6. Loos, Glorious Loos
"When I became a burner I loved the principal of Leave no trace. To be at an event with 2000 party people and absolutely no rubbish was incredible. But it’s not always as straightforward as I first thought.
If a camp at Borderland create a pizza oven from rocks, soil and sea water at the beach is it MOOP that needs to be ‘dismantled’ after the event? Or is it just matter rearranged that will revert to it’s natural position within a season?
Although you wouldn’t dream of taking a pee behind a barrio at Nowhere, what about behind a yurt at Nest in a field that obviously had animals in it the previous week and it was pouring with rain?
At my first Microburn I realised I wasn’t sure where I could brush my teeth and saw people flicking cigarette ash with the justification that it degrades very quickly and when I tried to find out what we should be doing nobody really seemed to know. Which is why I made up my own rules.
While I’m more than happy to have a cheeky pee in my own garden and I have two dogs who know nothing other than ‘al fresco’, I reasoned that if I was Kevin and Fran, the site owners, I certainly wouldn’t want 175 other buggers doing it!
So I decided to make posters for all the toilets to guide people as to exactly where they could and couldn’t deposit their various personal MOOP. From this grew the idea of pimping all the portaloos so that people would respect and enjoy them - and you certainly did. It made my day when I saw somebody exit the old ladies chintzy toilet on day 2, shake the mat outside and very diligently reposition it ready for the next occupant.
So this year I would really like some help. We will have 6-8 portaloos and and 2 sets of compost toilets. We are looking for teams, pairs, individuals, anyone really, to take on the fabulously fun task of pimping out a bog. There will be a budget available and I do have more theme ideas and some lights, but really, the portaloo is your oyster and new ideas would be amazing.
So please: adopt a toilet! it’s a very easy way to make a lot of Microburners very happy poopers <3"
By Carole Billingham, LNT lead and professional bog-pimper
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