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Sep 1, 2005

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars." --Walt Whitman

Living Machines

It is a rare rest stop attraction, especially in Vermont, a humid greenhouse soon to be filled with orchids and other flora better suited to steamy jungles than snowy mountains. But this exotic enticement is possible here because of the most mundane of rest stop features: flushing toilets. The State of Vermont has installed a “Living Machine” that uses plants and organisms to clean wastewater and then pumps the treated water back to the toilets for reuse.