Living Permaculture
Adventures in designing for Earth care, People care & Fairshares
Family Composting Toilet
April 2011
Need for an outside composting toilet identified by my family for several reasons: 'Normal' water flush loo blocks up regularly due to little fall towards the septic tank. Water charges on the horizon. Access to inside loo is through the living room -often in mucky boots. Clean water being flushed down the loo then becoming a pollution problem (smell, leaks, + machine to empty) in an old septic tank.
Cool, Rainy climate, high water table. No close neighbours. On a farm, so rodents & other animals – poultry, dogs, cats, livestock, about the place. Plenty of space, location limited only by proximity to house required & not shading the garden.
Composting process: too slow so store full barrels in polytunnel (to give more heat) & buy more barrels. Also, I have turned two barrels into one after they compost down a certain amount. Remind people to put in more carbon. -Signage & Ensuring there is always a good supply on hand so people are not stingy. Handwashing.... needs redesign & When I get time, some illusory time in the future I would like to rebuild or renovate the structure- cob sculpture or climbing plants....
Need for an outside composting toilet identified by my family for several reasons: 'Normal' water flush loo blocks up regularly due to little fall towards the septic tank. Water charges on the horizon. Access to inside loo is through the living room -often in mucky boots. Clean water being flushed down the loo then becoming a pollution problem (smell, leaks, + machine to empty) in an old septic tank.
design notes
Next steps....?
Well I'm writing this up two years later, so next steps were a while ago! More compost loos have been built inthe meantime, one here at the farm for the permaculture gathering in 2012 & then again for the following year in Galway. Both of these were much simpler designs, though for different purposes.
Since then the idea of festival compost toilets has been popping up every now and then, and the opportunity even came up locally but the time & the resources were not available at the time. It is a possibilty again in the future...
And now? No compost loo's on the horizon anyway! Design wise, I am working on a couple of projects, the food garden here at the farm, a renovation project, and documenting all these projects!
Methods:
Because this design was guided by me, in consultation with the rest of the family, I used SADIMET: Survey, Analyse, Design, Implement, Maintain, Evaluate, Tweak
This reminded me to keep it inclusive with the survey stage especially, equally considering the needs of the site & of the people. It also allowed a space for other peoples' observations, knowledge & objections, and it helped to provide a collaborative feeling around the project which was really important for the end result - whether people would use it (properly) or not!
Tools Used:
S: Client interview (informal), site survey - desire lines,
A: Boundaries & Resources analysis, Inputs & Outputs & Ethics analysis, Sector & Zone/Relative location analysis,
D: Relative Placement, the 'what have we got' approach,
I:
M: Maintenance plan,
E: Costings: Financial, Environmental,
T: Observation
Key Permaculture Principles:
Design: Structure
We had a look around & thought we had most of the materials we would need for the structure already onsite. We would upcycle some decommissioned grain division boards for the main part, we had a selection of scavenged doors & windows, guttering, sink, etc & we would cobble together the rest from bits & pieces we have harboured over the years. This would have the multiple function of clearing up some unused resources otherwise taking up valuable dry spaces.
In the same vein, the structure could be insulated to keep us warm & draught free with rock wool left over from a recent roof insulation & the floor would be paved with strong, hardwearing, slate tiles which a friend had left over from a renovation project. This would prevent a muddy pool from forming where everyone walks in & out.
The hexi-yurt building style promised an aesthetic feature in the garden.
The site was on a former horse ring so only a little layer of topsoil to remove & under that mostly gravel. We measured out from the centre to mark out the sites for the posts. Then checked the distance between each post The overall dimensions were determined by wanting to re use some existing ply boards with out too much sawing.
One of the initial sketches showing measurements based on average adult size
The roof was the most complicated part of the construction & unfortunately I have no pictures of it going up... It is composed of 6 triangles screwed on to the top of the posts and to each other with batons....We then covered the roof with waterproof tar paper
The site was on a former horse ring so only a little layer of topsoil to remove & under that mostly gravel. We measured out from the centre to mark out the sites for the posts. Then checked the distance between each post The overall dimensions were determined by wanting to re use some existing ply boards with out too much sawing.
