You may have heard of the term ‘BioToilet’ recently and may be thinking to yourself “What is a BioToilet?” or “How does a BioToilet work?”
BioToilets are a great way to reduce water usage around your home (or boat, motorhome, etc) and are great for the environment as they recycle what would otherwise be a waste product.
Here are some of the benefits of a BioToilet:-
- They’re good for the environment
- They reduce your water usage
- They can be installed into any type of home
- They can be installed on boats, RVs and motorhomes
- They’re perfect for tiny houses where space is limited
- They don’t smell
- They’re easy to clean
- They can be used for off-the-grid homes
- It’s a great way to recycle
- They’re excellent for drought-prone areas and places with minimal water supply
- You get great top-soil like humus
- Enhance the growth of non-edible plants
Now that you know some of the benefits of using or purchasing a BioToilet, here’s a rundown of what they are, how they work, and where you can buy them.
What is a BioToilet?
A BioToilet is a different type of toilet system that we may not be aware of if we’ve only ever used ‘conventional’ toilets for most of our lives. Instead of flushing waste products away with usable drinking water through to a treatment plant, a BioToilet composts waste products within it’s own enclosed system.
This not only reduces your water and energy usage in your household, but gives you a great usable product at the end of the composting cycle.
Above you can see a diagram of how the system works. A composting chamber collects waste where liquid waste evaporates away and solid waste creates an environment where microbes (including bacteria, fungi and protozoa), organic matter, water and oxygen mix together to form the composting pile, and eventually a rich, top-soil like humus that’s great for use on your gardens.
How does a BioToilet Work?
There’s usually two processes at play in a BioToilet – aerobic composting and anaerobic composting.
Aerobic composting is a similar type of composting process that you get from your average backyard compost heap. This uses heat and oxygen to create a chemical process to break down elements in the waste.
Anaerobic Composting is the process that happens with no oxygen and takes a lot longer to break down the elements in your composting pile.
If you would like to read up on the technical aspects of how a composting toilet works, head over to this great article by Clivus Multrum called What actually happens when you poop in a composting toilet.
BioToilet Chemicals
The great thing about a BioToilet is that you don’t need to use any chemicals to keep the composting process working. There are consumables you can add to your composting environmentally friendly toilet like Humus Mix, Nature Quick Microbes and Nature Flush Enzymes but these are all derived from natural processes and ingredients.
BioToilet Prices
The price of purchasing a BioToilet can vary, depending on the type of system and how large it is. Composting toilets can be broken down into two types – self contained systems and split systems. Let’s take a look at the differences.
Self Contained Composting Toilets
These are composting toilets systems that are very flexible. They’re pretty much an all-in-one unit that you can install in most homes (be they tiny, motor or off-the-grid). There’s a chamber underneath the unit (like the image above) that waste is collected in. When this fills up the waste is stored in the composting chamber for curing. (Usually you get two composting chambers to interchange to allow for the curing process.)
Self contained units are great as they don’t require any special setup or a space under the unit for a chamber like a split system composting toilet does.
Split System Composting Toilets
Split system composting toilets are usually larger units that allow for more people. They typically get installed in more commercial environments like public toilets in national parks, businesses, halls, schools, resorts and and larger homes (or homes that are in remote locations and need a larger system). Typically the chamber will be installed under the home or building, and the pedestal will sit in the bathroom (connected to the bottom chamber).
Where to buy a BioToilet
Obviously you can purchase a BioToilet through our website or there are other companies we deal with that also have other models. Here’s a list of BioToilet companies:
