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My Toilet Makes Compost – No Water, No Chemicals, No Smell

My toilet makes compost. It’s a dry compost toilet. It simply and effectively turns our waste into usable compost that can be buried in the (non-vegetable) garden.

Here is a little introductory video to show you what it looks like and how it works.

Here’s some of the reasons I love my composting toilet:

  • We save over 50,000 litres of water a year because it has no flush (that’s comparing to an ultra-low-flow toilet flush. We’d save 100,000 in comparison to full flush toilets).
  • It uses almost no electricity – just a tiny fan inserted into the air vent which uses 5watts/hour (in our house this is solar-powered).
  • It does not smell – because of the small fan in the vent pipe which ensures that any smell goes up the vent, not into the toilet room. It really does work!
  • It is a sealed system so insects and rodents cannot get in.
  • Because it does not smell and it is sealed, we have in our house – not as an outdoor toilet, like many compost toilets are.
  • It has no moving parts – very low-tech and easy to maintain.
  • It does not export our waste to be dealt with elsewhere.
  • It reduces the organic material by 90% – massively diminishing the volume of waste to deal with.
  • It requires no chemicals to process the waste.
  • It is a continuous composting system, as opposed to a batch system where you need to physically swap chambers. This reduces handling and heavy lifting.
  • It is approved by our local government plumbing department.
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This is a super simple and effective waterless toilet. The toilet room and the finished compost do not smell.
Every few weeks we add a little extra high carbon material, like sawdust, to maintain the carbon-nitrogen balance.
We have thrown a few handfuls of composting worms into the system to add extra composting power.
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Clivus Multrum
This particular toilet is a Clivus Multrum 8 which is suitable for a household of up to 5 people. There are DIY plans in the internet for Clivus Minimus.  Click here for one example.

5 Responses

  1. Australian Gardening Granny
    Australian Gardening Granny at |

    An impressive set up Morag.
    Plus a product you can use at the end of the cycle.

  2. Julie Ellenberger
    Julie Ellenberger at |

    HI Morag. You said you bury your Humanure in the non-vegie garden. Can you use your humanure on fruit trees or do you use in strictly with non-edibles. Does it have to be buried? Thanks for posting this, I've always wanted to know more about this subject.

  3. shazartist
    shazartist at |

    Great Idea, is this a commercial system ? You do say it is approved by your local council. We have just gone through deciding on what system to use. Yours looks amazing.

  4. Alexander009
    Alexander009 at |

    Was going to ask the same 🙂

  5. Emily Lopez
    Emily Lopez at |

    I Have seen your video very attentively this is very well. Thank you very much for sharing this.