Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Zero Pollution Sanitation Scheme

Divide the town in two, assign acidic cleaners to one side, basic to the other...
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This one might be too half-baked for the halfbakery...

The idea is to only allow active ingredients in household cleaners that chemically neutralize each other and become harmless.

Divide the town into "Red Bathrooms" and "Blue Bathrooms." The color of the bathroom indicates not only the decoration scheme (which will be mandatory) but also the color litmus paper turns when exposed to the cleaners you're supposed to use in them (Red for Acid, Blue for Base).

All cleaners that can be purchased on the "blue" side of town will be made with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and come in blue bottles. Likewise, all cleaners available on the "red" side of town will be made with Hydrochloric acid (HCl) and labeled red. Baking Soda (NaHCO3) based cleaners will be allowed on both sides, since this chemical is a buffer that will neutralize either acids of bases.

The sewage from both sides of town will meet before it comes to the waste processing plant. The reaction

NaOH (aq) + HCl (aq) -> NaCl (aq) + H2O (l)

will ensure that we only end up with pH neutral salt water from the active ingredients of our hard-core cleaning agents. The sewage will then be processed by a (hopefully simpler) wastewater treatment system. Depending on the concentration, the heat produced by the reaction can be reclaimed.

This will obviously work only in a new, planned development. Some additional processing might be needed at the treatment plant if the pH of the resulting water is not neutral.

cowtamer, Nov 27 2006

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       Nice idea, I have bunned it for its halfbakedness. However, I think this planet may well have enough salt water without making more.
webfishrune, Nov 27 2006
  

       But NaOH will ruin my glass shower door, and HCl will no doubt ruin some other bathroom thing.
Texticle, Nov 27 2006
  

       Most cleaners already have these chemicals as their active ingredient...besides, there are no wimpy glass shower doors in the mandatory Litmus-themed Bathroom Decor!!
cowtamer, Nov 28 2006
  

       None of those "My side is cleaner than your side!" competitions, ya hear? (And likewise, I can neither bun nor bone, as I would upset the +4/-4 balance that currently exists.)
lurch, Nov 28 2006
  

       sorry to say but your idea displays a devastating lack of understanding of pollution and of waste water treatment.
jhomrighaus, Nov 28 2006
  

       ...and of waste water systems and of waste water and of chemistry and of interior design...
methinksnot, Nov 28 2006
  

       but this is the halbakery.....
webfishrune, Nov 28 2006
  

       but webfish, nothing here would do anything at all to eliminate pollution. In fact it would cause pollution by changing salinity levels in the receiving waterway. We wont even get into all the real pollution that this would have no chance of combating .
jhomrighaus, Nov 28 2006
  

       I know. I said that in a previous anno. I still bun it, however, for its halfbakedness and imagery.
webfishrune, Nov 28 2006
  

       I'm with [webfishrune] on this one. We're definately flying the "impossible in interesting ways" with this one. The imagery - particularly of the different impossiblities of how to synchronize cleaning between the two sides of town - can be hilarious if you'll allow yourself a slight suspension of disbelief for a few moments. Sure, it's impossible. That ain't the point.
lurch, Nov 28 2006
  

       Its less a question of impossible and more a question of just complete and utter lack of even a basic understanding of what pollution is or how a sewer system operates.   

       Its not just bad science its anti-science.   

       (anti-science = concepts so bad that they actually suck up good science)
jhomrighaus, Nov 28 2006
  

       And neutralizes it. See, you're doing it now. There is no escape!
lurch, Nov 28 2006
  

       Exploding manhole
dev45, Nov 28 2006
  
      
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