Advanced (ugly) Eco-Toilet

There are a lot of new toilet designs out there, offering anything from lower water usage to incinerating your feces on demand. While the second is cool just because you get to burn stuff, I recently came across another solution that excretes a greener alternative.

The folks at Sun-Mar have come up with a unit that will provide you with compost ready for the garden! As the young gentleman in the photo can attest, itâ€™s not the most attractive thing to have in your bathroom, but if you can get over the queasy feeling that you might get when using your own excrement for practical purposes, youâ€™ll see it really is a neat system.

The toilet controls moisture and heat, and even aerates the compost to encourage aerobic digestion, without any water! It also creates a partial vacuum in order to trap unwanted gases from various human and composting processes. Admittedly, there arenâ€™t many cool toys that make you want to eat bran muffins in order to play with them, but with water scarcity and sewage concerns, this system might just be your next throne.

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Is that the best photo they had?!
written by weee, September 25, 2007

Shockingly bad publicity photo!

non-food garden
written by Andrew, September 25, 2007

From everything I've read about so-called "humanure", there is pretty much universal cautions to NOT use such material on any food gardens. Sure, feed your bushes and flowers, but not your food. You may want to be clear on what you mean by "ready for your garden".

Bad PR
written by Brian Green, September 25, 2007

Who ever submitted that pic needs to never do so again. That's just hideous. Perhaps it's a pic from the early 80's or something, in which case we can all just point and laugh.

I like the idea of toilets like this, but it's not something you'll ever see in high-rise buildings. I think it's more for the single family home (which isn't a bad thing).

Envirolet are nicer looking
written by Gordon Niessen, September 25, 2007

While the self contained unit is still bulky, at least you don't need an raised step to sit normally. And the remote tank models resemble a tankless toilet. I got mine in green and it fits in nicely in the rustic environment I installed it.

...
written by Cecilia, September 25, 2007

Reminds me of the composting outhouse in Vancouver.
http://www.cityfarmer.org/ToiletGlobe.html

Not to Toot Our Own Horn (Pun Intended)
written by Scott Smith, October 01, 2007

Glad you mentioned compost toilets. But, take a look at our new Envirolet VF to see a more modern-looking composting toilet (smaller, ceramic bowl).

writer
written by gloria Allen, November 27, 2007

The first time that I ever used a composting toilet was at a woman's writer's retreat in N.H. in 1985. You had to step up on a platform to do your business. It had a fan going, I think. It wouldn't accept toilet paper. And it was a lot larger than the one in this photo. I heartily endorse them, because yes we do have a huge water scarcity issue problem, so get over it people. According to Popular Science (Engineering a Better Earth article, if I remember correctly, August of this year), there's only an astonishing 1% of water left on the planet. I live in NM where water is always a problem, alhough most seem to be in denial about it.

Bottom line, we need composting toilets to save water. And water collecting systems. More than any other thing green, I'd say.