What we do in the woods
Posted: Fri 27 Mar, 2009 10:52 pm
This is an interesting POO topic
How to Make Poo Porridge
The supreme method for minimum impact pooing involves a technique called 'Poo Porridge' or 'PP'. The alpine environment here means that if you dig a shallow grave and use excessive loo paper than chances are it will still be there in 2 years time... not pretty or hygenic for other users. Most climbers technique of shoving a rock on it won't cut it here, it is easy for animals to disturb it and surface water easily carries the parasites and bacteria to other water sources. 'PP' has been proven in studies to breakdown in a fraction of the time by mixing soil nutrients through the poo.
* Step 1: Find a site 100m or more from camp, and downhill from water.
* Step 2: Dig a hole with a nut key or rock 10 to 15cm deep (the top 20cm of soil has the best nutrients for breaking down poo).
* Step 3: Clench your business deal.
* Step 4: Now for the porridge bit, it sounds a bit ugly but this bit is strangely satisfying. Grab a stick and mix dirt well through the poo, the more mixed the better (it will even look less like poo after this simple trick). You can now put the remainder of dirt on top and leave stick poking out to warn others, by the time the stick falls over it's safe terrain.
* Step 5: Ideally carry the paper used out in a ziplock bag, it's light and takes much longer to breakdown than the poo itself. However it you choose to leave the paper, mix it well with the porridge and pee on it if you have a reserve tank (this speeds up the breakdown process).
How to Make Poo Porridge
The supreme method for minimum impact pooing involves a technique called 'Poo Porridge' or 'PP'. The alpine environment here means that if you dig a shallow grave and use excessive loo paper than chances are it will still be there in 2 years time... not pretty or hygenic for other users. Most climbers technique of shoving a rock on it won't cut it here, it is easy for animals to disturb it and surface water easily carries the parasites and bacteria to other water sources. 'PP' has been proven in studies to breakdown in a fraction of the time by mixing soil nutrients through the poo.
* Step 1: Find a site 100m or more from camp, and downhill from water.
* Step 2: Dig a hole with a nut key or rock 10 to 15cm deep (the top 20cm of soil has the best nutrients for breaking down poo).
* Step 3: Clench your business deal.
* Step 4: Now for the porridge bit, it sounds a bit ugly but this bit is strangely satisfying. Grab a stick and mix dirt well through the poo, the more mixed the better (it will even look less like poo after this simple trick). You can now put the remainder of dirt on top and leave stick poking out to warn others, by the time the stick falls over it's safe terrain.
* Step 5: Ideally carry the paper used out in a ziplock bag, it's light and takes much longer to breakdown than the poo itself. However it you choose to leave the paper, mix it well with the porridge and pee on it if you have a reserve tank (this speeds up the breakdown process).