Where Does The Poop In Antarctica Go? | NOVA | PBS

[00:00:00]- So, one thing that you should know about NOVA is that we love poo and pee, and then gross things in general.

[00:00:07]We have to film what we're calling "The Poop Episode."

[00:00:11]And that requires us to film a little section of it in an actual bathroom.

[00:00:16]- I don't understand why we have to use the men's room.

[00:00:21]- Personally, I think Zac and I do not want to be arrested.

[00:00:26]So men's room it is.

[00:00:32]- [Caitlin] Hey, Arlo?

[00:00:33]What do you think they do with all the poop?

[00:00:36]- [Arlo] Huh, I think we should go find out.

[00:00:44]Antarctica is the most pristine continent on our planet.

[00:00:48]But keeping it that way is a challenge.

[00:00:51]- [Caitlin] McMurdo, the largest station in Antarctica, houses about 900 people in summer.

[00:00:56]- [Arlo] And those people generate two and a half million pounds of trash.

[00:01:01]- [Caitlin] And there are about 350 toilets, which flush to somewhere.

[00:01:06]- [Arlo] Which makes us wonder, where does all our waste actually go?

[00:01:11]- [Caitlin] Fortunately, it's not too hard to find out.

[00:01:14]In McMurdo, all of the pipes are above ground, literally miles of them.

[00:01:19]So, it's surprisingly easy to just follow the poop.

[00:01:23]I mean, pipes.

[00:01:25]Follow the poop pipes.

[00:01:27]- Some of them are poop pipes, some of them are water pipes.

[00:01:29]And some of them are captured heat.

[00:01:31]- [Caitlin] And they lead here, to the wastewater treatment plant, where Biologist, Yubecca Bragg, has the unusual job of fostering a poop eating ecosystem.

[00:01:39]- To me, that's one of the greatest jobs I could ever have.

[00:01:43]- [Caitlin] 24 hours a day, all the sewage from McMurdo flows into this building.

[00:01:47]That's the shower and laundry water, the dish water.

[00:01:50]And yep, the toilet water.

[00:01:53]And this is where it gets cleaned up enough that it can be dumped back out into the ocean, about 30,000 gallons of it daily.

[00:02:00]- As it comes in, this is the real deal.

[00:02:03]So, we're at 12:30.

[00:02:05]This is the height of lunch.

[00:02:07]And so, lots of people are using the bathroom, and we have shift changes.

[00:02:12]Lots of people are showering.

[00:02:14]- [Caitlin] The first step.

[00:02:15]All the raw sewage goes through the Muffin Monster.

[00:02:18]No joke, it's actually called the Muffin Monster.

[00:02:21]It grinds everything up so that what we see is this brown water.

[00:02:26]- [Yubecca] This is what it looks like coming in.

[00:02:27]- [Caitlin] There's, like, chunks in there.

[00:02:29]- [Yubecca] Yeah, there's chunks in there.

[00:02:30]- [Caitlin] The sewage is full of biological material that can harm the environment.

[00:02:35]- [Yubecca] 'Cause this really is one of the grossest things we do.

[00:02:37]- [Caitlin] And some non-biological material.

[00:02:40]- [Yubecca] Once a day we have to clean this out.

[00:02:42]So, are you ready?

[00:02:44]- Yeah.

[00:02:45]- [Yubecca] Okay.

[00:02:47]- [Caitlin] Ohhhh.

[00:02:49]- [Yubecca] It's kinda icky.

[00:02:50]You wanna help out today?

[00:02:52]- [Caitlin] Do I have to?

[00:02:53]- [Yubecca] Yeah.

[00:02:54]- [Caitlin] This is called the splitter box.

[00:02:56]- [Yubecca] So, what we do is we just scrape.

[00:02:57]- [Caitlin] And it's where, every day, a human being has to clean out all the stuff that you knew you were not supposed to flush, but you did anyway.

[00:03:06]- [Yubecca] Things like wet wipes, sanitary items, condoms.

