[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Composting toilets

[Norbert Senf]

At 03:59 PM 12/19/2006 -0600, Lawrence Lile wrote:
>Here is a copy of Corwyn's email about them.
>
>  I looked at the Humanure book online, and it has some very good plans.

We built a composting toilet in 1981 that I believe is in the Humanure book.
It is based on the Clivus design, and was developed at Brace Research Institute
at McGill University for third world applications.

It is built from concrete blocks, and takes up some space in the basement.

It has worked quite well for 25 years now (2 
person household), with a small but
definite learning curve, on the same order as 
learning to make compost. We don't
throw kitchen waste in, and add wood shavings to balance the extra nitrogen.

It produces about 1 wheelbarrow of nice compost 
per year. It took quite a few years
for the compost to get the high quality that it 
now has. It uses a mouldering cycle,
rather than a composting cycle, which is slower and requires a larger space.
I can let it go for 5 - 6 years without emptying, if I get lazy.

We're very happy with it, and saved ourselves the cost of a septic system.

-------------------------------------------
Norbert Senf---------- mheat(at)heatkit.com
Masonry Stove Builders
25 Brouse Rd.
RR 5, Shawville------- www.heatkit.com
Québec J0X 2Y0-------- fax:-----819.647.6082
---------------------- voice:---819.647.5092