I’m putting a Caribbean composting toilet on the back burner. Why? The problem started when my well-meaning North American contact for this project told me she read the book, Three Cups of Tea. It’s the story of Greg Mortensen, who worked to build 55 schools in Pakistan. Here’s what I wrote on the blog, Not My Tribe:
This book has created headaches for me, as several readers have decided they are going to plop down some kind of improvement in the beautiful second-world locales at which they spent their vacations. These mostly well-meaning folks believe they do not have to do any initial planning or input gathering with the community. Or ask them what they want and are willing to maintain. They really just want me to help them design, fund and build an improvement, in this case a composting toilet, that will allow them to brag about this. They assume that the improvement will so impress the locals and, more importantly, funders, that the solution will be replicated. The NY Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, notable for his sometimes lack of deeper investigation, will note it in his column and perhaps write a book about it. And another heartwarming NY Times bestseller will be born.
Not ready for prime time composting toilet projects
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reya
15 May 2011Hi Carol,
We are thinking about putting a composting toilet in at the Yellow Deli in Valley Center Ca. We are out in the country and located next to a creek. We do not own the property and have over 100 people per week. We know we are going to get a lot more people in the future. I have been looking at the Clivus Multrum and the Carousal. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Reya
carol
25 May 2011Reya, will you need to get local approvals, a permit? I’m guessing you will, so the local requirements will drive your decision. The county likely requires an NSF- or state-listed composting toilet, such as EcoTech Carousel, Clivus Multrum, Phoenix, and the Sun-Mar Centrexes. The self-contained composting toilets are too low-capacity for what you describe. The Carousel is a batch composter and the Clivus (and Phoenix) are continuous composters. The advantage of the former is that the end-product is more thoroughly composted when you remove it. But you will need to change the compost bin occasionally, something you don’t have to do with the continuous composters. I favor batch composting for this reason, but it’s not always the best choice for situations where the level won’t be monitored or where there is little maintenance. Then your choice is what kind of toilet stool to choose: dry, micro-flush or urine-diverting, etc.
If you do not need a permit, there are site-built composter options.