Do you live in an area with water shortage problem, or that has no appropriate sewer plant or suitable sewer system?Do you intend to go an extra mile to conserve water?If yes, then the option you need that perfectly floats on the table is a composting toilet.
Composting toilets are toilets that utilize the aerobic processing system in treating human excreta through a controlled decomposition process.They come with a controlled processing unit to handle human excrements, tissue papers, carbon additives and much more.
These toilet systems help provide an economical, effective and environmentally friendly way to process toilet wastes, especially when you don’t have a connection to a sewer or a septic system. It’s perfect for locations that experience acute water shortages.
They are also known as biological toilets or waterless toilets. You will find them mostly in homes, recreational centers and even in those remote locations.
Benefits and Function
- Composting toilets promote the growth of non-edible plants in places where soil amendment is practiced. They require though careful attention and maintenance and less liquid for decomposition.
- They are cost effective compared to traditional toilets, especially on cutting down your water bills costs.
- The toilets don’t smell at all like flush toilets and are environmentally friendly.
- Produces an end product like fertilizer that you can use for farming and other purposes.
How Composting Toilets Work
Just like your composite bin, the main objective is to create an environment where microbes like bacteria and fungi, thrive. These microbes once created in the toilet composting system, assist in breaking down the human excreta.But moisture, oxygen, and heat need to be generated for this to be effective in the toilet composting chamber.
The moisture in the composting toilet can be coming from urine. But normally the moisture level is controlled to avoid anaerobic decomposition and a smelly toilet. You can use a fan, evaporation chamber or even separation trays to fix this problem. You can use bulking agents like coconut coir, wood shavings to control moisture. You can generate oxygen from tumbling drums, manual turnings, automated mixers and much more. You can obtain heat from microbial activities, electrical or solar heating.
How Waste Is Processed
A typical composting toilet system can use an active or passive breakdown process of excreting. Both processes produce too much heat, but active ones rely on features like fans and thermostat-controlled heaters to generate heat to help in composting waste or aeration. Passive systems decompose for long in more cool environments.
The excreta receptacle once filled, you remove the contents for decomposition. The waste carries slightly over 90 percent of water through the natural process.This water evaporates while the recycling of human waste goes on in the toilet’s composite chamber.
Through the natural process, the environment is manipulated in the composting chamber, and the process of converting waste into fertilizer happens carefully. Doing that ensures there is a balance struck between oxygen, heat, moisture, some organic materials and a standard amount of heat for that rich environment to be realized. Under this harbor zone, bacteria that exist can change the waste products into fertilizer for further use.
For the water that evaporates, it is directed to a vent system to the atmosphere or conserved for other uses, leaving behind a solid material, which again can convert to fertilizer through natural decomposition.
The end product (fertilizer) doesn’t have any pathogens or viruses since they are destroyed during the breakdown process. As a result, this leaves behind a nutrient-rich fertilizer, an ultimate final product that is perfect for soil enrichment for plants.
Conclusion
Composite toilet sare cheap, efficient, and consumes less water. It is a fast step in the right direction of taking care of our environment. What I call smart toiletry.
You don’t need to be yoked to conformist flush toilets, which use a lot of water gallons either. They simply can consume a lot of water, resulting in hiked water bills in the long run. For composting toilets to work effectively, there are basic composting principles to meet.
The more time you allocate for composting, the better your composting toilet will work. When it works well, it will allow for the efficient breakdown of microbes too. Check also on local regulations governing composting toilets working compliance.