The end of an era
Oct. 27th, 2011 10:30 amIt is with some sadness that I announce the suspension of the Occupy Nova Scotia Humanure project. I've determined that the population at the Occupation is simply too transient to educate all it's members on proper use of the toilet consistently.
I also dropped the ball a little bit in training volunteers to replace me in managing the system, though to be fair, there wasn't really an information hub in place at the time for me to use (there is one now: it's at the 'Admin Tent'). Ideally I would have been at the site daily for working group meetings and assembled a consistent working group. The fact that composting locations had to be located so remotely from city hall was also an impediment to proper functioning: if the composting pile could have been directly beside the outhouse, maintenance would have been much easier for people.
That aside I don't regret having initiated this project. It was only ever meant to be a demonstration, and demonstrate it did. A man approached me yesterday from the camp who told me that even it it's latter days, the system inspired positive commentary from passers-by, who said they had no idea that this was a possibility. I'm also still impressed that the city did not shut it down out of hand.
The phoenix is born of its ashes, and I'm pleased to announce a trial run of N-Pee-K, a community supported sawdust delivery and composting toilet installation service. It will run for 8 weeks, if there are takers, and install a compost box, a bucket-receptacle for the bathroom, and deliver sawdust by bicycle for 8 weeks, as well as offer consultation and troubleshooting, for around $300. If you live on peninsular Halifax and are interested, contact me!
I also dropped the ball a little bit in training volunteers to replace me in managing the system, though to be fair, there wasn't really an information hub in place at the time for me to use (there is one now: it's at the 'Admin Tent'). Ideally I would have been at the site daily for working group meetings and assembled a consistent working group. The fact that composting locations had to be located so remotely from city hall was also an impediment to proper functioning: if the composting pile could have been directly beside the outhouse, maintenance would have been much easier for people.
That aside I don't regret having initiated this project. It was only ever meant to be a demonstration, and demonstrate it did. A man approached me yesterday from the camp who told me that even it it's latter days, the system inspired positive commentary from passers-by, who said they had no idea that this was a possibility. I'm also still impressed that the city did not shut it down out of hand.
The phoenix is born of its ashes, and I'm pleased to announce a trial run of N-Pee-K, a community supported sawdust delivery and composting toilet installation service. It will run for 8 weeks, if there are takers, and install a compost box, a bucket-receptacle for the bathroom, and deliver sawdust by bicycle for 8 weeks, as well as offer consultation and troubleshooting, for around $300. If you live on peninsular Halifax and are interested, contact me!