The economy and ecology of living in a lorry, Part 2
Yes the blog you have been waiting
for! Mr Alexander’s Waste Disposal
blog!
It comes down to this. What comes in and what goes out. That’s all there is. And you are almost forced
to think about it more carefully if you live in a small mobile space.
Partly because of weight and space, but
mostly to do with a closer awareness of personal need. If you look online for Maslow’s Hierarchy of
needs (http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html)
you will find a fascinating breakdown of the basic human needs, and living in
the lorry throws these into very sharp focus.
This blog is about the lowest level of the triangle – the physiological
- food water shelter and warmth. We’re talking the waste from these four.
Waste from food. I have managed to reduce the kitchen waste
down to one carrier bag every two days.
Most of this is soft plastic but there is always the carcass of the dog’s
chicken. I really ought to convert it to stock but to be honest I’m virtually
veggie so it just is chucked. I do use
the jus minus the fat to put in the boiling water so it flavours the dog’s
rice. They eat every bit! I give small
bits of food to the birds. I have really almost eliminated any other food waste
and I choose packaged items in Aldi with care so there is little goes to
landfill. I separate cardboard, hard plastic and glass and recycle those
locally. The single bidiurnal (posh word
for every other day) carrier bag is taken to a service station, Aldi carpark
and sometimes a friend’s dustbin. I try
not to let it mount up as it is obviously a mouse magnet if left, for example,
in my small trailer. And I do spread it
about in different places. I feel almost
ok about this as I pay taxes, National Insurance and over the odds for LPG but
I also feel I do need to give something back to the community so I can justify
the fact that I don’t pay any Community Charge.
And I do think about it.
Waste from water. I empty the toilet cassette about twice a
week in the toilet at the yard and use biodegradable toilet fluid in it. There’s loads on the internet about portable
toilets if you want to know more. I find
the process of carrying the cassette and emptying it a leveling experience. There is something purifying about it
too. Anyway enough of that. The waste
from washing, dishes, body and clothes has been called grey water and I usually
just let this run into the ground. I
pipe it several metres away from the lorry so it doesn’t cause any smells while
it is dissipating. Rain then washes it
all clean. And there’s certainly been enough of that lately. The recent floods
have made us all aware of how fragile our waste water system is in this
country. I think letting it drain into
the ground is much better than sending down the sewers. I am careful not to let too much food waste
go down the kitchen sink because of smells.
If I was next to the garden I would channel it into there.
Waste from warmth. The ashes from the fire I spread out on ‘waste’
ground at the side of the yard. I’m not
totally happy with this but maybe I can use it on the garden eventually. Perhaps I can find a way to grind it up. The gas water heaters and space heaters vent
the carbon monoxide into the air. The smoke from the wood burner too. Not
good but I could offset that with planting in the garden. The ‘waste’ warmth
from the woodburner also heats a kettle and dries my clothes, so from time to
time the lorry is more like some strange Chinese laundry than a living space!
There’s no real waste from my shelter, but
the lorry engine is obviously bad for the environment. I spent a fortune last
year on special particulate filters for the exhaust, good enough to avoid the London
Emissions Zone Charge, so if it’s good enough for Boris, it’s good enough for
me. I try to keep any engine oil or
other engine fluid leaks down to a minimum, but it is an elderly lorry. I’m trying to do more local events, but at
the end of the day I do have to travel.
I’m a Travelling Show, so it goes with the job. I would like to use more solar power and I’m
planning some investment along those lines as soon as I can afford it.
Finally I have spoken previously about not
owning too much and the weight issue in any mobile home is crucial. Once every 12 months I go through the larger
items onboard and if I have not used them in a year they’re out. The barbecue nearly went this year but I did
use it once on the Isle of Wight so it’s had a reprieve.
The things that are hard are the
sentimental ones, the objects that remind me of people or occasions. Art is hard to leave behind too as it is
uplifting for the soul.
Checkout the Hierarchy of Needs – it’s all
there and it’s fascinating. I'll work up the Triangle in a later blog.
And so that’s it Mr Alexander’s Waste
blog. I hope you didn’t find it a waste
of time as well!
All the best from a road near you,
Mr Alexander