22 results for tag: waste treatment
Training a New Generation of Sanitation Researchers
SOIL intern, Wenley Moïse, extracting samples from the liquid filters installed underneath SOIL's composting bins to take to the lab for testing. SOIL loves providing opportunities for students in Haiti to work with our team and gain valuable hands-on experience in the sanitation sector to help jumpstart their careers. Over the past six months, SOIL research partner Dr. Rebecca Ryals has been conducting a study on optimal composting conditions at our waste treatment facilities. The study looks at whether using different lining materials (concrete vs. a natural soil
lining) in the composting bins impacts the leaching of nutrients or pathogens ...
Waste to Resources: SOIL’s Black Soldier Fly Research
Though SOIL’s work has undergone many iterations as we’ve carefully refined our model through the years, we have remained driven by our mission to transform waste that has such potential to do harm into resources that instead support social, economic, and environmental regeneration. As a part of this continued effort to increase the impact of SOIL’s affordable, safe, and dignified full-cycle sanitation services, a few of our team members have been working in collaboration with visiting researchers on an exciting new project at SOIL’s waste treatment site outside of Cap-Haïtien. Inspired by other members of the Container-Based Sanitation ...
Showcasing Possibility at COP24
Earlier this month, SOIL was honored to receive the United Nations' Momentum for Change Award in Planetary Health at COP24 in Katowice, Poland. Momentum for Change honors innovative and transformative solutions that address both climate change and wider economic, social and environmental challenges. Recognized as a Lighthouse Activity, SOIL’s work is honored for being a practical, scalable and replicable example of a groundbreaking intervention to tackle climate change. Check out this video showcasing the Planetary Health award winners (narrated by Sir David Attenborough!): Planetary Health: Narrated Sir David Attenborough from Momentum ...
SOIL U
Regular readers of the SOIL blog will know that in November our amazing weather station in Limonade went live, and that since that time, it has been sharing the local weather data with the world. Rainfall, temperature, wind direction and speed, pressure… it’s all there for anyone to access! Last month, the University of Limonade requested a tour of our waste treatment site so they could see the weather station and hear about how it works and what we do with the data. They were also interested in using the data in their own curriculum, as an educational tool, because weather data in Haiti can be quite difficult to obtain. Ultimately there ...
SOIL’s Northern Haiti Site Is A Growing Tourist Attraction
Glory in the shade of beautiful trees and lush greenery! Wander over to check out the “Red Zone!” (but don’t wander into the “Red Zone” because you’ll have to disinfect the soles of your shoes afterwards). Behold the the wonder and mystery of the “Natural Water Purification Act!” And don’t forget to take a ride on the PoopMobile before you exit the "park" (And by park, we mean waste treatment site). Do all this and much more at SOIL's waste treatment site, Mouchinette, in northern Haiti, one of the region's most exciting (and unexpected) tourist attractions! We'll admit, we’re still working on our marketing for “SOIL-L...
Disinfecting Urine and Being “Claire Twa”
Hello! My name is Claire or, as I was known around the office, “Claire Twa” (meaning Claire Three), since there were two other women named Claire working there at the time. I am a Master of Public Health student in Environmental Health at Emory University, and I worked with SOIL this summer to study various inexpensive and easy ways to disinfect urine before disposal. I tested the addition of different levels of ashes, vinegar, and Clorox since these three materials are accessible and inexpensive. SOIL’s style of Ecological Sanitation (the safe re-use of the nutrients in human waste) utilizes a urine diversion toilet which separates the ...
SOIL Uses EcoSan Technology to Treat Wastes From Caracol Industrial Park
SOIL is excited to announce a new collaboration with the Caracol Industrial Park in northern Haiti. After experiencing a technical issue in one of their waste collection tanks, Caracol approached SOIL's Cap-Haitien office about collecting and composting the wastes from the tank to allow for Caracol technicians to make needed repairs. As there are very few waste treatment options available in Haiti (government-run waste treatment facilities in Haiti currently treat toilet wastes from less than five percent of the population), this collaboration ensures that the 1,500 gallons of waste collected from Caracol will be safely treated and transformed ...
International Political Forum: Holy Crap: How Haiti's Human Waste is Being Used for the Better
By the International Political Forum, August 20, 2013. Original post available here. The earthquake of 2010 devastated Haiti – since then it has perpetually struggled to re-build itself and for those that have chosen to keep an eye on this impoverished Island we have seen few success stories. Corruption, insufficient and ill organised foreign aid and news of the deadly wave of cholera that swept the Island are the only stories that leaked out onto our news pages. Only 16% of rural Haitians and 50% of those in cities have access to sanitation facilities, since the earthquake Haiti’s human waste has been taken to the city’s dumping ground, the ...
CEPR: "As Cholera Continues to Spread, Some Turn to Composting to Help Fight it"
Originally posted on March 11, 2013 by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). For reference links, see original article. As of March 4, 2013, cholera has killed 8,057 Haitians and infected nearly 650,000 more. Despite some claims of progress, the epidemic, which was introduced by United Nations troops, has been significantly worse in 2013 than during the same period the year before. From January 1, 145 cholera victims have officially been reported dead, compared to just 22 last year. Worse, this occurred during the dry season, when cases generally taper off. The latest bulletin from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian ...