This Tuesday: Composting Toilets & Supporting Codes and Policies

With the support of PHLUSH, the Jefferson County Sanitation HAT has been hard at work this year strengthening community relationships, surveying local residents on sanitation needs and educational interests, and collaborating with local and regional experts to address rural sanitation challenges.  A Housing+Sanitation Learning Series kicked off this fall, starting with a presentation of FLUSH:…

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Emergency Sanitation Recommendations for Hurricane Florence

Chch-Twin-No-Mix-buckets

Hurricane Florence is upon us. She is predicted to bring excessive rainfall (over 2 feet) and dangerous storm surge (up to 9-12 feet) to North and South Carolina. While some are rejoicing that wind speeds have been downgraded, NWS continues to predict life-threatening storm surge and unprecedented rainfall. As an organization focused on safe sanitation…

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Global Homeless Day: Toilet Solutions from France for the USA

“The restroom thus becomes a tool for figuring out just how a society functions – what it values, how it separates people from one another, and the kinds of trade-offs that come to be made,” says sociologist Harvey Moltoch. While we at PHLUSH believe in safe and accessible toilets for all people (families, children, those…

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A Free Minimalist Urine-diverting Dry Toilet (UDDT) for the Unhoused, Poor or Disaster-stricken

By Chris Canaday. Ecuador-based researcher Canaday generously prepared this in response to our inquiries. He invites feedback via Inodoroseco or email canaday2 AT gmail.com Shifting from wasteful, expensive, contaminating, water-based toilets to decentralized, environmentally friendly, dry toilets should be more a matter of paradigm shift than capital investment. This is especially true for those who have little money,…

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New PHLUSH exhibit premiers at National VOAD Conference

This week the Portland Hilton is buzzing with the energy of hundreds of impassioned volunteers and salaried colleagues who manage the nation’s most important disaster response agencies. It’s the annual conference of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster a coalition of hundreds of organizations – faith-based, community-based, and other non-governmental organizations – and 55  VOADs…

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Handwashing: the DIY Vaccine

Preventable illnesses – often termed “waterborne diseases” – kill 2.2 million kids under the age of five each year, more than three kids a minute.  These diseases could be more accurately described as “excretaborne”.  They have everything to do with poop. Poop is rich. Living within each of us in our gastrointestinal tracts are more cells…

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Sewers are broken. Where will you go?

PHLUSH partner organization MDML (once known as Cloacina.org Project) created an informative and life-saving guide that shows you scientifically-proven methods for human-waste composting in an emergency. Don’t miss the opportunity to download it for free or purchase it for 10 bucks on their website. This illustrated guide presents a series of graduated responses you can do to keep…

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Portland Takes Lead in Sound Advice for Emergency Sanitation

Lately, we’ve been checking out what other West Coast cities at risk of earthquake-induced water and sewer system failure and non-functioning toilets are recommending to residents. Some cities propose that residents bag, bleach, throw away, or bury human waste in the event of an emergency.  Such proposals could have dangerous consequences.  Portland, however, has proposed…

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