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Dry toilets:operation and advantages

Dry toilets:operation and advantages

Dry toilets treat human excrement using biological processes to turn it into organic compost that can be used to fertilize the soil.

The complete waste treatment system is on a small scale. Dry toilets have already been used for hundreds of years in the Eastern world, but it is only in the last ten years that they have become more popular in the West.

All dry toilets decompose waste by creating the aerobic conditions for bacteria and other microorganisms. The objective is multiple:to save water, protect the environment and transform the waste that returns to the earth. The circuit is closed.

Dry toilets:how does it work?

For the most part, dry toilets work in a very simple way:faeces and urine are mixed with toilet paper and two ladles of dry ground vegetable material (most often shavings or sawdust) which are added after each passage as one would flush the toilet in a conventional toilet.

The balance between the nitrogen of your needs and the carbon will be done in order to block the anaerobic fermentation allowing the composting process to start.

The tank often consists of a bucket that you will have to dump on the compost heap, usually once a week.

The advantages of dry toilets

Dry toilets:operation and advantages

No, dry toilets do not smell bad! All dry toilets need a minimum of maintenance to ensure that they remain clean, hygienic and odor-free, like a conventional toilet.

All require having compost removed at regular intervals. But these are basic rules that really don't overshadow the benefits they offer. First of all, they never clog!

Dry toilets make it possible to limit pollution by waste water, and offer a real possibility of saving a large quantity of water in a world where water is an increasingly scarce resource. In addition, they require very little installation infrastructure.

Dry toilets can also adapt to any situation without access to the water network, even in places where it is difficult or inappropriate to establish a conventional toilet system such as on board boats, vehicles, on rocky ground hard, near springs or in an environmentally sensitive area. Dry toilets are also useful as temporary toilets on construction sites or at all types of cultural events such as festivals.

Dry toilets are an excellent example of sustainable design. They offer a great opportunity to protect the environment:save resources, prevent pollution, produce high-value ecological compost that fertilizes the soil. The obstacle to their installation is often of a cultural nature, although mentalities are changing:in France, a decree dating from 2009 authorized the installation of dry toilets, and then in Sweden, certain constructions are now forced to integrate them into their plans.