Are Composting Toilets Safe?
Composting toilets provide an important tool to deal with the ever growing problem of how to deal with human waste in a manner which is safe for the environment. When used correctly, composting toilets produce an end-product which is both odor-free and pathogen-free, and completely safe to use as a soil amendment.
However, improperly composted materials can pose a health risk, just as untreated waste from a flush toilet will threaten human health if let into the environment before being fully treated. In many ways, however, composting toilets are safer for the environment than septic and sewage systems. Septic systems pose considerable risks for groundwater contamination in many areas, and sewage systems often fail, the end result being that raw, untreated human waste is allowed to seep into our environment. Composting toilets run none of these risks.
The process of turning human waste into an environmentally safe and usable product (compost) will take between three months to a few years depending on the system, the climate in which it is located and the temperature of the composting materials. Some countries, Sweden for example, will allow the urine from certain composting toilet models to be used in agricultural applications in as early as six months. Human feces pose a much greater risk to human health if not composted properly, and for this reason many countries (the United States included) ban the use of human compost on agricultural crops, although it is generally approved for for non-edible plant uses by most government agencies.
Many government agencies require that composted feces be allowed to break down for a minimum of one year before being used as a mulch around non-edible plants, trees and bushes. However, many “humanure” advocates say that human feces are completely safe for all agricultural purposes once fully composted. For example, Joseph Jenkins, author of The Humanure Handbook, is a strong advocate of using composted humanure for agriculture. It has been argued by these advocates that the reluctance to use this compost agriculturally in the United States and elsewhere arises more from finding the idea aesthetically unpleasing than from real, scientifically-based concerns.
However, regardless of the agricultural argument surrounding humanure application to crops, as long as basic instructions are followed and adequate time is allowed for the composting process, the end-product produced by composting toilet systems should be safe to handle and use. Composting toilet systems do require that owners assume the responsibility to monitor the composting process and ensure that the materials are fully composted prior to application.
Education about composting toilets is an important part of encouraging their use in the so-called “developed” world. Many health agencies in the United States and elsewhere have little knowledge of these systems and treat them with considerable suspicion. Misinformation and suspicion about composting toilets often makes it difficult to get a permit approving their use. In order to combat this suspicion, it is important that owners and users of composting toilets be open to discussing the systems with others and promoting their use.
For more information and articles about composting toilets, please return to the Toilet Composting Home Page.
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