In camps of 100 or more people where burning is difficult, pits for burying garbage have been found satisfactory if properly cared for and dug not near the camp buildings or source of water supply. They should be deep, oblong in shape, and the earth should be thrown up at one side to be used in covering the garbage as soon as it is thrown into the pit.
In a camp where there is no plumbing, liquid waste as well as garbage, can be disposed of in the following way. Dig a trench four feet long, two feet deep and thirty inches wide at one end; eight inches wide and level with the ground at the other end; line with stone, or if this is impossible, use tin, sheet iron, or brick. Put the garbage into the trench, build a fire on top of it, when the fire is very hot pour the liquid waste into the trench at the small end. If there is a great deal of garbage some of it will have to be put on top of the fire which should be made of heavy logs of hard wood. Tin cans can be burnt in this fire and then treated as stated before.
The disposing of camp garbage is not a difficult matter if some system and care are used. It is necessary to have a covered pail near the kitchen door for use during the day. The contents of this pail should be burned or buried every night after supper and if necessary once during the day, preferably after dinner. If this pail is lined with two or three thicknesses of newspaper each time after emptying, it will be kept in good condition.
If garbage is to be carted out of camp, have proper receptacles for transporting it and do not let too much accumulate at any one time.
Under no circumstances allow waste food to be strewn on the ground anywhere within camp limits, or the ground around the garbage pail, pit or incinerator to be untidy.
One of the best disinfectants for latrines and garbage pits is smouldering tar paper. Break the paper into small pieces, throw into the latrine or pit, light and let smoulder.
At least twice a week camp grounds should be thoroughly inspected to make sure that there are no pest breeding places such as pools of stagnant water, old tin cans in which water will collect, trash heaps, and so forth. It is much easier to keep flies and mosquitoes away by doing away with such places, than it is to exterminate them after they have come in large numbers. If camp grounds and buildings are cleaned every day and all waste properly disposed of, there is little danger of trouble from pests.