The Future of Poop

Welcome to the wonderful world of compost toilet tech

By Molika Ashford Posted 06.04.2009 at 1:46 pm 6 Comments

Large Volume Waste Composting Large volume waste composting, courtesy of Clivus Multrum

The water toilet is truly one of the greatest miracles of modern life, a frothy disappearing act; now you see it… now you don’t. But washing human waste away requires huge sewage treatment infrastructures in cities, and extensive home septic systems for rural dwellers. Compost toilets, though in their essence as old as human civilization, have evolved to a point of technological sophistication whereby they tackle the minutiae of composting details to create optimal conditions for recycling human waste.

Take a look at the compost toilet tech out there for the non-flushers among us.

Previous Article: The Year's Coolest New Species

Next Article: The First Secretary of Climate Change

Want to learn more about the environment, solar energy, sustainability, and more? Subscribe to Popular Science and enter to win $5,000!

6 Comments

link to this comment

EParker

06/04/09 at 2:30 pm

I used a composting toilet once, it worked pretty well. It's good for remote areas or places where the soil doesn't perc.

link to this comment

rlenston

06/04/09 at 8:24 pm

I can't watch the videos from my current cpu, so I don't quite grasp the idea of a composite toilet. Anyone care to elaborate?

link to this comment

bdhoro87

from coral gables, fl

06/04/09 at 8:40 pm

They're pictures, pictures of compost toilets (not composite).

link to this comment

Milieunet

06/05/09 at 7:43 am

Great, but i guess The Amazing Shit-box is even better:

http://www.stichtingmilieunet.nl/andersbekekenblog/?p=4163

Milieunet Foundation is a non-profit organisation focused on awareness and change of behaviour by means of communication about waste, energy, sustainability, nature, environment, climate, human rights and international development cooperation.

link to this comment

rlenston

06/05/09 at 1:45 pm

Sounds like an out house. I'm assuming it's more sanitary. How is the waste transported and turned into energy and what-not?

link to this comment

Verblist

07/20/09 at 1:50 pm

It's nature, nature will always and forever do its thing. We as humans just need to develop the technology needed in order to practically allow for nature to work in existence with our wants and needs for hygiene, etc.

-Verblist

Verblist.net