The Benefits & Types of Composting Toilet Systems

Toilets are a huge contributor to the millions of gallons of water we use every day.  In fact, many older model toilets flush more than five gallons of water per flush and newer models flush between one and two gallons of water.  When you think about how many times you and your family flush each day, that’s a lot of water.  A composting toilet system may be the answer for some, saving an average of 6000 gallons of water each year.

Sun-Mar Excel Self-Contained Composting Toilets (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Understanding Composting Toilet Systems

A composting toilet essentially uses little to no water and utilizes the concept of aerobic decomposition to change the waste materials into compost, or a natural fertilizer.  While there are a few types of composting toilet systems, they typically contain:

* A container where composting takes place
* Some type of exhaust system
* Oxygen supply to facilitate the decomposition
* A feature to allow any liquid to drain away 
* An access door to empty the compost

Benefits of Composting Toilets

We’ve already discussed the benefits of decreased water usage.  This not only helps the environment but it also helps your financial bottom line because you’re not using as much water and if you’re on a well/septic system then you don’t have to pay for regular septic system maintenance.

* Your composting toilet also makes it possible to easily compost other family and household waste including table scraps, yard waste and other compostable materials. 

* You don’t contribute to sewage system runoff and water contamination.

* You don’t contribute to soil contamination.

* The end product, the compost, is a valuable fertilizer with high nutrient levels which are ideal for gardening, yard maintenance and household plants.

* Composting toilets are easy to install almost anywhere and they cost about half as much as a septic system installation.  Also, the regular maintenance is much cheaper.

There are essentially two common types of composting toilets, the Self-Contained and the Centralized.  In order to see which one is right for you, it’s important to understand how they work.

Self Contained versus Centralized Composting Systems

A Sun-Mar remote (centralized) composting toilet system. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Self-contained composting toilets have a composting unit beneath them to form a single unit.  However, a centralized composting toilet sends waste to a centralized unit in a separate location, like the basement, where it is collected.  You can thus have several toilets in a household all hooked up to a single composting location. 

Self-contained systems typically have an electrical fan, which means it has to be plugged in.  This uses energy and is thus not 100% green.  However, unlike central systems, they don’t need to use any water.  A central composting system still needs a bit of water to flush the waste into the central composting unit.

There are pros and cons to both types of toilet composting systems.  However, no matter which way you look at it, both options are more environmentally friendly and ultimately more sustainable than our standard water-wasting toilets. 

More On Composting Toilets: 
     

7 Green Ways to Unclog Your Toilet

Plugged toilets are disgusting, messy and a real pain in the neck - and something that we have to deal with more often around the holidays, often with extra family in town.  It’s so very tempting to grab a bottle of liquid drain cleaner and pour it down, hoping the clear the mess without getting your hands, or anything else, dirty. Yet that liquid drain unclogger is incredibly harmful to the environment.  The chemicals leach into our soil and taint our water supply.  Not to fret, there are easy and green ways to unclog your toilet.  Next time it becomes plugged, try one of these eight greener tricks.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

#1. If you’ve only flushed once and it’s apparent the toilet is plugged, turn the water off at the source so no more water can fill the tank or bowl and flush again.  Nine times out of ten this easy little trick will take care of basic toilet clogs.  Another option, if this doesn’t work, is to tap the backside of the bowl to jostle the clog. 

#2.  If step one doesn’t work then you can resort to the plunger.  Plungers release suction and like a tap to the backside of the bowl it’ll help jostle the clog.

#3.  A good old-fashioned plumber snake will also help drive a hole through the clog.  This may be especially useful with children around, as they have the uncanny ability to throw the strangest things into the toilet. A plumber snake can be purchased for about $15 to $20 dollars at the hardware store.  It’s an easy device to use - simply unwind the device using the reel type handle and let the snake work its way gradually through the clog.

#4.  Hot water.  Provided you have room in the toilet bowl, fill a bucket with very hot tap water and pour it quickly into the bowl.  This works in a number of ways.  The hot water sometimes dissolves enough of the clog to loosen it.  The change in water pressure in the tank may force the clog through, and the motion of pouring the water into the bowl may jostle the clog enough to force it through.