Content
Positives:
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Doesn't use water, it is fairly clean, warm, dry, secure, no smell, well located, gets used by most people, has introduced loads of people to the idea & the issues behind it, makes compost (eventually) & liquid gold, it is fairly easy to maintain, there is no dealing with fresh waste, it is easy to clean & doesn't mind mucky boots.
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We have saved roughly 10l each flush x 6flushes/day x 365days = 3900 Litres/year. Our water supply is now metered but we get an free allowance before paying anything. The compost loo, along with the rainwater tanks on sheds (for farm use) has meant we have had no water charges this year.
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We havn't emptied the septic tank this year & the inside toilet has only blocked up once or twice, mainly when we have people here who refuse to use the compost loo :p. However this is a significant improvement on previous functioning!
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The structure catches the eye of most people who visit even for 5 min. Lots of people have learnt about composting toilets here. It is sound, waterproof, warm & dry
Content
Negatives:
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There is no handwashing facility, as soon as the toilet became functional that was the end of spending time on it,
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Composting in the barrells seems to take a long time so we had to buy more. It's maiden voyage co incided with a big 2 day party of young adults, although they were all very enthusiastic (“best fesival toilet ever”) there was some confuion around where to put the toilet paper, & whether boys needed to use it. I think some of this was down to a general embaressment about basic human functions. The rest was due to excessive beer intake. Havn't had a problem with it since.
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The structure turned out to be an unnessarcary pain in the ass to build, (especially the roof) it used more than nessecary resources & it's not really in tune with it's surroundings, in fact, since the polytunnel blew away & then go relocated the hexi yurt sticks out like a sore thumb.
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Interestings: Alot of reliance on money & new products. Could score alot better against the ethics of Permaculture.
Evaluation
Process:
Looking back, the overall concept design was alright, & as a permaculturalist of course it's great to have a functioning compost toilet! but there were alot of missing links in this design such as:
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Wouldv'e been good to clarify in advance how much money we would like to spend.
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Make more use out of resources onsite & buy less new products. (this was influenced by oher people's priorities who maybe not so economical as I would like!)
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Be more realistic about the design & how long it might take to impliment
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Simplify! On the practical side, the rainwater harvesting never got done (yet) because it's complicated to put up the gutters, also we could have used less materials if we were not so focussed on building a hexi yurt. We wanted a funky structure but we made it to complicated.
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More detail to each function; I initially skipped some of the sub functions eg: warmth for composting
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Didn't go through all the possible design options thoroughly, i just threw in afew along with the functions. Some reasons for this: too excited to get it done, capitalising on someone volunteering to build a hexi yurt style hut, family pressures to get it done & to use conventional methods.
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Some of the design was a bit vague, eg: the water part & this was one reason why it hasn't yet been implimented.
Learning....
Take more time planning:
And allow more time for anything which is not very straightforward! In underestimating the time needed for an intricate and new-to-us design & build the whole project was somewhat rushed, this accounts partly for the overuse of materials, and also partly for the water side of the design not getting implemented.
And Simplify
If I was doing this again i would go for a much simpler design (structurally) and maybe even try to locate it in an existing shed (although this was not really an option at the time)
Limited by the imagination of the designer: And the information at hand.
Kind of a tricky one, with little knowledge of construction, It seeemed best to give over the reigns to someone who knew a bit more. As such, while we got the thing built & functional it compromised my original vision. I think that if I had either allowed more design & consultation time along with more accurate observation of available resources the project could have been easier and more efficient. In editing this nearly two years later I would also hope that now I have the deisgn skills to be more creative with design solutions.
Collaboration
This was probably the most difficult part of the whole process, Working with others, learning to be inclusive, & hear everyone for real. People always have their preconceptions, including me. To be a better designer I need to be aware of these & not get too attatched to one way before analysing all options objectivey.
Getting everyone on board with the same vision & values... I need to be able to communicate my ideas more clearly, and there is a balance to be met between my permaculture vision and other peoples' expectations. In this instance, perhaps more (shared) research would help & even a communal visit to an example of a compost toilet I admire?? :-)
I also self-assessed this design using the tutor assessment form which focusses on the diploma criteria. You can read it here.
