Most people in Western Society would be surprised to find out that there are a variety of composting toilets on the mainstream market. I am pretty sure most people have never even heard of composting toilets; however that may soon change. Composting toilets have the potential to save North Americans up to 100,000 gallons of toilet flush water per year and if you live in an area where you have to pay for your water by the gallon or cubic foot, you'll be saving a lot of money by using composting toilets.
You may have guessed it already, composting toilets compost human waste. You may be a little disgusted by that, but keep in mind that before the very recent invention of sewer treatment plants every human on earth composted their waste one way or another; either by leaving it in the woods so that nature could compost it or by composting it on their property so that their gardens could benefit. A properly functioning composting toilet is very hygienic and it will destroy all pathogenic microbes in the human waste during the composting process.
Composting toilets have four main components:
- To minimize the release of water vapour, odor and carbon dioxide there is a screened exhaust system
- To let the excess liquid (leachate) drain out of the compost there is a drainage system
- A composting reactor is where the composting takes place
- To remove the finished product (or humus) there is an access door
There are usually two composting reactors. One is used until it is full and then the second is used while the first one is allowed to compost. After the first one is emptied it can be used again while the second one composts.
If there are regulations in your area which do not allow you to use the humus from composting toilets in your garden then you will have to call a licensed seepage hauler to empty your composting toilet. It is a small price to pay for enormous water savings. We all have to do our part.
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