Have you ever wondered how composting toilets work? I think you’ll like this easy to understand explanation.
So you’ve heard/read about them before, but might not completely get all that’s involved if you tried it.
Thanks to Laura Allen of Greywater Guerillas and Kristen Dirksen of Faircompanies.com they explain/show you exactly how it all works. But in case you don’t want to stream the video I’ll help you “get it”…
Composting Toilets 101
In this video they set the urine up to flow into a separate container (so it’s not mixed with poo) because you can use it almost right away (after diluting with water) as a nitrogen fertilizer.
If that doesn’t interest you, you can just mix urine and poo and no worries really.
There’s another container inside where you poop in and you treat the smell by sprinkling little pieces of wood (sawdust works great) on it. This will get rid of the odors for you.
As you’ll see in the video later (or picture below), the toilet can be built yourself but there are also ones you can buy (for way more $).
What happens to the poo, and “the maintenance”
For a little while it’s stored in the toilet. In this particular house, they’ve made it very easy by making everything work outside.
This box right here opens up to the INSIDE of the toilet (where the poo/urine is). This way you can easily move it outside… Keeping the dirty work outdoors (no walking around the house with a bucket of poop). Very nice setup for this.
The fun part: You can’t just leave the POO in there!
It needs to be moved to a spot where it can sit and “transform” in a matter of one year.
That’s why that simple to use opening is there. So you can move into one of these…
