Getting a Composting Toilet Approved
The most difficult aspect of placing a composting toilet in your home is likely going to be gaining approval and permit by local city officials. Unfortunately, there are no national guidelines and approval of composting toilet systems are generally done on a city by city basis.
Local health officials in many regions may be extremely biased against any nontraditional waste disposal method. Many cities don’t even allow rainwater catchment, so trying to convince them that humanure is a great idea is quite a challenge! For this reason, most composting toilet owners in the United States do not even bother seeking permits, instead using them clandestinely in their homes. Just like the “solar guerillas” who often illegally set up solar systems in their homes due to oppressive regulations, there appears to be a large composting toilet guerilla underground movement as well.
But there is encouraging changes happening as the number of users of composting toilets continues to grow. In a recent New York Times article (dated July 6, 2009), reporter Kate Galbraith noted that many cities are now at least considering a policy that encourages (or accepts) composting toilets in residential homes. She writes that, “Last month the city of Austin, Tex., approved its first composting toilet. Columbus, Ohio is adding some composting toilets to its parks [and] Officials in Dutchess County, N.Y., are studying the concept [of approving composting toilets].”
Galbraith also interviewed Jim Weaver of BioLet composting toilets, who noted that manufactured composting toilets is definitely a growth industry, with BioLet currently selling over 1,000 a units a year (and BioLet is a fairly small company compared to some other composting toilet manufacturers, including Sun-Mar and Envirolet).
There are also additional attempts to create national standardization and regulation criteria. The National Sanitation International Foundation is now setting manufacturing standards and certifying composting toilets in the United States and abroad.
Still, the approval process is still not easy for most regions in the United States. This is an area where more activism seems to be needed, and although the permiting process can be grueling (and often unsuccesful), silently installing a composting toilet does little to help on this front (although it does undoubtedly to a lot of good for the environment). Activism and education seem to be the key to encouraging people to switch from the wasteful flush toilet method to the more environmentally sustainable practice of toilet composting.
For more information about composting toilet methods, composting toilet reviews, and information on how to build a homemade compost toilet, please return to the Toilet Composting Home Page.
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