This could potentially spread illness to everyone on board. As a result, not only eating components but also the dining area, the toilet, and sleeping areas are regularly cleaned. Garbage and trash also are sealed in plastic bags. A favorite question of people interested in space is how the astronauts took care of digestive elimination. The orbiter travelers use a toilet very much the same as one on Earth.
Air flow directs waste to the bottom of the toilet, substituting for gravity.
Waste goes directly into a sealed container where it is processed and stored. Some of the waste may be used for post-flight laboratory analyses. Such analyses have told doctors which minerals are lost excessively in space and have helped to increase their understanding of body functions. Orbiter travelers have facilities and supplies available for sponge baths while in space. They can obtain water from the water dispensing system.