• July 12, 2012
• By Kerri Jansen

Once a month, California-based writer Larry Gallagher hauls eight heavy buckets to a compost pile in his backyard.

Those buckets don’t hold kitchen scraps or yard trimmings; they’re filled with sawdust, sometimes shredded coconut hulls and a month’s worth of human waste.

Gallagher is among a small but growing set of people who compost their own manure.

For decades, people have flushed their waste away with gallons of water. Now, some people are taking back control, recycling their excretions instead of sending them to a septic system or wastewater treatment plant. Proponents say the approach conserves water and counteracts nutrient depletion in soil.

Gallagher swears that when done correctly – he built a steel cage for the compost and keeps it covered in straw – composting human waste is safe and not smelly.

For those who want a less hands-on approach to composting their waste, several manufacturers produce composting toilets similar in appearance to traditional flush toilets. The toilets convert waste into compost in a special compartment inside the unit and only need to be emptied a few times per year.

These types of composting toilets evaporate the liquid portion of waste and regulate the moisture and temperature levels to encourage natural microbe action, said Scott Smith, vice president of marketing for composting toilet manufacturer Sancor Industries Ltd.

Users add a mix of good bacteria to speed the composting process; once fully processed, the compost will be odorless and pathogen-free. A vent and sometimes a fan maintain negative air pressure to keep smells from escaping, Smith said, and low-flush models keep odor-blocking water in the bowl like a traditional toilet.

Sigi Koko, from sustainable design firm Down to Earth Design, favors a composting toilet with the composter installed below, typically under the floor, because it looks and feels like a normal toilet. Her clients have generally been happy with their composting toilets, she said. One couple hasn’t had to empty theirs in five years.

“In my opinion, people equate [a] composting toilet with an outhouse, and an outhouse is smelly, it’s dark, there might be spiders in it,” Koko said. “But a composting toilet that’s installed properly in a house has zero odor; it looks like a normal toilet, it just doesn’t have a flush handle.

“It’s just a misperception – [most] people don’t use them, so they don’t know it’s different” she said.

In a typical household, 40% of water use can be toilet flushing, Koko said. A composting toilet could save some or all of that water, as much as 8,000 gallons per year, according to Smith.

Water conservation is one of the prime reasons to use a composting toilet, said Laura Allen, cofounder of sustainable water culture organization Greywater Action.

“I would say that our system of sewers and flush toilets has cost more in terms of its environmental impact than the benefits it has brought,” she said. “We have lost free-flowing rivers, salmon runs, healthy aquatic ecosystems and now have convenience and an incredibly expensive system to maintain.

“We can reimagine our bathroom experience to one that conserves resources, recycles nutrients and is safe,” Allen said.

Installing a composting toilet may not always be practical; they’re more expensive than a regular toilet and hard to fit in, say, a high-rise apartment. But in places with limited septic capabilities or a weak sewer system, they can be a good choice, Allen said.

Smith said his company often gets orders from people looking to outfit their pool house or cabin without installing costly plumbing.

For people used to pressing a lever and having their waste whisked away, composting toilets may hold a significant “ick” factor.

Gallagher has some advice for would-be composters: “Don’t be squeamish.”

Contact Waste & Recycling News reporter Kerri Jansen kjansen@wasterecyclingnews.com or 313-446-6098. 

w w w . w a s t e r e c y c l i n g n e w s . c o m

copyright 2012 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.