Who has a Waste Management Plan?
Posted by sgtPresto@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 54 comments
In the event of a long-term emergency, what methods have you established for waste disposal?
Posted by sgtPresto@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 54 comments
In the event of a long-term emergency, what methods have you established for waste disposal?
Financial_Resort6631@reddit
Composting takes care of a lot of things. Then you reuse glass jars. Metals I mean that is money… plastics are the only thing you don’t want. So that is the question right there
th30be@reddit
Long term? Honestly not prepping for that type of thing but we do own land that we can do whatever with. I have dug latrines before so that, I guess.
ZixfromthaStix@reddit
I’m part of a 25 family survival group with a pine farm. Compost toilets using a 1.5 gallon spritz to clean, and pine ash to keep the smell and rot under control. Liquid urine waste will be isolated from solid waste to prevent breakdown and stench. The planning for housing is building on top of a hill, so gravity assisted plumbing can help carry waste away to a central tank.
Outside of that, a methane capture system is planned to augment our power and heat production, so I believe our human solid waste will be combined with the pig and animal waste. Still reading about it all.
Fortunately we have a couple of construction pros in our group, so we have a lot of the necessary expertise to not only establish our systems but maintain them.
Hobobo2024@reddit
how'd you manage to build yourself such a group?
ZixfromthaStix@reddit
It’s not mine, I just lucked out being included. Before I moved in with my wife, my last college roommates included the AFSOC vet. These days he’s a rural pastor and his wife is the Sunday school teacher. They’re both really active in their communities and honestly amazing people. We’re all still pretty young 30-40.
The group is about 60% friends/family, 30% neighbors, 10% distant friends/family, with a handful of clusters across the country. We already have an understanding that we need as many able bodied survivors as we can recruit, so each of the 25 core families has an unlimited recruitment cap— but the social structure is equivalent to old Viking clans in that:
1. Everyone can choose their own religious beliefs— but in terms of community religion, our Christian pastor lead is our only planned spiritual system for now. He’s expressed he doesn’t want any of the older, stubborn and toxic Christians— no homophobics or sexists, no science deniers, etc.
2. The person vouching for another family or individual as an outside recruit is responsible for them— so if I recruit a neighbor and they rob someone, I’m included in the restorative justice process of making it right, possibly in a bit of trouble myself depending on what happens.
I had a third point but took too long typing the first 2… I think I was just gonna reiterate that beliefs and traditions are up to the individual, as long as the “clan” can work together for the same cause/purpose
UsernamesSuck33@reddit
Sounds like you did definitely luck out. Seems like a really well-thought-out and healthy system.
sgtPresto@reddit (OP)
Sounds well organized. I used to head up a 18 family group. We had a 55 acre compound surrounded by state reserve. We met fir training and group projects one weekend a month. I phased it out because my international travel competed for the time and expense. We had it fir about 5 years. I would be glad to share 'lessons learned' if you want to PM me.
ZixfromthaStix@reddit
That’s amazing! Yes I’ll definitely reach out. In total I believe the current colony territory at our disposal is 200 acres of pine farm and 100 acres about a 4-5 hour walk away that backs up to about 1000 acres of corporate pine farm land— with the 100 acres currently being secured financially.
My most recent contribution to the group was doing some research into the Big Beautiful Bill Act, Section 179, which allows a farm to write off the entire value of equipment for their taxes in the first year, instead of whatever 14% or smaller amount it was over 7 years— so I put together some suggestions on how the farmers could upgrade their business and property for both profit and sustainability— my hope is that if they can get some cheap mill equipment, between the food farming and expanding pine farming operations, our group should be able to secure building and caloric supplies.
In my free time I’ve been designing different aspects of our off grid survival, my current projects including an earthship style clan house based off Chinese Tulou and Roman Domus; a systemic revival of US rail by constructing alternative fuel engine units and scaling down rolling stock back to Wild West industrial scale to compensate for the losses in engine power (basically Diesel is too irregular to rely on for industry now, and old school steam caused fires. Modern thermodynamics have cleaner solutions. I won’t be detailing those for sake of having some answers held close to the vest); and an exosuit rig for soldiers and scouts designed to turn a gillie SUIT into a shroud, that doubles as a false upper body to scare off predator wildlife.
