Toilet Tech Sustainable Outhouse Tour

Toilet Tech (North American distributor of the Ecodomeo toilet): https://www.toilettech.com/udseats

Ecodomeo (Urine diverting toilet manufacturer in France): https://www.ecodomeo.com/en/accueil-en/

Video Tour Timeline:
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1:52 First look at urine diverting toilet pedestal
4:34 Gravity fed, foot operated, hand washing stations
10:10 Decomposition chamber
11:23 In line septic tank
12:27 Cleaning the urine collection pan
16:25 Demo of toilet using "pee" and "poop"
18:00 Cleaning the conveyor belt
19:32 How to dispose of the decomposed solids
21:09 Slide show of construction photos

We did an exhaustive search among all known outhouse systems in an effort to identify the most environmentally responsible option that would also provide a non-objectionable user experience. We discounted port-a-johns, pit privies, vault toilets, and most composting toilets for various reasons and settled on the Urine Diverting Dry Toilet (UDDT) sold by Toilet Tech Solutions. We believe it is the easiest toilet to use, the most sanitary option (cleanest and least smelly), and the most environmentally sustainable option available for an off grid outhouse.

Unlike most so called composting toilets, Toilet Tech is careful to make the distinction that their UDDT facilitates decomposition and not composting. There are no claims that the solid end product will be usable as compost. Instead the entire design is intended to divert urine from the feces so that natural decomposition of the solids can take place over time. As soil microbes digest the solids they outcompete pathogenic bacteria and the total solid volume decreases to roughly 25% of the original volume.

Because urine is diverted, no bulking agent is required. The user simply steps on a heavy duty foot pedal to convey the feces into the decomposition chamber via a conveyor belt. Few instructions are needed to orient new users to the toilet. It is used in much the same way as a flush toilet: sit (or stand), eliminate into the bowl, toilet paper goes into the bowl, no bulking agent is needed, “flush” by pushing the foot pedal 5 times. The feces exit the outhouse through a hole the back wall and are conveyed into a ventilated decomposition chamber. Weekly maintenance can be completed in less than 15 minutes and is done from the “clean” side of the wall.

At first glance the Toilet Tech UDDT seems similar to some composting toilets. Depending on the model, composting toilets may or may not divert urine from the feces. Composting toilets require the addition of a carbon-rich bulking agent in volumes 3-4 times greater than that of the feces and urine collected. The bulking agent is intended to prevent sludge formation and anaerobic conditions in the collection chamber, but it also requires that the chamber be emptied on a regular basis. Despite their name, composting toilets do not permit conditions that would result in a pathogen-free, stable compost end product. Creating stable, pathogen-free compost that can be safely used as a soil amendment is not a simple task. It requires a 1-4 week period during which the biomass pile reaches and maintains a temperature of at least 130 degrees F (but not more than 160 degrees F) followed by a months-long period when less heat is generated and the nitrogen in the biomass is fixed. Composting toilets are not capable of accommodating this process given the small batches, continual additions of tainted biomass, and limited time before the chamber needs to be emptied.

If the contents of composting toilets are spread prematurely in the environment they can contaminate surface water and cause disease. If the contents are taken to a facility to be composted correctly (or taken to a landfill to be buried), the added bulking agent makes a biohazard waste that is many times greater in volume than the original urine/feces. In contrast, the uniquely effective urine diversion technology of the Toilet Tech UDDT allows the feces to decompose to roughly 25% of their original weight/volume. The decomposition chamber is sized such that it will not need to be emptied for 10-20 years, and when emptying is needed, the volume removed will be about 1/40th that generated by a composting toilet of equivalent use.