Long-term composting toilets for islands

[Mahjah61]

We need these in the U.S.! Wake up, America!

[WHEALMN]

can i convert my outhouse to work similar to this. it has a concrete block foundation and no electric. i dont know if it has a concrete floor. is electric needed? what happens to the waste is it electrically dried or something? i also have a bad problem with nats getting in there. i currently just fill a 5 gallon bucket 1/2 with water and then throw the waste into the outhouse. thanks whealmn

[cargnar]

@WHEALMN Hi -- the process is called Long-Term Composting and shrinks the solids over several decades and renders the liquid odor-free and bacteria-free. You need space under the bathroom floor but you can simply make a hole in your cement floor if thats what you have.

You need either regular electric power or a solar-electric system that costs around $500 but this is only for a ventilation fan which guarantees an odor-free operation at all times. Contact compostEra for more info.

[jdizzilicious]

SO BEYOND SMART......

[crlindst]

No the feces and paper goes into a long term composting tank under the house and will not be removed for 40 years. An odor-free and bacteriafree plant nutrient liquid collects in the blue barrel and is used as fertilizer locally ... fantastic around fruit trees

[carringtonblush]

What happens to the human waste? I'm guessing it goes into one of the blue barrels - and then what?

[copefarms]

Even the expensive commercially bought well thought out composting toilets need to be cleaned out at some point.

This is a bad idea since the buried the barrel in the ground and there is no way to get it back out. Maybe use a pumping truck to pump the sewage out when it fills up and yes it will fill up eventually. A poorly executed plan in my opinion.

The idea and thought was nice but not well designed.

[copefarms]

1 55 gallon barrel is ok for a small number of people but let alot of people use it and it can fill up rather quickly.

Also people on certain antibiotics medications can disrupt the composting effort as the meds will pass thru and mess up the microbial action in the compost toilet.

Also urine or pee does not dry up or go away as fast as solid matter so eventually the pee or urine will fill up the 55 gallon barrel. They should have had a separate liquid and solid collection area.

[WitchHazel333]

Brilliant! Why cant they have these everywhere instead of conventional public loos?

[2010mustang1]

how sad they broke the train toilet :-(

[VedicHawaii]

Very nice! What was the cost of this?

[cargnar]

From just under $1000 to $3000 not including the building

[zenrainman]

Inspiring, wonderful effort

zenrainman