[00:03:10]- [Caitlin] And today, that human being is me.

[00:03:13]- [Yubecca] So, you wanna give it a go?

[00:03:14]You wanna just pull it up?

[00:03:15]- [Caitlin] Can you tell when certain meals have been served?

[00:03:17]- [Yubecca] Absolutely.

[00:03:18]- [Caitlin] Really?

[00:03:22]How long have you been doing this job?

[00:03:24]- [Yubecca] For about 11 years here.

[00:03:26]There's a good chunk right over there.

[00:03:28]- [Caitlin] Oh.

[00:03:29]That is a good chunk.

[00:03:31]- [Arlo] While Caitlin tracks down where all the poop goes, I head up to the waste barn.

[00:03:37]- Oh, man, I think this is one of the best jobs on station.

[00:03:40]Good mix of indoor/outdoor work.

[00:03:42]Small team working together.

[00:03:44]We break things for a living.

[00:03:46]It's fantastic.

[00:03:49]Yeah, I can't imagine working anywhere else.

[00:03:51]- [Arlo] James VanMatre, and his team of wasties, as they call themselves, take care of all the other trash on station that's the food waste, the recycling, hazardous materials.

[00:04:01]All of it.

[00:04:02]- [James] All right team, let's make it go away, huh.

[00:04:08]- [Arlo] Today, I am helping with the cardboard.

[00:04:14]I like your system.

[00:04:16]And they get a lot of it, about three dumpsters a day.

[00:04:23]So, where does this all go?

[00:04:23]- [James] All the trash here goes to California.

[00:04:26]- Wait, California?

[00:04:27]- [James] Oh yeah.

[00:04:27]- [Arlo] How come?

[00:04:28]- Well, New Zealand doesn't want it.

[00:04:32]And because of the treaty, it all has to leave the continent.

[00:04:35]- [Arlo] That treaty is the Antarctic Treaty.

[00:04:38]It's an international agreement established to protect the continent.

[00:04:42]- [James] We no longer burn, bury or dump waste in Antarctica.

[00:04:45]We get our annual supply vessel that comes in in February and we will put a year's worth of trash on it, and you will see 400 shipping containers where the garbage leaves the station at one time.

[00:04:55]- [Arlo] While boxing up hundreds of containers of trash might not sound like the most glamorous job, at least I'm not handling poop.

[00:05:05]- [Yubecca] These are our different chambers.

[00:05:07]- [Caitlin] After all the big stuff gets filtered out at the splitter box, the wastewater goes into these huge tanks.

[00:05:12]- [Caitlin] And what's happening in these things?

[00:05:14]- Well, there's the breakdown of the waste.

[00:05:16]So, at this end, we have the raw sewage coming in.

[00:05:19]And we're mixing it with all of the bugs coming back from the end of the process.

[00:05:24]- [Caitlin] And what are bugs?

[00:05:26]- Microorganisms.

[00:05:27]They're the real workers in the plant.

[00:05:30]We're just the stewards of the microorganisms.

[00:05:33]- [Caitlin] Bugs are the key to how McMurdo deals with all our poop.

[00:05:36]Fascinating.

[00:05:38]- [Yubecca] And then when you bring it up, we're just gonna put it in the bucket.

[00:05:41]- [Caitlin] To see how this works, Yubecca shows me how to sample the stuff in the digesters.

[00:05:45]- [Yubecca] All right.

[00:05:50]- [Caitlin] The wastewater treatment plant in McMurdo actually has its own microbiology lab.

[00:05:55]- Ah, here we go.

[00:05:58]So, check this guy out.

[00:06:01]- [Caitlin] Whoa.

[00:06:01]- [Yubecca] Yeah.

[00:06:03]- [Caitlin] That thing is huge.

[00:06:03]- [Yubecca] Right, he's like a boa constrictor, yeah?

[00:06:05]- [Caitlin] Yeah.

