1. Dishwashing
HKR 3220 - Summer Outdoor Activities
Kevin Redmond and Basil Kavanagh
By: Taylor Hamlyn
2. OVERVIEW
When camping, dishes must be cleaned after every meal.
This presentation will include techniques for dishwashing,
which enables students to uphold hygiene, camp
cleanliness, and wilderness preservation
Focus:
●Cleaning techniques for hygienic purposes
●Disposing of gray water
●Preventing illnesses due to improper sanitary practices
3. CLEANING WITH HOT
WATER
When camping, utensils, plates, bowls, and mugs can
be cleaned using hot water. After cooking any meal,
students will be responsible to clean their dishes and
cooking groups will look after their cook set
●Students cook a light lunch
●Using a large pot, swish hot, boiled water on used
kitchenware until it is clean
●Plates and cutlery may be soaked and washed in a
large pot of hot water
4. TEACHING POINTS
● Scrub lightly using fingers
or a washcloth to avoid
splashing hot water
● For more stubborn cleanup,
soak the dish before
washing
● Cooking and cleaning
should be limited to three or
four people
● This method requires NO
soap
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5. RISK MANAGEMENT
● Lighting a stove is required to heat
most meals while camping
● Be careful to avoid scalding from hot
water or burns due to stove flare-ups
● Follow safe practices for stove lighting
and group cooking and use proper
sanitation practices; if cleaning and
food-handling practices aren’t
completed properly they may lead to
food poisoning (Redmond, Foran,
Dwyer) Cooking Stove and Fuel
6. RECYCLING GRAY
WATER
Students have the option to
dispose of their gray water as
a tea
●Strain dishwater and dispose
of food particles in a bag
●Boil gray water and drop in a
tea bag
●Let tea sit until it has cooled
7. TEACHING POINTS
This process is a convenient and fast method of
cleanup
●Have teachers demonstrate this practice
●Help students discover that the tea covers the taste
of the tainted water, allowing them to adjust to the
concept of ‘gray’ tea
●Consider using hot chocolate or other drinks
●This is a soapless activity
8. SUMP METHOD
A sump is a filtration system (primarly for food-particle
removal) for gray water before the gray water is
disposed of in a cathole. A cathole offers a natural
filtration system for gray water. The three sump
methods are a litterbag, cheesecloth, or a kitchen
strainer (Redmond, Foran, Dwyer)
Cathole
9. PREPARATION
● Dig a cathole (15 centimeters [6 inches] deep) in a
location outside the cooking area and away from
any trails, sleeping shelters, or water
● Save the covering duff layer and soil to cover in the
cathole
● Wash kitchenware with little or no soap, using
natural scrubbers (moss) or a dishcloth
● When the dishes are cleaned, get rid of gray water
using one of the following methods
10. LITTERBAG
A litterbag is a plastic shopping bag
containing duff. Drainage holes are located in
the center of the bag (Redmond, Foran,
Dwyer)
●The bag is held over the cathole
●The gray water is then poured into the bag.
The duff catches the food particles, allowing
the wastewater to drain into the cathole
●The litterbag is put inside another bag to
make sure there is no leaking
●Pour clean water into the sump to minimize
the odors
11. CHEESECLOTH
● A piece of cheesecloth is placed over
the cathole
● The gray water is poured onto the
cheesecloth. The cloth strains out the
food particles and allows the
wastewater to go into the sump hole
● Pour clean water into the sump to
dilute any odors
● When the cleanup is complete, the
cheesecloth is then put in the
garbage
12. STRAINER
● A kitchen strainer (metal
mesh) can be used instead of
the cheesecloth
● After the gray water is poured,
the strainer will have to be
emptied of food particles and
cleaned
● Pour clean water into the
sump to minimize the odors
from the gray water
13. TEACHING POINTS
● Find a location for the cathole and dig it before you
start cleaning
● Sump methods may be used to dispose of gray
water and the wastewater from group pots
● Consider assigning one of the three disposal
methods to each cook group
● Check sumps to make sure they are flushed with
clean water to minimize the chance of attracting
wildlife
14. BROADCASTING
Another method of disposing of gray water is using a
kitchen strainer to strain the dishwater and then scattering
the gray water in small amounts over a large area away
from the campsite (Redmond, Foran, Dwyer)
●Cooking groups strain their dishwater into an empty pot
●One student cleans the strainer into the compost bag
●Another student takes the pot of gray water and a spoon
outside the camp area and while walking, flicks water out of
the pot, scattering the gray water over a large area
15. TEACHING POINTS
● Encourage minimal to no
soap use. Even
biodegradable soaps can
alter pH levels in soil
● This technique should not be
used in bear country
● On extended trips, consider
using a kitchenware boil to
sterilize personal and group
equipment
16. FINAL NOTES
● When the cleanup is complete,
ask each group to list the pros
and cons of each cleanup
method
● Debrief students on their
preferred method
● Explain why it is not acceptable
to wash dishes at the lake edge
or in a stream
● Clarify that it is acceptable to
scatter the gray water beyond
the camp area
18. REFERENCES
● Redmond, K., Foran, A., & Dwyer, S. (2010).
Cleaning Dishes in the Backcountry. In Quality
Lesson Plans for Outdoor Education. Champaign,
IL: Human Kinetics.
