Toilets That Make Compost

1. Introduction

Most of the rural population of Africa do not have access to safe and
reliable toilets. A good toilet, together with a safe reliable water supply and
the practice of good personal hygiene can do much to improve personal and
family health and wellbeing. There is an urgent need for the construction of
simple, low cost, affordable toilets that are easy to build and maintain and
are relatively free of odours and flies.

This book describes how to make a range of toilets that also make compost.
The compost is useful in the vegetable garden and can also be used for
growing trees. The simplest are low cost pit toilets and a builder is not
required once the householder has learned the basic methods of
construction. The more complex toilets use a method known as urine
diversion and a builder will be required to construct this type.

Fly and odour problems can be reduced by regularly adding soil, wood ash
and leaves to the excreta in the pit. Fly problems are worst during the warm
wet season. If ash and leaves are not available, soil alone helps. But adding
ash and leaves helps make better compost. The more soil is added the
better, but this must be offset against filling the pit too fast. These extra
ingredients also help turn the mix into compost more efficiently. It is
possible to grow a tree directly in the filled toilet pit if it is planted in a
layer of soil placed above the compost. It is also possible to dig out the
compost after a suitable time and use this to fertilise the vegetable garden
or plant trees. So the simple toilet can have many valuable uses, in addition
to being a safe way to dispose of excreta.

Over the years it is possible to improve on the original simple toilet using
the same concrete slab. It is a small amount to pay for something that gives
so much benefit to the family.