[00:06:06]- [Yubecca] So, you see, he's got these bristles and that just propels him through the flock.

[00:06:10]- And the flock is the?

[00:06:11]- Is the poo.

[00:06:12]So that's our poo right there.

[00:06:14]- Oh, yeah.

[00:06:15]So, what are the bugs doing to the poop?

[00:06:17]- [Yubecca] Well, they're eating your poop.

[00:06:19]- They're eating it?

[00:06:20]- [Yubecca] Mm-hmm, yup.

[00:06:21]- [Caitlin] These bugs don't think of our poop as disgusting.

[00:06:24]They think of it as energy.

[00:06:26]- [Yubecca] And you can see inside of him here the digestion.

[00:06:29]He's got a bellyful.

[00:06:31]- [Caitlin] Him eating our poop and then making his own poop.

[00:06:33]- [Yubecca] Yep, and then something smaller is coming along and eating his poop.

[00:06:36]- [Caitlin] It's the food chain.

[00:06:38]The poop chain.

[00:06:39]Looking at it this way, the grossness of poop kinda disappears.

[00:06:43]Actually, the poop chain is literally how the grossness disappears.

[00:06:49]As the bugs eat our poop, they remove almost all of the pollutants from the wastewater.

[00:06:54]It's pretty elegant.

[00:06:56]- [Yubecca] Oh, there's the bear.

[00:06:58]- [Caitlin] Oh, is that a water bear?

[00:06:59]- [Yubecca] There's our water bear.

[00:07:00]- [Caitlin] Wow.

[00:07:02]- [Yubecca] Check it out, Caitlin.

[00:07:02]- [Caitlin] Water bears are like the superheroes of microorganisms.

[00:07:06]They are nearly indestructible.

[00:07:08]They can survive frozen in ice, in the vacuum of space, and they thrive in our poop.

[00:07:15]What are their role in the process?

[00:07:17]- [Yubecca] They're just another microorganism that breaks down the waste.

[00:07:22]- [Caitlin] They must be particularly special.

[00:07:23]You were excited to see them.

[00:07:25]- [Yubecca] Well, they're the cutest.

[00:07:27]I mean, come on.

[00:07:29]- [Caitlin] Now, I'm kinda glad I'm not the one stuck at the dump.

[00:07:32]- This is Fortress Rocks.

[00:07:34]It's a very fancy name for the town dump, basically.

[00:07:39]- [Arlo] This field of shipping containers is filled with trash throughout the year.

[00:07:43]- [James] We store all our full containers up here that are gonna go on the vessel.

[00:07:47]- [Arlo] And the workhorses filling these containers?

[00:07:49]A group of old forklifts, lovingly nicknamed, pickles.

[00:07:54]- [James] I believe it's the green color and the overall shape that made it a pickle.

[00:07:57]That's a creative mind.

[00:07:58]I don't really see it.

[00:08:00]- [Arlo] The pickles fit perfectly into the shipping containers, which is why the wasties use them to load the compacted trash.

[00:08:08]- [Arlo] So, is this where it comes out?

[00:08:08]- [James] Yep.

[00:08:09]- [Arlo] Like this 800-pound bail of cardboard I just made.

[00:08:12]- [James] So, come on around, we'll get you in.

[00:08:14]And we'll go see if we can get that cardboard bail you made.

[00:08:17]Are you ready?

[00:08:23]- [Arlo] My task is to put the cardboard into a shipping container.

[00:08:27]Seems pretty straightforward, right?

[00:08:29]- [James] You're gonna go in real slow 'cause there's no ramp.

[00:08:31]This is the next level stuff here, but I think you can do it.

[00:08:34]- [Arlo] Turns out, it's excruciatingly difficult.

[00:08:41]- This is not an easy machine to drive.

[00:08:43]And this is not the easiest task.

[00:08:45]So yeah, bring the forks up a bit.

[00:08:52]Now go straight down.

[00:08:53]Go all the way in, go down, now go out.

[00:08:55]But it's not a pure science.

