Throne Off Course
From the gong farmers of Tudor England, to the night-soil collectors of early 20th-century China, to the porcelain gods prayed to daily throughout the modern Western world, the indelicate matter of bodily waste disposal has been marked by a common philosophy: Out of sight, out of mind. And in the view of architect, writer, and environmental evangelist Jason F. McLennan, that really stinks.
“For the last 100 years, we’ve basically done everything wrong. The toilet is simply a receptacle on one end of a huge chain of stupidity created in a misguided effort to protect the public from disease and embarrassment,” he explains. “By using water to convey waste over long distances to industrial treatment facilities, we’ve committed two great environmental sins. One, we’ve polluted our water supply: Huge amounts of energy and toxic chemicals are required to make it clean again. Two, we’ve become the only species on Earth that disrupts nature’s nutrient cycle because we destroy those found in our waste. An entire industry has arisen just to replace them.”
Assuming that a dual-flush system (which allows users to moderate water usage) represents the eco-toilet baseline, then a waterless,
nutrient-preserving composting toilet is undoubtedly the Holy Grail. It was McLennan’s passion for the topic—–and his email handle of “Green Warrior”—–that led us to enlist his expertise in reviewing a variety of eco-toilet contenders poised to usurp the single-flush throne.
Articles
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Waste Opportunity
While the Western world forgets its waste with a flush, 2.6 billion people don’t even have toilets. Virginia Gardiner ventures to the World Toilet Summit in search of sanitation’s…
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Ballo Toilet Brush
Tis the season for having guests—and thus a clean house, as well. And while you'll want a toilet brush on hand, you may not want your current one out on display. Danish manufacturer…
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Products
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Clivus Multrum Foam-Flush Toilet
Vitreous china bowl and water tank / Push-button flush / 3 ounces per flush
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Sancor Envirolet VF 700 Composting Toilet
Vitreous china bowl / External composting unit / Vacuum-assisted flush /
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Caroma-Caravelle-One-Piece Round Front Plus Dual-Flush Toilet
Vitreous china bowl and tank / Two-button flush / 0.8 or 1.6 gallons per flush
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The Bathroom Reinvented
Exploring everything from conceptual ideas about waterless toilets to just what it takes to integrate a greywater system into a residence, Dwell leads the conversation online about the future of…
Videos
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The Bathroom Reinvented
Industrial designer and London–based Dwell contributor Virginia Gardiner shares the ins and outs of her low-cost, low-tech concept for a waterless toilet system.
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Emerging Designer: Jason Miller
The first subject in our emerging designers series, Jason Miller draws on threadbare bits of Americana, serving up something entirely new with a sly, subversive spin.
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Clivus Multrum Foam-Flush Toilet
Vitreous china bowl and water tank / Push-button…
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Sancor Envirolet VF 700 Composting Toilet
Vitreous china bowl / External composting unit /…
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Caroma-Caravelle-One-Piece Round Front Plus Dual-Flush Toilet
Vitreous china bowl and tank / Two-button flush /…
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I was just re-reading this article as I have had a couple clients request putting a composting toilet in. Unfortunately our government agency - Interior Health is opposed to these type of fixtures because of a possible problem of poor up keep. Has anyone else run into problems with local health or building authorities? Ken K Flywheel Building Solutions West Kelowna, BC
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