If there’s one topic that is evergreen at the Ping, it is encompassed best by this 2022 news story, which uses the phrase “The Poop Train” in the first sentence. Apparently, for years waste had been transported from New Jersey and New York for disposal in West Jefferson, Alabama, leaving residents there understandably complaining about the… aroma.
For some reason, it took me by surprise that states don’t always manage their own solid waste in-house, so to speak. It probably shouldn’t surprise me because states are going to have varying degrees of ability/space/whatever for that type of management, but the idea of “out-of-state human waste” being transported by rail is still so weird. I mean, who knew there was a Poo Poo Choo Choo.1
As you might imagine, Paul and I spent time brainstorming potential names for a trade journal about poop transport. We came up with:
- Today’s Sewage Commissioners
- Sewage and You
- Sewage for the New Age
- A Taste of Waste
- Water and Wastes Digest
Unfortunately, the actual trade publication has a less inspired name: Trade Plant Operator. I did learn from TPO magazine, though, about the Grit King (sponsored content!), which will “remove fine grit to protect downstream processes at small, medium or large wastewater treatment plants.”
For further reading on waste management and where New York City’s waste goes, this episode of Radiolab is a good place to start. And it seems that some in Florida would like to sell theirs. If you’re in Australia, there’s some guidance. And definitely don’t read this non-transport related piece that was almost certainly written by GPT-3.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find out what happened in West Jefferson, as news coverage of the poop train seems to have gotten clogged in mid-February of 2022 when the state put a temporary plug in the poop plan. Updates will be added here within two years of our finding out about them.
1 Yes, this entire Ping may possibly exist just because I wanted to use that phrase.
Posted in Toilets
