Simple waterless sanitation at private residence in Germany (dry toilet)

Leading by example: I have a dry toilet at my house which doesn't need any flush water. It is odour-free, thanks to the fact that dry faeces don't smell. It is produced by Separett in Sweden.

We also have a waterless urinal (portable), imported from South Africa. Urine is collected in a plastic barrel.

Faeces from the toilet are composted in our garden.
See also our photos on Flickr (use keywords: ecosan Separett).

The urinal I got from South Africa but you can also get it in Germany or many other countries. The composter I also got from Germany, the company is called Berger Biotechnik (see their website).

If anyone has detailed technical questions please e-mail me at ecosan[at]gtz.de (or see www.gtz.de/ecosan and www.susana.org). If anyone finds it repulsive: just continue to use your flush toilets, nobody is forcing you to change.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ecosan
• UDD
• toilet
• Separett
• waterless urinal
• Germany
• Addicom
• ESS
• Deutschland
• sanitation

[shorn5270]

Please e-mail me at ecosan[at]gtz.de if you have technical questions (note I also just expanded the video descriptions with some links).

[shorn5270]

Hi,

I only just saw all these comments on my video (I don't normally check the youtube videos often). It is funny to see how different people in the USA think. Some people very advanced (in my view), some people very aggressive!! Believe it or not, in Sweden these toilets are pretty common in summer houses! And now, it does not smell because a) urine and faeces are separated and b) no water is added (ever thought about the fact that dry faeces don't smell?) and c) there is a ventilation fan.

[syvendemars]

Judging from the comments below, it's apparently not understood by many why minimizing water usage is very important to the environment. Whenever travel to the US, I feel guilty everytime I flash the toilet.

[Jacquelyndegracia]

@shorn5270 I've also made a waterless toilet here in Mexico. It doesn't smell and is very sanitary.

[Jacquelyndegracia]

@emilykbisignano h

[Jacquelyndegracia]

@emilykbisignano I was never able to find any instructions on how to build your own. I bought the urine separating seats and did my own thing. I was worried it would'nt work but they turned own great! No stink and very clean. Here at our ranch we get 50-100 visitors daily on the weekends and even with the heavy use they stay odor free.

[Aargh28]

Big thumbs up for your commitment to our planet! I am somewhat interested in solutions like this because for years I've toyed with the idea of living in a van, travelling the entire continent, and writing. To those who think that you are strange I would say that you are in fact strange, and that is a good thing because the world would suck if it were full of cookie-cutter-type people.

[allancortez]

Thanks! I really appreciate your efforts in "walking your talk" and implement environmentally friendly options at home. I'm sorry for all the negative (and sometimes pretty stupid comments), but they rather reflect on the commenter than on the technology. Thumbs up and best wishes!

[emilykbisignano]

Is there an affordable compost/dry toilet for an off-grid home? I did find a website on how to build your own :D

[RETIREMESOON]

My wife and I plan to retire to a 500 square foot floating cabin in Canada. I plan to use a compost toilet or dry one like this.

I have found that a 5 gallon pail with a few cups of water and lots of vinegar keeps the shed urinal odor free for months.

Vinegar is an amazing cleaner and sterilizer.

[shitty1one]

Laugh if you want. I wonder how long it will be in the U.S. before more people are using these. I know there are a lot of people made homeless by the recession that wished they had one of these systems right now. I have used one of these systems, with the same type of comments. People laughed, but when they visited the place, they could not smell a difference.