if they break down in the 6 months the manufacturer suggests, it's not possible to 'time' the bag deposits and the pumping.
Our response:
Hi Fiona,
its a tricky question. As the cornstarch bags have to be strong enough to do the job, yet break down eventually.
Clearly having to remove the bags from the clogged pump is a bad outcome. I don't have a good solution but the options seems to be:
1. take the waste right out as you suggest
2. empty just the contents into the long drop and remove the bags (potentially distasteful and double handling of biohazards)
3. Dig a hole, deposit the bags and allow to decompose- various issues about decomposition rates, number of people in the area...
I am not aware of technology available that means bags/containers don't clog pumps
Regards
Chris
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