ZuckerStadt@reddit
Army FM 4-25.12 Unit Field Sanitation Team guides my planning. They provide simple and usable instructions.
Casiarius@reddit
I have a compost pile and a wood stove. Only a relatively small portion of my trash has to be hauled away, but it will accumulate. For human waste I can set up a two-bucket toilet system. I have lots of sawdust (in the form of woodstove pellets) and lots of 3-mil contractor bags. I'm not certain how fast this system consumes sawdust, but I suspect I can accumulate a lot of waste before this system breaks.
SpaceGoatAlpha@reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/homestead/comments/1bh18g3/comment/kvbamgw/
I use what can be reused, compost things that can decay, separate and compact what I can't use or recycle.
bchnyc@reddit
I do. I wrote up an SOP on it about 3 months ago. I specifically wrote it for human body waste. DM if you’d like a copy.
Collgirl06@reddit
Can I also have a xopy
MydaisyChange@reddit
I would like a copy please and thank you
JRHLowdown3@reddit
Being in the country and having a septic does help this a bit.
We have gone well over 10 years before pumping a septic and most will tell you it isn't necessary unless your dumping large quantities of bleach and cleaning supplies down it.
We had to replace one after Hurricane Helene, a huge tree nearby was uprooted and broke the tank. Thankfully we have one for the other side of the house also. But now both have the newer unscrew tops for easy pumping. We have a "semi trash" gas powered pump and big hoses that could be used for fighting fires via pond water or for pumping out a septic. A water source to keep a "slurry" (nice as that sounds LOL) going would be important to make that happen.
Outside of that, prisoners.... LOL
Xsiah@reddit
You could put out fires with the septic. Kill two birds with one turd.
Financial-Parsley482@reddit
My local area changed from three stacked totes for Recycling to a curbside rolling bin. We are able to keep them or bring them back to the main office and I decided to keep the totes for being able to use them to separate out all of my refuse into reusable trash.
*Burnables - tree and plant based only
*Metals
*Plastics
I will Bury ANYTHING not reusable.
☠️☠️NO BURNING petrol chemical based GARBAGE!
Toxic air pollutants……☠️☠️
davidm2232@reddit
I don't see how anything would change. Water waste goes into the septic. Any paper or cardboard is burned in the woodstove or burn barrel. Any metal is saved to reuse/recycle. Food waste and plastic goes in the burn barrel
Different-Medium-204@reddit
I own a shovel
sgtPresto@reddit (OP)
I would be interested
BigSeaworthiness1467@reddit
Condo living with a city park and hiking trails nearby so lots of trash bags and shovel to compost. Worried because lots of deer, rabbits and raccoons near by so hopefully they don't dig up stuff and get sick and die
Paranormal_Lemon@reddit
Your neighbors are going to be more of a concern, what are they going to do with their waste?
BigSeaworthiness1467@reddit
I don't know if my neighbors are preppers, even my immediate family and most of my friends think I'm crazy so I stopped talking to them about it. One of them (more of an acquaintance) actually had the nerve to say, "I'm coming to your house!" I said, "No! I only have enough for my kids!" Only 2 families I know are preppers and they live 10miles away so I'm gonna assume my family is on out own (even my spouse is not on board so I prep my self). So I just shut up, prep silently, and hope the world doesn't fall apart and if it does, hopefully doesn't last long lol
Eeyor-90@reddit
Long term: We will use the backhoe on the tractor to dig an outhouse. Compost all paper and natural waste. Repurpose anything we can. Incinerate the rest.
SheistyPenguin@reddit
Burn or bury... like our ancestors did!
Routine_Awareness413@reddit
My first task on the second day of a power outage is to put our trash bins at a spot where nobody else can dump their shit in it. That is about it. Our household has very little trash.
In any case, I plan on saving every container, cardboard and piece of plastic that might be somewhat usable when an emergency situation starts.
silasmoeckel@reddit
Burn just like the Amish.
canoegal4@reddit
county folk still do this too lol
Fartfart357@reddit
Hope we can dig faster than we shit.
