A Simple, Elegant Composting Toilet
Here’s an artistic composting toilet from Emma Holister of http://www.art-margin.com/ — I can’t completely agree about compost toilets not smelling, having had two of them that did now and then smell… but they were not this kind.
Also, perhaps because I’ve lived in third world countries, or maybe I’m just more fussy than Emma, but I would not personally use humanure on veggies. Fruit trees, yes… I just like a little more distance from that compost!
These are small points, though. I completely agree with her comments about the need for such toilets worldwide.
For larger images, just click on any one of these pictures. —Zana
Here is our latest compost toilet. We’d have liked a different colour from white for the bucket, but as it was the only type we could find, we did the best we could.
Design Emma Holister
Construction David Roure
A few facts to remember about compost toilets:
1) They do not smell!! The organic cover material such as sawdust or dead leaves blocks all odours completely to the point where you can have your ravishing, state of the art toilet in the comfort of your bedroom and be done with long treks to the bathroom during the night.
2) By no longer using flush toilets you save about forty litres per person per day and become significantly more independent from the costly, wasteful and polluting water grid. Say goodbye forever to costly plumbing, toxic sewage and septic tanks.
3) You show your friends and family that people in rich countries are capable of taking responsibility for the environment by sharing knowledge that will resolve the most serious problems in poor countries ravaged by epidemics caused by lack of adequate sanitation. This type of toilet is the solution to the world wide problem of water pollution and water scarcity.
4) By applying the simple composting methods taught in ‘The Humanure Handbook’ by Joe Jenkins you can produce your own top quality compost to use either on your own vegetable garden or to sell to local compost dealers.
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This is quite a worthwhile book! I’ve read it a couple of times. click on the image to find out more at Amazon. — Zana
7 Responses to “A Simple, Elegant Composting Toilet”
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Attractive design. Certainly more appealing than the usual boxy-looking sawdust toilets I’ve seen. But I doubt I could build something that nice…maybe she should try selling them?
Zana, of the two toilets you’ve tried, did they require covering material like a sawdust toilet, or were they the more traditional composting models like Biolet or Sunmar?
She’s an artist, so probably does everything with that kind of flair.
They were both more traditional.
BTW, Emma did another article which my husband just put up on his site:
http://greenhomebuilding.com/articles/humanure.htm
I agree, that is a nicer looking toilet than the “wooden box” style Loveable Loos. But the smell issue is my primary concern with these type of toilets, too. I just find it really hard to believe that covering with some sawdust is sufficient to keep them odorless. And I guess the other thought that comes to mind is… can you imagine the ecological impact if everyone in the world were using one of these toilets, and all the sawdust that would need to be supplied to keep them all operating correctly?
Thanks for your comments, Cathy.
We had friends several years ago who had this sort of an arrangement, and it never smelled. I used it quite often at their house. They did dispose of the waste daily, into a special composting bin they had outside the house, where dogs couldn’t get to it.
I don’t think we need to worry about the ecological impact of a huge need for sawdust for 2 reasons: [1] most people using these things would be reluctant to buy sawdust, they are using up a renewable resource in their area… and [2] in my own experience with composting toilets, many people are extremely squeamish about the whole topic and really prefer what they are used to!
Readers, if you click on “Composting Cathy” in the comment above, you will go to her website on composting toilets.
Hi all, thanks for all the lovely and interesting comments. I will soon be doing an article with step by step photos on how to build a pretty compost toilet. Plenty of exciting new designs…
Still, I must insisit….my toilet isn’t at all smelly…!…come and sniff it if you don’t believe me!
I have to assure you that there’s no chance I’d put a toilet in my bedroom if it smelt!
Basically, this version, which is small, contained and easily controlled, is very different from other types of compost toilet that can have larger collection chambers and can get a bit out of control as a result.
If ever this 25 litre bucket version ever starts to get smelly, it would only be because not enough cover material has been used or the wrong type, for example wood chips instead of sawdust.
Which is basically the person being smelly rather than the toilet….which remains utterly innocent…
As for the veggie thing, as long as people respect the guidelines for maintaining healthy compost in the bin with a thermometer to make sure that the temperatures are in the range that transforms the pathogens and yuckiness into wholesome yumminess, then veggies are very happy in it indeed.
http://www.art-margin.com and http://www.candida-international.org (Section on Permaculture Design now on Candida International, soon too to be added to Art Margin).
Another resource which Emma directed me to is a long, informative page by Joe Jenkins, the Humanure Handbook at
http://humanurehandbook.com/manual.html
Be sure to check out Jenkins’ videos on YouTube, they’re very informative…
http://www.youtube.com/user/jcjenkins01