Do you ever stop and think about just how much water you flush down the toilet every day? Many of us flush even when it’s not to remove our biological waste from our homes: we flush a piece of kleenex, a bug we found lurking in the shower, etc. – and it all contributes to the depletion of our most valuable natural resource.
Each flush of an older, standard toilet sends up to seven gallons right down the drain (though this could be a lot less with the modern, high efficiency toilets). Many of us do not question this modern convenience, because we’ve never been introduced to a better way. And what about human waste? The way it is treated now, it often contaminates freshwater supplies, or seeps into the ocean, causing significant environmental damage.
Earthship Biotecture is a company dedicated to changing how we get rid of our waste. In fact, their “radically sustainable buildings” contain a system that collects waste from flushed toilets, and actually transforms it via a plant and gravel system into fertilizer for gardens, also contained within the building.
Additionally, the buildings that Earthships designs have methods of collecting water from rain and snow, as well as electricity from solar and wind power. The company advertises that by investing in such a design, one could put an end to utility bills, grow their own nutritious garden indoors, and drastically reduce their carbon footprint.
This technology is truly a huge step in the right direction, and if it is embraced on a large scale, could someday become affordable for everyone to enjoy.
On a sidenote, when it comes to human waste, if more operations were dedicated to turning it into fertilizer for crops, instead of dumping it into a treatment plant, many chemical fertilizers, which cause environmental harm, as well as potential damage to human health, could be replaced.
-The Alternative Daily
Sources:
http://www.undergroundhealth.com/exciting-advances-turn-human-wastewater-beautiful-gardens
http://earthship.com/Systems