Eredani@reddit
For human waste separate liquids from solids. Liquids can be dispersed. Solids must be bagged up.
For other waste, compost organic material and burn combustible material. The rest needs to be bagged up and buried with the solid human waste. Burial site must be away from water sources and food production sites.
What you need on hand: lots of trash bags (large and small), toilet paper/wet wipes, kitty litter, hand sanitizer, soap, laundry detergent, washable cloth/rags. A porta potty or converted 5-gallon bucket is also a good idea.
The thing is, you can do everything right and all it takes is one neighbor to contaminate a food/water supply or get sick. Cholera and dysentery will probably kill more people than anything else.
ContestNo2060@reddit
Yeah, if you’re digging, make sure you dig deep enough, properly cover, and it’s far enough away to not be a problem if it rains.
Gadgetman_1@reddit
Switch to wood pellets instead of regular kitty litter. The waste can then be composted.
fenuxjde@reddit
I already compost and most of the rest of the waste is just packaging. If there is a disaster, I won't be getting much packaging coming in. Cans will be repurposed. So the only real mystery is plastic packaging from like MREs and things like that, in which case it can be burnt worst case scenario.
Nalivai@reddit
Burning plastic is absolute worst. Smells terribly, dark smog leaves residue everywhere, it's terrible for your health. Unless you have some furnace with filters, I don't recommend.
fenuxjde@reddit
Of course, totally agree, I just meant like outside in a fire pile in the event of like an absolute worst case scenario.
kobebeef24@reddit
Catapult, night time use only.
Or use thick contractor trash bags. Maybe bury food waste only so rodents don't infest.
Schnicklefritz987@reddit
No, no, compost all food, don’t bury—recycle the nutrients to replenish in your nitrogen content in the soil—we wont be getting fertilizer either when SHTF so we need to reuse ALL the resources, including nitrogen sources.
kobebeef24@reddit
Solid advice thanks
pianoboy777@reddit
The correct answer
7o7A1@reddit
brown paper -> worm farm
any other paper -> kindling
plastic tubs / bottles -> pots for seedlings / ad hoc containers
tins -> valuable metal (sold for cash)
kitchen/garden/yard waste -> compost
weeds -> liquid compost
woody material -> wood chips
fish/meat -> buried next to fruit bearing trees
ContestNo2060@reddit
My challenge is I’m in a dense suburb. We have a small yard, but it’s manageable. I’m more concerned with neighbors not properly containing waste and having it impacting us. Insects and rodents would be carrying pathogens from your neighbors feces thrown into the backyard in a grocery bag. A heavy rain would have shit everywhere and you’d be tracking in pathogens from your clothes and feet if you were outside. Real easy to mishandle your water supply in these conditions and you’ve infected your entire family. There’s a reason why a million people die of cholera and dysentery per year globally. Fix your window screens and establish strict pest, waste management, and sanitation protocols. This is something you can’t improvise.
Agent7619@reddit
I do. The fuckers charge me over $200 a month for a dumpster.
Ok-Philosopher-5139@reddit
burn and bury...
BronzeSpoon89@reddit
Burn everything you can, might have to dig a hole for the rest.
cakeefel@reddit
We separate as we go. Have for years. You don't even think about it once it becomes habit. Recycle metal, burn burnables, crush glass (or wash and repurpose), chicken and goat waste in compost for garden, dog waste composted separately for foliage. From the great depression: "Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do, or do without."
cakeefel@reddit
To be clear: by "recycle", I mean sell to the scrapyard.
AlphaDisconnect@reddit
Number one. Burn it. Number 2 bury it. Number 3 repurpose it.
possibly_lost45@reddit
Use the trash to lure in animals to eat.
agenttwelve12@reddit
Compost and eco bricks.
Ingawolfie@reddit
Burn barrel.
Mynplus1throwaway@reddit
I keep trash down to about 1 big bag a month. Lots of compost.
FragileEagle@reddit
Fire and a shovel
MovingTargetPractice@reddit
Trash service is easily the most under appreciated utility.
ommnian@reddit
Burn.