waste plumbing was designed for sinks, tubs and toilets, that was before disposals and tampons existed.
fibrous material can clump together and catch on plumbing. these clumps and snags grow.
maybe high velocity high volume daily flushes could prevent blockages. this would have a cost (monetary, technical and environmental) of treating lots more water and having tremendously larger amounts of sewage to treat. maybe that cost is too high and human training is less costly.
Yes, I’ve been wondering how low-flow toilets and shower-heads are going to affect the ability of 90-year-old sewage lines to clear the solid waste. I fear we may be turning our sewers into compost bins. Not that they haven’t always done that to some extent, but the lack of water to keep things moving along could make for a drastic increase in the amount of solid waste building up down there.
If I understand correctly how these things work, that would result in a huge increase in the amount of solid waste washed raw into the overflow pipes during big storms.
My parents had a garbage compactor.
It could take a tall kitchen trash can of garbage and turn it into a cube about 24 inches square. By crushing cans, bottles, and squeezing all the air out. It even had an air freshener cartridge that squirted into it. It required special refill trash bags and a replacement air freshener cartridge.
They used the compactor for almost 10 years until it finally broke.
Trash compactors are still sold at Sears, Lowes etc.
Compactors became popular after the landfill scare (late 70’s early 80’s?) when public awareness campaigns succeeded in making the average American aware that their trash was not, in fact, made to disappear by little gnomes. My Father’s old neighborhood HOA in Michigan required them. They were also popular in areas where private trash companies charged by the can. 2-3 neighbors would chip in for one garbage removal contract, then use compactors to keep from overflowing the can.
In the end, I think it was decided that they were worse for the environment overall, because the trash did not break down as easily.
Maybe they’ll have a renaissance as a carbon sequestration scheme. . .
Trash doesn’t break down easily in landfills anyway, there’s too little oxygen, and if they’re sealed as they should be the breakdown products won’t be going anywhere anyway. Which is another reason for composting, so that all that nutritious organic material isn’t wasted by going into the landfill and never becoming available to the living community again.
drillings have been done into garbage dumps. still recognizable food was brought up at the same time as half a century old dated newspapers. anaerobic decomposition can be slow. methane produced can be collected.
home trash compacting was popular when recycling was done though not required like it might be now. it does take recyclables out of the recycling stream. organic material can’t be composted if compacted.
trash is compacted at the time of collection by the collecting trucks or compacted before it is transported up to hundreds of miles to available landfills. i don’t know how these compaction densities compare to each other.
organic materials