A small documentary about the composting toilet on national geographic, showing an interesting solution to a huge environmental problem. Could this be a new renaissance for the composting toilet?
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here’s an idea - mix this w/ rainwater recapture. 1) you have the water required to “clean” the toilet & retain our sense of “clean” and 2) you’re not using drinking water - you’re using rainwater that’s stored in a giant barrel.
This is a nifty idea, but I think has more commerical application in a commerical building - the amount of poop needed for viable compost is large - would take years and years for a family of 4, but a fraction of time for an office building.
This video makes me feel like taking a giant dump. ;)joking
You know more about this compost toilet than, I tell me, how much would one of these systems cost to install in my home?
I am a big believer that: if something is expensive it requires me to go to work more which in it’s self uses (wastes) resources that I would not other wise waste.
Well I guess that’s a way to see it! But when it comes to the environment, direct causation and short strategies are never a good idea or you get interpretations like yours.
Rather look into the long term effects of composting and its indirect consequences.
Of course where I live there is no problem with water shortage, but still composting is far better environmental solution and not because of one reason but many.
This is the stupidest thing I ever heard of.
Suggesting that by not flushing my toilet here will somehow mean more water in africa is…. well typical “emotional logic”.
hybrids are the biggest failure in the world
The toilet is a great idea…
but it needs to be mass marketed right now.
just like hybrid car things…
in 2000 they said they’d be on the road by now…
and they’re not….
that’s good, i thought they were chopping trees directly from the forest for the bulking mat
You need some bulking material, to give the right texture for composting but also to increase the amount of carbon. You can get chips (Pine wood in my case)for free or almost for free from your local sawmill and that’s a good way of recycling.
using pine wood will still cause deforestation, we need a substittude for pine wood for this type of toilet but overall, it’s a very good idea
this is the future! lets help mother nature, composting our shit! our shit is also our energy - then, after composted goes to the earth and to the land, that we farm - so we eat our energy in a natural cicle - more green and positive!
Interesting, do you have any links that you would recommend me to look for?
I know that the odor problem can be solve with a series of fans and good ventilation.
I don’t think these are the way of the future, they smell, they require that huge mulcher and that huge mulching thing in your house, I don’t think these will catch on, at least not for a long time. But our toilet definatly won’t stay for all that long, because of the water wasting, I think Compost toilets could catch on if a sewage treatment plant took all the waste thru tubes (Vacuums?) and they had a big mulching center. Then they would catch on and be great.
i agree - the downfall here is asking the user to grab a handful of chips and put them in after. How hard could it be to incorporate a woodchip dispenser triggered by the ‘flush’ handle??? I’m building an ‘earthship’ and am looking into alternative methods for black water ….this is not bad, but needs a little more work.
that’s a good idea to flush wood chips instead of having to pick them up. The tanks must be massive though in order to hold that much waste over the course of a year.
instead of asking users to grab a hand ful of wood chips, you should let the flusher be a wood chip dispenser. So, the user flushes the toilet, using the flush handle, but there is no water–just wood chips.
For all those of you who find this video interesting and you wish to expand you knowledge about composting humanure, a good source for composting know-hows is the “The Humanure Handbook” it can be found for free at weblife *dot org webpage. Happy composting to ya all.
Eh, the modern toilet isn’t really all that great. It clogs and then overflows, and won’t start working again until it’s been plungered. Or some part of the tank breaks and it won’t shut off. Not to mention with every flush it creates a spray of water particles, spreading germs into the air. I’d consider a toilet that can never clog a step up in convenience.
Awesome to see National Geographic talking about this!