Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthernSantuary
One of the areas I was looking into was waste treatment; an area that can't be avoided.
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Hi Northern Sanctuary,
I have designed and built a number of dry compost toilets and I can't imagine too many situations where they would not work well (flooding being the only potential problem).
It is always best if you have some land free and can build a purpose built structure to house the toilet, but this is not essential.
I have seen a number of installations fitted inside houses that also work very well (and you dont need the complication or expense of a commercially built unit - anything designed around a bucket will work perfectly well!).
The main issue is to separate solid waste from urine. Its best not to collect urine but to pipe it directly to plants/ garden / waste pipe. There are several viable strategies for separating the two.
Most people produce a small matchbox sized amount of solid waste per day once the water has been removed, its surprising how little space you actually need.
To give an idea, i built 2 waste collection areas, 1 cubic metre each. It would take 6-8 people a year (with toilet paper) to fill one cube, then switch to the other bin for a year. After year 2, the first bin could be emptied by hand, just fresh smelling compost ready for the garden.
In terms of smell, wood ash is perfect. Reduces ALL odour and adds phosphate to the compost. I have never known a smell issue with a toilet where most urine is separated, and wood ash is used. And some urine can be included in the mix, especially of toilet paper is used (and the ash soaks more liquid.)
My suggestion: keep it simple, keep it cheap and keep it dry.
om shanti
VM