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A honeywagon is the slang term for a "
A honeywagon is the slang term for a "vacuum truck
A vacuum truck, vacuum tanker, vactor truck, or vactor is a tank truck that has a pump and a tank. The pump is designed to pneumatically suck liquids, sludges, slurries, or the like from a location (often underground) into the tank of the truc ...
" for collecting and carrying human excreta
Human waste (or human excreta) refers to the waste products of the human digestive system, menses, and human metabolism including urine and faeces. As part of a sanitation system that is in place, human waste is collected, transported, treated a ...
. These vehicles may be used to empty the sewage tanks of buildings, aircraft lavatories, passenger train toilets and at campgrounds and marinas as well as portable toilets. The folk etymology behind the name 'honeywagon' is thought to relate to the honey-colored liquid that comes out of it when emptying the holding tanks.
History
The honey wagon was originally a horse-drawn vehicle that went through back alleys to collect human excreta. Houses at that time did not haveflush toilet
A flush toilet (also known as a flushing toilet, water closet (WC) – see also toilet names) is a toilet that disposes of human waste (principally urine and feces) by using the force of water to ''flush'' it through a drainpipe to another loca ...
s or indeed any form of indoor sanitation beyond the chamberpot. In rural areas the outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may also be used ...
(privy) is associated with a pit latrine
A pit latrine, also known as pit toilet, is a type of toilet that collects human feces in a hole in the ground. Urine and feces enter the pit through a drop hole in the floor, which might be connected to a toilet seat or squatting pan for use ...
of various sorts, but many towns and cities depended on some variant of the pail closet
A pail closet or pail privy was a room used for the disposal of Human waste, human excreta, under the "pail system" (or Rochdale system) of waste removal. The "closet" (a word which had long meant "toilet" in one usage) was a small outhouse (pri ...
, which needed frequent emptying. At each outdoor toilet, the driver (honey dipper) would stop the wagon, flip up the back hatch door (trap-door) of the outhouse, slide out the pail (bucket), pick it up, and dump the contents into one of eight oak half-barrels in the wagon box. The half-barrels had no lids. These toilets were known as dunnies in Australia, hence the "dunnywagon" driven by "dunnymen".
Use in film and television industry
A honeywagon is aportable toilet
A portable or mobile toilet (colloquial terms: thunderbox, portaloo, porta-john or porta-potty) is any type of toilet that can be moved around, some by one person, some by mechanical equipment such as a truck and crane. Most types do not require ...
unit used in the film and television industry. Many take the form of a specialized semi-trailer
A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer.
A large proportion of a semi-trailer's weight is supported by a trac ...
.
In the UK a honeywagon usually refers to a set of toilets used by the cast and crew. These come in all shapes and sizes - either trailer-base or built into the box body of a truck. In America, the term honeywagon is usually given to a truck, trailer or combination of both with a number of dressing rooms for the actor. These either have individual toilets or a communal set built in. Some honeywagons will be just two large toilets. Others are a combination of variously sized rooms for specific purposes: these rooms can be private dressing rooms assigned to a single person, larger rooms configured for the wardrobe, or makeup departments, small individual toilets for the crew to share, and multiple user or individual shower rooms for bathing.
Operation
The operator connects a hose to the discharge outlet on the recreational vehicle, boat or building and pumps the waste into the wagon's holding tank. When the tank is full, the operator should empty the tank at an approvedholding tank dump station
A dump station is a place where raw sewage may be entered into a sanitary sewer system in a safe and responsible way. Dump stations are often used by owners of motorhomes, campervans, recreational vehicles or boats that are equipped with toilet f ...
or sewage lagoon
Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding en ...
.
See also
* Honey bucket, another name for abucket toilet
A bucket toilet is a basic form of a dry toilet whereby a bucket (pail) is used to collect excreta. Usually, feces and urine are collected together in the same bucket, leading to odor issues. The bucket may be situated inside a dwelling, or i ...
*Manual scavenging
Manual scavenging is a term used mainly in India for "manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or sewer or in a septic tank or a pit". Manual scavengers usually ...
* Manure spreader
A manure spreader or muck spreader or honey wagon is an agricultural machine used to distribute manure over a field as a fertilizer. A typical (modern) manure spreader consists of a trailer towed behind a tractor with a rotating mechanism driven b ...
References
{{Toilets , state=expanded Waste collection vehicles Pumps Toilets