I love this short video by the Rich Earth Institute in Vermount, USA. Their main focus is turning human urine into fertilizer. This pioneering work supports sustainable agriculture and protects vital water resources. But, they are not only looking at the science behind using human waste (pee and poo) as a fertiliser, but they’re taking…
When you start thinking about using a small space (shed, summerhouse, cabin, tiny home, caravan etc) throughout the year, it becomes obvious that having some way of heating the space will extend and enhance its usability. Heating becomes a necessity if you are living there throughout the winter! As we’re mainly dealing with off-grid scenarios…
Allowing small amounts of urine to be discharged into the ground, through a soak-away pit, is the usual way of dealing with the urine output from urine-diverting compost toilets. In the UK, specifically England and Wales, the Environment Agency, permits discharges to ground of up to 10 litres per day (with certain provisos) as part…
I think I first came across the cabins and work of Black Dog Carpentry in 2012 or so. I was captivated by the unusual and often organic (non-boxy) style of the cabins. Black Dog Carpentry are a small collective of woodworkers and makers based in Devon, UK. They try to use homegrown timber and recycled…
In my various roles, I have often been asked to help people choose the right size of solar panel and battery for a low power device (lights, compost toilet fans, USB chargers…). In many cases, it’s been to power the fan in an off-grid compost toilet (although my methods and maths applies to anything that…
Night Soil, is untreated, uncomposted human excrement (aka raw poo). It was commonly used as a fertiliser on farms in the United Kingdom until around 60 years ago. It’s still used in some Eastern countries today, but comes with health risks as raw human faeces can be a vector of human to human disease transmission….
Maybe you’re thinking about buying or building a compost toilet, but you’re not sure if you’re ready to make the leap and part with a lump of cash or spend a lot of time making something. What if you want to dip your toe in the waterless world of compost toilets and humanure to see…
Updated 27th March 2021 In a basic, simple compost toilet the perfect cover material does several things: Some compost toilets, typically urine-separating models with a fan, don’t need any cover material at all according to the manufacturers (for example Separett Tiny, Villa & Weekend, and the Simploo). This is because they use a fan to…
In 2017, I made a compost toilet for Janta and Merav, who have created a place called Karuna in Shropshire. Although they’ve been resident on the site since 2007, they managed to obtain planning permission to build a strawbale, green roof roundhouse (after a very long and arduous struggle with the planning authorities). Since moving onto…
Early in 2017, my business at that time (The Little House Company/Eco-Loo) was contacted by an existing customer about a new project they were about to start. They were building three ‘tiny homes’ as holiday rentals and as they would be off-grid, they were looking for three unique compost toilets to go in them! These…