Composting toilets are toilets that use little or no water and utilize the toilet wastes as valuable compost. Composting outlets operate by providing an enclosed environment for the natural process of waste decomposition. This is the same type of environment that develops on forest floors with decomposing wildlife droppings which provide nutrients for vegetation. A correctly operating composting toilet does not smell, in fact, because there is a positive suction of air through the toilet. There is less smell than conventional toilets which have a water trap which keeps toilet smells inside the bathroom.

Composting type toilets have long since passed the ‘design and prototype’ phase and are now available in many countries in the world, and will increasingly expand their range as the benefits become increasingly understood. There are many different composting designs but all carry out this basic process of decomposition.

Features of Composting Toilets

• Heating units to keep the compost at the best temperature
• Injected air for increased decomposition
• Mixing tongs to ensure full decomposition throughout the pil

Benefits of a Composting Toilet

There are many advantages to using a composting toilet:

• Greatly reduced water storage or supply costs
• Possibility of a rebate for community sewage charges
• Production of compost for use in gardens

More and more communities are now embracing the use of composting toilets and grey water systems. This reduces their overall sewerage demands and hence costs and reduced rubbish collection because they are able to use the compost for use on residential gardens and environmental parklands.

The wide scale use of composting toilets would also provide significant benefits to the environment overall. Reduced water use would undoubtedly minimize storage and piping impacts, elimination of sewage would reduce nutrient flows into river and oceans and subsequent rejuvenation of marine systems.