This morning I had what I thought was a great idea. Logistics aside, I feel this idea would be good both in terms of recycling, preventing waste from getting into the ocean and potentially creating demand for jobs.
Whilst going for a walk this morning I started thinking about how, if I had the money and my own house, I’d probably have a compost toilet built. They’re useful; they consume less resources in the long run and you end up with something you can use to fertilise plants. Slowly waste decomposes and turns into compost and you get the idea.
Now, why not apply this to sewage and waste in general?
I’m not sure as to how sewage disposal functions in other countries, but in Sydney we have a lot of it (possibly all of it, but I don’t know) pumped into the ocean. I believe that until recently a fair portion of said sewage left untreated before it entered the ocean.
Upon a bit of extra reading, it might not be a lot of Sydney’s sewage, but rather most of The Eastern Suburbs’ sewage, but I digress.
Now it is treated before it runs off into the ocean, but I feel that this is a massive waste of resources. It can still create issues for local habitats and, despite exists being positioned offshore, lead to beaches being nonviable to visit after heavy rainfall.
I don’t know what the costs would be and I don’t know how much remodeling would need to be done, but I feel that, if possible, it would be a good idea to redesign how Sydney’s sewage travels.
It would need to be rerouted to somewhere else. Some other type of processing plant where a lot of the plastics and rubbish are removed and then recycled (where possible). Any human waste then is turned into compost which then can go to being used for either habitat restoration (if necessary) as well as general fertiliser.
I understand that some people might have an issue with this, but that waste doesn’t just disappear. It has to go somewhere and it’s not meant to be pumped into the ocean. Removing the plastics and rubbish might take time and effort, but that would lead to a demand for people whop are willing to do that work. So would having a processing plant dedicated to the removal, as well as the processing of any waste into fertiliser.
Again, I don’t know how much this would cost to undertake. I don’t know what kind of redesign work would be required. However, I feel that it is a good idea. Less rubbish in the ocean and more readily available fertiliser. It could probably save a fair bit on protection and restoration efforts in the long run.
Anyway, this is just an idea I had and I thought I’d put it out there. Recycling where possible is great and if it means less stuff being pushed into the ocean, then it is worth considering.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 10:36:85
This I feel is one of my stronger bits of writing, if only due to my thinking about it before I started writing. That said, as a start to thinking more about it and developing further, I feel this could’ve been expressed with fewer words.
Written at home.
Stupidity Hole 