The magic of composting toilets

Everyone loves composting toilets.

Okay, let me rephrase that.

Everyone should love composing toilets. And here's why: The average American uses 7,665 gallons of water every year, just by flushing the toilet. Composting toilets, on the other hand, don't require any water at all. If done right, they don't smell, either.

How does a composting toilet work?

A composting toilet uses bacteria that thrive at high temperatures [and which are already present in poop] to break down human waste into a nutrient-rich compost, often called humus. This compost can be used to fertilize plants, although there is some discrepancy as to whether it is safe to use for food crops.

By eliminating the need for flushing, composting toilets reduce clean water consumption and do away with the energy costs of treating wastewater.

Residential scale composting toilets come in different sizes [to accommodate either 2, 4, or 8 people] and come equipped with storage tank containing an initial mix of wood shavings, peat moss, and water. As the toilet is used, waste is funneled into a storage tank through a chute and mixed with a "bulking agent" [usually wood shavings or sawdust] that helps the decomposition process.

By controlling the moisture levels in a composting toilet and aerating the decomposing mass, composing can happen without supporting the anaerobic organisms that create undesirable odors. It is becoming increasingly common in the burgeoning world of composting toilets to incorporate a urine-diversion system that siphons off the liquid waste to be dealt with separately.

What's so cool about the Phoenix?

The Phoenix Composting Toilet, manufactured by Advanced Composting Systems, based in Whitefish, Montana has a number of features that make it stand out from the crowd.

With the help of a solar-powered-electric fan and vent pipe, air is pulled through specially-designed baffles along the sides of the waste storage tank, aerating the compost so that it doesn't need to be managed manually [i.e. stirred or turned.] Additionally, the storage tank is insulated and can be warmed with circulating air from a connected solar collector. Finished compost can be removed easily through a lower access door.

The Phoenix is manufactured from polyethylene, some of which is post-industrial recycled.

The downside? Well, it's not cheap. The R-199 [the smallest residential model] runs $4,700 and the public facility models can be as much as $7,100. Now, keep in mind that's not just a toilet, but also an entire waste treatment system, which would replace a septic tank/leach field, but still, it's definitely more than you're average throne.