this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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I'm surprised by the negative comments even here.
My wife and I have been using a urine-diverting composting toilet (Nature's Head) full time for six years now. It has its quirks, but we both prefer it to a normal toilet - although we both lament that there is no "bidet toilet seat" possibility.
Obviously, there's no water needed, but there is also no smell. Like, less smell than a flush toilet. We have a tiny vent fan and no matter how terrible your deposit, whatever smell there is never makes it out of the bowl.
The compost, after sitting a bit longer with our outdoor compost, goes on our trees. But the overall volume from the toilet is really minimal. I change it every 5 weeks or so.
There was a slight adjustment period to get used to changing it. Again, it's not the smell, it's just the idea of "these are clumps of coco coir covered shit nuggets I'm looking at."
The worst part is the urine, which, when you're swapping out the bottles, does stink. It's not for everyone, but in the summer I dilute the pee with water (1:10) then I use that to water our compost.
Anyway... I think with more interest the design of toilets like ours could really be improved. I'm sure it would work without issue for families with their own suburban-like lots. Condos or apartments might need more infrastructure.
My impression is the real blocker is just "ew, gross" and maybe some manly "I only stand to piss!" We've also been surprised how many people seem to be totally tuned out to their... Uhh, "waste elimination" I'd say. Like, if you're pooping, you need to open the flap. We tell everyone, we have it written down. There is a whole explanation of how the toilet functions. But we'll still get home after being away, or after a guest leaves and one of us goes to the bathroom and - oh lord, what were they thinking.
We've had a Nature's Head for nearly a decade. We don't have "guest problems" partly because we get few guests and partly because we've got it set up in a little ensuite in an unused corner of our bedroom. That leaves the main toilet (an RV toilet) for guests.
Having worked with sewage in the past, dealing with the contents of the composting toilet is almost pleasant!
This size of system isn't for everyone, but one of those "family sized" models with a separate chamber and urine diverted to sewer plumbing or french drain that also handles grey water should be a no brainer. One that we looked at even used the weight of the user to automatically open the flap, eliminating most "guest problems".
These will be great for dry, rural places. However, for dense cities, I think the best things we can do are water recycling, using non-potable water for toilets, and saving tons of trees, water, and forever chemicals by adopting bidets- which would also considerably cut down the amount of waste we send through sewer systems. Nearly 60 lbs of toilet paper per person.
There are many urban areas especially in dry countries that are very unlikely to ever get full sewerage. A container based dry toilet solution is IMHO the best technological option for densely populated non-sewered urban areas.
Isn't this a middle East thing? I'm not aware 9f other major cities without a sewage system
It a majority of earth's population thing 🫠
I'm talking about cities
Yes the majority of earth's population lives in urban areas these days and most of them are unsewered.
Many cities in the developing world have either no or only in a very small area sewers, and even less have sewer treatment systems.
We use a simple homemade compost toilet, saving 150kg of climate change emissions per person each year, and instead of creating sewage, we create compost.
This is my day! Worm toilets exist, and require almost no compromise. They can use water like a flush toilet or be a bit more rustic. So cool. Real harmony with nature shit and no one cares!
Going to be a downer.
Not a living chance in hell these see any adoption in rich countries. Not .000001%.