[00:08:57]Until you get this right, you're stuck in there.

[00:08:59]- [Arlo] Oh, yeah.

[00:09:02]- [James] I could've picked an easier job for him.

[00:09:05]- [Caitlin] While Arlo wrestles with the pickle, I'm getting a new perspective.

[00:09:10]The digesters are like an aquarium for poop eating bugs.

[00:09:14]And Yubecca is their keeper, making sure they have a healthy poopy ecosystem.

[00:09:21]After the bugs have feasted on our poop.

[00:09:23]- So you can see, it's pretty clear.

[00:09:25]- Yep.

[00:09:26]The sludge mixture can be separated into clear water that, with a bit of UV treatment, can go into the ocean.

[00:09:32]And dry solids that end up here.

[00:09:36]This is the box of poo.

[00:09:37]- [Yubecca] This is the box of poo.

[00:09:38]- Oh my God, look at this.

[00:09:40]That's a different kind of poo.

[00:09:41]This is basically fertilizer now.

[00:09:45]It looks like dirt.

[00:09:45]What does it smell like?

[00:09:46]Doesn't smell too bad.

[00:09:47]- [Yubecca] Yeah, it's a little earthy.

[00:09:49]- Want to smell?

[00:09:50]- [Zac] How's it taste?

[00:09:52]- No, I'm not doing that.

[00:09:53]Still definitely not something I'd wanna taste, or is it?

[00:09:59]- [Yubecca] So sometimes this is where we'll have the tomatoes germinate.

[00:10:02]- Wait, wait, what?

[00:10:02]- Yeah.

[00:10:03]So, the tomatoes make it all the way through our system.

[00:10:06]Five to seven days after we press, boom.

[00:10:08]We have tomatoes growing.

[00:10:10]- [Caitlin] You heard that right.

[00:10:11]Tomato seeds from our food pass through our bodies, through the poop pipes, past the bugs, to end up in this box and actually sprout new tomato plants.

[00:10:22]And from there?

[00:10:24]I was okay with the vegetables for, like, the first few days.

[00:10:29]- [Arlo] Okay, no, they don't actually get served in the cafeteria.

[00:10:36]The tomatoes, along with the rest of the waste, gets shipped to California where they'll be incinerated.

[00:10:43]But before that can happen, it comes up here to me, to be put in one of these shipping containers.

[00:10:51]That is, if I can ever get out of this one.

[00:10:58]- [James] Yeah, get as much of the bottom of that bail touching the one on the floor.

[00:11:02]And that will help you get out from underneath it.

[00:11:04](victorious music) - [James] Nailed it. (both laughing) - [Arlo] Okay, this job is awesome.

[00:11:14]- [Caitlin] We started out wanting to know where all the waste goes.

[00:11:18]- [Arlo] It was basically supposed to be a joke episode.

[00:11:21]- [Caitlin] But what we thought would be the grossest jobs on station.

[00:11:24]- [James] Nice job, man.

[00:11:25]That was one of the harder jobs our people do in this thing.

[00:11:27]- [Caitlin] Were actually really rewarding.

[00:11:29]- That was so fun.

[00:11:31]- And they're not even that gross.

[00:11:34]- This is the best place in the world to be a trashman.

[00:11:36]No flies, no rats, nothing rots.

[00:11:40]- [Yubecca] Watch your step.

[00:11:40]- [Caitlin] Instead, they're the jobs that keep this station running.

[00:11:44]And protect the pristine Antarctic environment.

[00:11:47]- One of the most amazing places to be an environmental steward.

[00:11:50]I'm pretty happy in the plant.

[00:11:54]- [James] So, you made the bail, you picked it up, and you put it in the thing.

[00:11:56]You did the whole task.

[00:11:58]- [Arlo] Thank you very much.

[00:11:59]- Hey, no problem, man.

[00:12:00]- So, do I get the job?

[00:12:03]- You can come down and work in waste.

[00:12:04]You let me know.