Bamboo Loo Roll

[dianefairhall]

OH has just bought a box of loo paper manufactured by a company called Who Gives a Cr*p - Australian as you'd probably guessed.

https://au.whogivesacrap.org

I am quite impressed -it is quite soft and strong, and double the usual loo roll length. The rolls are individually wrapped in pretty stripy paper which I can use with my plant pot making kit. Please have a look at their website as they do good works, too.

 

[Marigold]

Thanks Diane. Here’s a link to the UK site;
https://uk.whogivesacrap.org/

 

[Hen-Gen]

I bought some recently from Amazon (Cheeky Panda brand) to go in the ‘Secret Santa’ so I can’t comment on its usefulness. Looks whacky though.

 

[LadyA]

I'm waiting on delivery of a supply of stuff called "Muck Munchers", which is a septic tank treatment, to keep it working at maximum efficiency. It's some sort of biological stuff, that helps counteract detergents, chemicals and grease build up. But on the toilet paper front, I was told years ago that recycled tp or the lovely soft quilted types should not be used with a septic tank, as they don't dissolve quickly enough, and end up blocking pipes. When we moved here, the pipe from the kitchen was blocked, and the guys clearing it literally had to take a sort of battering thing to the pipe, and all this stuff that looked like concrete rubble eventually started to come out. Closer examination (i.e., stomping on it) revealed what it was. Laundry powder that had not dissolved in the machine, but had washed down the pipe to the bend just before it went into the grease trap, and built up to a solid wall there. I've used liquid detergent ever since.

 

[Hen-Gen]

Are septic tanks! There must be a whole science to this subject because we all get told different things. So here’s my two penny worth ?.
1) They function due to the digestive powers of bacteria. Therefore do not flush anything that inhibits the functioning of bacteria. This includes biological washing powder, drain cleaner, bleach etc.
2) Do not flush anything inappropriate. This means nappies, cotton buds or balls, etc.
3) Minimise grease input by wiping pans and plates with kitchen roll before washing them. Obviously the used kitchen roll then goes into your kitchen bin.
4) Minimise your use of water. If possible have butts for sink/bath/shower water which can be reused in the garden rather than going into the septic tank.
5) Have sufficient fall on the pipes so nothing remains and builds up in the pipes.
I’m sure there were others that I’ve forgotten. All I can say is that in 10 years I’ve never had my tank emptied, never detected any smells.
There you go, I’m talking s...t.

 

[Margaid]

There's a lot in drains!

One problem is that the words "septic tank" are used to describe all sorts of drainage systems where mains drainage isn't available. Also there are all kinds of discharge systems for the surplus water.

"Modern" treatment plants produce water on the output side which is actually pure enough to drink but there other extreme is the old fashioned cess-pit where the liquid waste just seeps out into the surrounding ground.

Sounds as though you have a properly working anaerobic system Hen-Gen and the one thing they don't like is lots of water. When we moved to mother-in-law's property I had to be very careful about leaving days between loads of washing and not using the washing machine if we'd both just had a shower. Too much water meant the bacteria couldn't deal with the other "stuff" and that was when we go the odd whiff. We replaced it with a modern system because we envisaged having lots of visitors once the barn/rebuild/conversion was finished.

I totally agree with you Hen-Gen and would like to have "grey water" storage at some point. The point about what you flush applies equally well to mains drains. We owned and ran a big B&B at one time and 2 months after we bought it had to have the drain power cleaned to get rid of the fatberg! After that, all oil and fat from cooking breakfast went into a fruit juice carton and when solid, it went in the bin.

Five houses here share a private drainage system; it's designed for 25-30 people and there are only 8 permanent residents so it copes easily but we are all careful about what we put in it.

MILK is one of the biggest enemies of "septic tanks" so don't pour any down the plughole!

 

[dinosaw]

We have a septic tank too. The previous owners were a bit OCD about cleanliness, I remember it took a weeks after moving in for the smell of detergents to finally go, the taps had the chrome scratched off from scrubbing, you get the idea. As a result they were having to empty the tank every three months. They would be horrified to find we hardly ever use bleach or detergents, but as a result you do build up a nice hot tank that munches through waste. My criticism is the soakaway on ours, we have a patch of discoloured dying grass after the deluges of the past couple of months, I think it has rained so hard it has brought the waste product up into contact with the grass roots. We also sometimes fall foul of Hen-Gens number 5 when we have a deluge and it can send fresh loo roll and you know what back up the pipes as far as the inspection chamber and I then have to rod it.

We nearly bought a very old house with a cess pit which was tiny and would have needed emptying every two months apparently!.

The funniest thing about the tank used to be the fellow who emptied it, because he used to clean most of the tanks within a twenty mile radius he use to do a load of celebrities and would tell funny stories about them. Funnily enough though, the last time I saw him about a year and a half ago he actually said "Des O'Connor isn't looking very clever". Funniest story he told me was about a friend of his who burgled Rod Stewart many many years ago to try to steal a piece of his clothes as he was an obsessive fan. Apparently this bloke was caught by the police and Rod Stewart told them to let him go and gave him a scarf!. Don't know if that is true or not.

 

[Marigold]

When we moved here in 1971 there was a 1930s concrete cesspit in the garden. We were told that the original builders would cement glass bottles into the concrete lining, bottom ends outwards, and cover them with a thin screen of mortar so they became invisible. After the building inspector had approved the work, they knocked holes in the sides through the bottle ends, to improve drainage. The cesspit gradually filled with solids but the liquids just drained away into our dry chalky soil, no problem, and the garden grew amazingly.
After about a couple of years, it became evident that the cesspit was full (don’t ask how we knew) and we got a firm along to empty it. They were full of reverent admiration for the contents - ‘You just don’t get a lovely crust like that nowadays.” The pong lingers on in my memory, it was a very hot summer day and our neighbour was having friends to tea in her immaculate garden next door.
Life got less fragrant when I got back to work and we could afford to get connected to mains drainage.

 

[Margaid]

Oh yes, I remember the "lovely crust"comment when the anaerobic tank was drained so it could be broken up and the new system installed!

 

[LadyA]

I wasn't, thankfully, having any issues with the septic tank. I did get it emptied once, maybe 10 years ago, because it hadn't been done since the house was built. The drain field, I know, the previous owners put something like 200 tons of stone in there. I'm quite obsessive about what goes down the loo or down the sinks, carefully wiping anything greasy, and binning the paper towel. I just thought I'd do what I could to keep things going well.

 

[dianefairhall]

We have a septic tank too and had it pumped out last year. Our neighbours (who now own the field where it is buried) couldn't remember it being done recently so I suppose it is working well. I always check cleaning products to make sure they are compatible with septic tanks and never use bleach or washing powder. The loo still needs cleaning so I use eco products.

 

[Icemaiden]

We too have a septic tank. I've heard the stories about glass bottles being mortared into them; I 've never seen the bottom of our tank, so I couldn't say.

What I do know is that we've not needed to empty the tank in 20 years but we have very happy rose bushes & cobnut trees. It wasn't hard to tell when our neighbour's eucalyptus tree found the tank either; it suddenly started growing at rocket speed!