Non-Toxic Drain Cleaning (Photo credit: Chiot's Run)

#5.  Baking Soda.  Again, assuming the toilet bowl isn’t ready to overflow, pour one cup of baking soda and one cup of vinegar into the bowl.  This can also be followed by a gallon of hot or boiling water.  The vinegar and baking soda cause a reaction, remember volcanoes in grade school?  The reaction may work to loosen the clog.

#6. Dish soap.  Another green toilet-unclogging remedy is to pour in a gallon of boiling water and a quarter to one-third cup of dish detergent.  You’ll want to make sure it’s environmentally safe and biodegradable dish detergent for this practice to be environmentally sound.  Dish detergent works to break down the clog, just like it breaks down the dirt on your dishes. You’ll probably need to let it set for a while before the clog breaks free.

#7.  When all else fails it may be time to put on a pair of very long rubber gloves.  Ick, right?  Well it’s better than pouring caustic drain cleaner into our water supply, not to mention the dangerous fumes drain cleaners give off that can pollute the air in your home. 

Unclogging a toilet is no fun and there’s really no way to make it enjoyable, unless you’re a plumber and charging $100/hour - and even then it's probably no picnic.  Fortunately, there are a number of tried and true green ways to unclog a toilet that shouldn't make a mess, for you or the environment.

All About Greywater Systems

One great way to conserve water is to make use of your greywater. Greywater is waste water that has been used for washing, cleaning, or other household uses besides the toilet. Greywater contains no sewage, and its disposal is comprised of an underground system that purifies and redistributes the greywater from a building, usually a home.

Greywater towers in Arba Minch, Ethiopia (Photo credit: Sustainable sanitation)

Although this idea is pretty simple, and has been used for many years in many different countries, it's not as familiar a concept here in America, and many people have questions about greywater. How does it work, and what are the benefits? How do you reuse the greywater? Although there is some variance in the types of systems, listed here are some of the basic components common to most systems, and some suggestions on how the greywater can be used.

Basic Components

* The tank or sump
Similar to a septic tank, the sump or tank that catches the greywater is underground. Sinks, washing machines, showers, etc. are routed into the tank. Some states and counties require that washing machines connected to greywater systems have a 3-way valve to route the water to the sewer or septic tank if needed. This is in case diapers or items contaminated by an ill person are washed in the machine.

You can choose which kinds of water you want routed into your system - if you wash a lot of diapers, for instance, you may choose not to route that water into your greywater system at all. Or you may choose only water from your kitchen sink. Depending on the number of people living in the house and the overall usage, the greywater from one sink can be significant.

* The filter
The greywater needs to be purified or treated, and most systems do this by filtering the water through sand or soil. An amazing amount of purification can be achieved through soil alone.

* The pump
Depending on the slope of your property, you may need a pump to convey the water from one part of the system to another, usually from the filter to the leach field. Most greywater systems simply rely on gravity to move the water through the system.

* The leach field
Once clean, the greywater goes into a leach field, or an area where it can be reabsorbed into the earth. You can plant a garden or crops directly over the leach field and the plants will absorb the greywater as it comes into the leach area.

Greywater recycling (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Common Uses of Greywater

There are other options for reusing greywater, depending on the kind of system and the homeowner's needs. Here are some of the more common uses. (Note - see picture to the left - I love this idea! Water from the sink fills the toilet tank which is then used to flush - great innovation!)

- Increasing groundwater
Putting the greywater back into the ground once it's clean increases the groundwater. This is a significant benefit in areas where water is scarce.

- Flushing toilets
Some greywater systems skip the leach field and provide the homeowner with extra water he or she can use in various ways, one of which is to flush household toilets. This has the potential to save quite a bit of water for the homeowner.

- Watering crops or plants
Plants need quite a bit of water, and gardens and crops and lawns need even more. Plants thrive on greywater, which does not have any of the chemicals found in treated city water, and this is a very common and effective way to use greywater, and reduce your water bills at the same time.

Be sure to check with your local officials to find out about permits, environmental concerns, etc. before proceeding with your own greywater disposal system.

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