Our Composting Toilets
At Sally’s Brook one of our Four Pillars of Purpose is to treat our planet with respect. The property benefits from not having the large-scale ecosystem disruption of a traditional septic system, nor do we have to rely on a huge amount of water to flush toilets. The average Canadian uses 335 litres of water a day! We do pump water to our Cookhouse and the sinks in the Washhouse from our deep well for washing hands and dishes.
At the moment we have 4 different models of composting toilets, all of which do not use any water. Aerobic bacteria break down the waste to harmless humus just like in a garden compost heap. Learn a bit more about how each one works below.
Separett
This toilet separates liquid and solid waste. It consists of a well-ventilated holding container that uses a negative pressure system to vent odours away and dehydrates the solid waste and toilet paper. A solid flap keeps the contents covered until there is weight on the seat. Everyone must sit down on the toilet for it to work properly. Our greywater system collects the urine diverted from the toilet and dilutes it with soapy water from the showers and sinks. The grey water is broken down rapidly into harmless compounds before it is released into the soil. The solids finish their composting process in a separate compost bin, until all that remains is rich humus to nourish the forest trees.
Sun Mar
In the Comfort Station, we have a non-electric SunMar composting toilet. It uses a combination of wood shavings and peat moss, and a manually cranked rotating drum as opposed to an electric motor to mix waste and promote the composting process. The exhaust vent pipe system works by “Venturi effect” in order to disperse any odours up and out without an electrically powered fan! We remove the finished compost at regular intervals and use it to nourish the trees.
Nature’s Head
Our Nature’s Head toilet is designed to be used in boats and RV’s so is very compact and self-contained. Similar to the Separett it is a urine separating toilet, but with a composting chamber design rather like the Multoa, using peat or coir mulch to aid composting inside the unit. This toilet is manually operated. It has a cover flap that you open with a lever when you use the toilet. After using the toilet you turn the crank and the mixing bars turn to help the waste compost evenly. It is very portable.
