Piss Story
There is something very primal about composting toilets: the deep dark hole below, the connectivity with nutrient and carbon cycles. As a conservationist of many years, I relate to my own need to conserve what is closest and spiral outwards from there. Historically, sustainable cultures began with a civilized way of dealing with their by-products. Traditional Yemeni apartment buildings collected poo, which was dried and burned as fuel. In nineteenth century London "earthen closets" safely processed faeces to remove pathogens and create fertilizer. "Night soil" was collected from cities and towns in many Asian countries to be used as fertilizer on fields. In Japan, elaborate loos were constructed along roads to attract travellers, farmers competing with each other for the chance to harvest human by-products. Perhaps that may help explain Japans modern day fascination with toilets. Before the advent of chemical fertiliser, human manure was a very valuable commodity. Along with animal manure it was shipped dry to reduce its weight. Some ships holds were quite wet and more than a few methane induced explosions resulted before all manure was stamped S.H.I.T (Ship High In Transit). Early modern composting toilets date back to 1869, when the Dry Earth Commode was patented in London. Instructions for use were as follows “The Earth must be dry and sifted.Sand must not be used.Rise from the seat QUICKLY!No “slops” must be thrown down.Before using, let one fall of earth be in the pail.” The first Clivus (Latin for slope) design toilet was built in Sweden in 1939 by Rickard Lindstrom. He wanted a safe way of breaking down human faeces so his children could safely swim in the nearby lake. It worked a treat. In the early 1970’s, composting toilets became popular amongst alternative thinkers and many new designs hit the market. The first, Clivus Multrum, was founded by Abby Rockefeller of the famed dynasty when she found she couldn’t buy one. Some worked and some didn’t, leaving a patchy reputation. By far the most successful were the simple Clivus designs available from Pooh Solutions locally. Composting toilets have now found a niche in the market for sensitive environments like National Parks and riverside recreation areas. Gardeners, conservationists, riparian dwellers all benefit from the use of composting loos. Most of my customers are earth loving intelligent people that choose not to emit methane as a by-product of their existence. I find it personally very rewarding to know that I am assisting people deal to with their shit sustainably. Fortunately, we don't really need costly sewage plants or septic systems to render human by-products into a harmless substance that, instead of being a problem, is a solution to problems of water shortages, water pollution, and reliance on chemical fertilizers. This is ecological sanitation, taking care of our human sanitation needs in a way that is helpful, rather than harmful, to the environment.
