Options for a composting toilet

Visiting Rachel at the BTCV nursery in Kendal to seek about the potential installation of a composting toilet. 

What is a composting -  A compost toilet is a dry or waterless toilet, i.e. one that doesn’t use water to take the waste somewhere else; it also allows natural processes to produce useful compost, after a resting period depending on the type of toilet. There are usually two chambers – one in use and one resting. A typical toilet would use one chamber for a year, then change to the second chamber and allow the first to decompose for a year before emptying.
They don’t smell, as long as there is a vent pipe, and a drain to take away excess liquid. A handful of a soak (straw or sawdust etc.) is dropped into the toilet after each use. This is because bacteria like to eat a balanced diet of carbon and nitrogen, and as human waste contains a lot of nitrogen, if they don’t get enough carboniferous material (like sawdust, straw, hay, shredded paper) they will give off excess nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which makes the loo smelly. Also, the soak allows oxygen into the pile, and absorbs liquid. This allows the pile to decompose aerobically to produce nitrates, phosphates and sulphates. Without a soak, the pile will decompose anaerobically and produce methane, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide – all smelly and not very useful.