Eco Toilet Systems
“Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting.
We allow them to disperse because we’ve been ignorant of their value.”
-R. Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller (image by OAEC.org)
Ecological Sanitation
Ecological sanitation or “eco-san” is a sanitation strategy that aims to manage human waste in ways that sustainably maximize resource value and protect the health of people and ecosystems. Some example eco-san practices include using eco-toilets, harvesting rainwater, irrigating with greywater and composting food scraps. All of these practices are based on the foundation of appreciating and valuing resources (like water, nutrients, clean air, healthy soil, etc.) that are essential to the existence of life on earth.
Nutrient Management on Cape Cod
Here on Cape Cod vast quantities of nutrients are imported over our bridges in the form of fertilizers and food. Fertilizers are applied on our landscapes to help things like turfgrass and ornamental beds grow more vigorously. While we all appreciate healthy plants, unfortunately fertilizers are often overapplied or applied incorrectly, which results in nutrient runoff and leaching – a significant source of pollution to our waters. Food on the other hand is consumed by us, digested and then excreted into water flushed toilet and sewage systems where it contributes the main source of nutrients in wastewater. Wastewater nutrients then leach into the ground and ultimately into our surface waters where they are the main source of nutrient pollution causing algal blooms and water quality degradation.
Maybe Bucky was right?
Our nutrient management approach has not worked well for us. We can clearly see this in the sad state of our water quality. We’ve viewed wastewater nutrients as waste and have invested heavily in infrastructure to try to make them go away. What we’ve missed is that there is no “away”, everything goes somewhere. The other thing we’ve missed is that these “waste” nutrients are extremely valuable, even essential to life on earth. By utilizing eco-san practices and viewing nutrient waste as a resource we can eliminate pollution at the source (the toilet), reduce cost and energy consumption associated with conventional nutrient management, and recycle valuable water and nutrients to assure our plants and landscapes are green and flourishing.
Here’s a great video by Brightwater Tools that describes their work related to urine diverting systems!
And, here’s another great video by UnderCurrent Productions that talks about How Composting Toilets Could Save Cape Cod!
ECO-SAN RESOURCES
MASSTC Eco-San Projects
- Falmouth UD Project
- Demonstration eco-toilet installations
- Growing dye plants
- Composting food scraps, humanure, urine, landscape materials, etc.
- Testing the production and application of urine-derived fertilizers
Local Eco-Toilet Systems
- Here at MASSTC!
- Mass Audubon Wellfleet
- West Tisbury Library
- Green Center
- Private homes (by appointment)
Eco-Toilet Sellers
- Brightwater Tools
- Nature Loo
- Advanced Composting Systems
- Clivus Multrum
- Wostman
- Laufen
- Jets Group
- Waterless Toilet Shop
- Wasted*
- See our alternative toilets technologies page
Eco-San Organizations
- Rich Earth Institute
- Nutrient Networks
- Point of Shift
- University of Michigan
- Green Center
- Occidental Arts & Ecology Center
- SOIL Haiti
Eco-San Books
- Humanure Handbook
- The Compost Toilet Handbook
- Liquid Gold
- All People Pee
- The Toilet Papers
- MASSTC Waste No Water Booklist!
Eco-San Reports
MASSTC Project Assistant, Bryan Horsley leads our ecological sanitation programs. If you have questions or comments you can send him an email at bryan.horsley@capecod.gov