Amber on Ice

So dealing with human waste in the field is an interesting process to say the least. Human waste is dealt with differently depending if you're on ice or land. In the Dry Valley's, land based, ALL human waste must be containerized and shipped back to McMurdo where it is then packed into mill vans and shipped back to the US for disposal. Imagine this... Our tax dollars which help to fund the National Science Foundation literally go in part to shipping human "s*%t" from Antarctica. I love that little factoid. So poo has to be captured in 5-gallon buckets which are plastic bag lined. They sit beneath a toilet seat much like a port-o-potty. Field personnel have to change out the buckets as needed, you can imagine an overflowing poo bucket would not be fun. They get boxed up in tri-walls, sling-loaded by chopper and flown back to town. Pee... So you get issued a "Pee Bottle" from the Berg Field Center when traveling out into the field, funnels are optional for ladies. When out from camp you pee in your bottle and then dump it into the carboy container. In the port-o-pot you pee in the empty coffee can and then dump down the funnel into the carboy container. Pee gets shipped back just the same and dumped into our waste treatment system here in town. I simply had to share this information with you all : )