field research

Just got back from a few days traveling to Tennessee and the Smokey Mountains... Took a couple quality photos of public bathrooms (and endured a couple supremely awkward moments because I was taking photos in public bathrooms.) Also finally started reading The Humanure Handbook in earnest. Expect more here starting in the next week, when school is back in session and the thesis really starts in earnest.

don't forget about the business end

My friend Alicia drew this for me while I was presenting my thesis proposal last week. I guess I used the term 'business end' at some point and she thought it was pretty funny. It's a good reminder to watch what you say, but also keep a sense of humor.

Its been really interesting to talk to people about going to the bathroom because many people are very candid, but some people are very uncomfortable. Almost everyone makes some sort of potty humor joke. Is that just to hide our cultural unease about this topic? In the long run, I am hoping that the subject matter of my thesis will catch people's interest and then entice them to realize there really are better options than what is out there right now.

thesis proposal

This past Friday (yesterday) we presented our senior thesis (aka capstone) project proposals. I worked hard and long on mine, and you can see it in its entirety here.

The presentation presented an interesting (and common) challenge because we were given ten minutes (total, including questions and feedback) to pitch our projects and present our research findings to this point. That means you have to really boil down your information and share it in a quick and easy (to understand) way. We have worked on a lot of proposals this quarter, and I think each one is difficult but also a valuable learning opportunity.

So, please... take a look, and let me know what you think. One week from yesterday we have a written proposal due, and after that the faculty will let us know if our proposal has been accepted. Then... we just have to do it!

its a hard thing to define

I am working on putting together my proposal presentation for this Friday. Here the first draft of one of my slides (you are going to have to click and enlarge it if you want to read anything...) There is already a lot of information to convey, and it is definitely a challenge to work out how to concisely and persuasively get across everything that needs to be communicated.

pumper and cleaners international expo

{This is me, embarrassed and having very poor aim over a prototype of a 'Russian toilet.' Besides having bad aim, this is really how it is meant to be used...)

Yesterday I went down to the Pumper and Cleaner International Expo. Its a huge show for people in the sanitation business...

There were a number of booths showcasing the latest and greatest in porta-potty design. Everything is plastic, but there were little innovations everywhere: toilet paper holders that double as a shelf, 'hover handles' (handles on the inside of doors that people can hold onto while doing their best not to make contact with the toilet seat), sinks, toilets that flush, heaters, coat hooks... the list goes on... It was really great for me, because I picked up brochures from all the manufactures so I will now have a very complete competitive analysis.

A big part of port-o-potties is the chemicals you find in them. One gentleman stuffed a few samples of the 'blue stuff' and some air fresheners in my bag yesterday. Unfortunately, they made my entire car smell like a (clean) porta-potty. This made me realize- very clearly- that even clean porta-potty smell is relatively foul. There has got to be a better solution, and I think it may come in the form of a composting toilet. Someone needs to do for porta-potties what method has done for home cleaning products.

The air freshener guy also told me a couple stories: first, he acts as his company's liaison for Mexico. Apparently, porta-potties are relatively rare there, but very necessary where people are planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables. So, they brought portable bathrooms to the people and they were appalled. They found them unsanitary and still preferred to do their business in the fields. I asked the company representative if this lead to any changes in their product, and he explained to me that they simply had to put the workers through mandatory training to use the toilets. Its a classic example of people thinking that the people, not the product, are at fault. It makes me uneasy.

The other story was more for human interest: police were chasing some dastardly criminal, and at one point lost track of him. This is because he went into the tank of a porta-potty. He also promptly got stuck there; they had to cut the thing apart to get him out.

giant strides of productivity

{a quick side-by-side: a more-respectable bathroom at school and a fairly standard port-o-potty}

This morning I had the pleasure of visiting Rumpke portable restrooms HQ. They were nice enough to take me on a fully comprehensive tour of the facilities (no pun intended), and I learned a ton about the business and the perspective of the business owner. I'm rather impressed with how innovative Rumpke is; they developed an infant changing port-o-potty and a port-o-potty for miners. They are one of the biggest businesses of their type in the country, with approximately 10,000 portable restrooms. They also shared with me the fact that their restrooms..ermm.. received one million gallons of waste in January. That is a phenomenal number!

Before I left today, they gave me some super-important information:

The best port-o-potty, from the perspective of the business owner, would basically be vandalism-proof. Apparently, there is a humongous problem with graffiti and with people setting these things on fire. I guess sometimes Rumpke goes to pick up a potty and finds a big puddle of congealed, melted plastic. This results in the person who rented the potty being charged for the cost of the unit, which is easily $500+.

The man I spoke with also clued me in to a national trade show going on in Louisville this week for the port-o-potty (aka sanitation) industry. I am tentatively planning to go down and check it out...

I think its appropriate, here, to make a quick 'plug' for reaching out to people for help. A simple email to a general Rumpke address resulted in my hour and a half tour today and innumerable resources opening up. I have found time and time again that if you take the first step, people are more than willing to meet you half way- especially if you happen to be a student.

anthony bourdain: no reservations

Tracy just sent me some great pages from Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations book. They cover some aspects of bathrooms of the world, and it brings up a couple interesting points...

-How different or similar should a port-a-potty be to a public bathroom? How close should it be to a private bathroom?

-Is there a way to tackle this thesis problem that could make the final result applicable not just domestically, but internationally?

>Even looking at the domestic market, different regions and states have distinctively different laws and needs. Southern California gets far hotter than northern Michigan, so ventilation would seemingly need to be adjusted...

-Where is the line drawn between a normal no-big-deal bathroom experience and a terrible bathroom experience like many people have in port-o-potties?

One other thing... port-o-potty tipping seems to be a real problem. If port-o-potties were more difficult to tip, it would surely make sanitation worker's lives much, much better,

The survey is pretty much wrapped up- thank you to everyone who participated. I'll be synthesizing the results and post more information here soon!