Patricia: The two seat system proposed by Joseph Jenkins in "The Humanure Handbook" seems to be a pretty darn good approach, though I haven't tried it personally. Essentially you dig out two chambers such that the composted humanure is accessible through some sort of hatch, use one seat at a time until one chamber fills up and then rotate to the next chamber, after 6 to 9 months the humanure can be excavated and used on landscaping plants and tree crops, then switch to the empty chamber and let the other side compost for 6 to 9 months. A "whirly gig" turbine on top of a stack to ventilate the chambers is recommended to extend beyond the structure by 3-4 feet. Peat, sawdust, or other high carbon material should be added consistently to soak up urine, prevent flies, and balance carbon-nitrogen balance. Tight fitting lids are good.
Alternatively, a really simple method involves placing a 55 gallon drum under a toilet seat platform that can be removed when full and capped for a year to a year and a half. Addition of peat or sawdust also recommended. Lots of alternative designs available online. Check out Jenkins website at : http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html We rapidly need to develop sustainable methods of recycling human waste. By the way, we reached "peak phosphorous" almost 20 years ago and recycling human waste is the most efficient way of recycling all this phosphorous that is literally being flushed down the drain as if it has no value. Not to mention the fact that our current sewage treatment and disposal systems are inherently unsustainable and will likely collapse in the wake of peak oil infrastructure neglect and disrepair. In such a situation, we'll all have to figure out how to recycle this valuable nutrient stream. The permaculture concept of Forest Gardens works particularly well with humanure applications as does (as Rob Morache has proposed in his excellent paper on Flower Power Energy Cooperative) using this nutrient stream to fertilize plants that could be used for biomass-to-energy systems with carbon-negative energy production systems such as pyrolysis. Ok... getting off on tangent... What is Level Green by the way? Hope this helps, Ryan D. Hottle On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 12:08 PM, Patricia Haines < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > does anyone have experience with creating their own compost toilets? the > commercial ones are very expensive, and most intended for indoor use. We > want one or more for the outdoor living area at Level Green. > > Thanks - Patricia 339-4972 > > > > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > -- Ryan Darrell Hottle, Climate Change Solutions Thinker Performance Systems Contracting, Building Performance Analyst Global Climate Solutions www.GlobalClimateSolutions.org (coming soon!) Ohio Peak Oil Action (OPOA) Co-Founder, Director www.ohiopeakoilaction.org 803 Coddington Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 (740) 258 8450 _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
