The tiny house movement these past few years has shed some light on eco friendly toilets and as a result – more and more people are using them.
Now, tiny homes and some RV’s use composting toilets but you don’t necessarily have to go that far to be environmentally friendly. You can simply install a low flow toilet or any toilet that conserves water.
The benefits of eco friendly toilets are…
- They will save you money by saving water.
- They conserve and save water.
The Types Of Eco Friendly Toilets
There are several types of environmentally friendly toilets that you can purchase and install.
- Compost Toilets
- Incinerator Toilets
- Low Flow Toilets
How Do Composting Toilets Work?
A composting toilet doesn’t require any flushing. Instead, there are two containers attached to the toilet (one for solid and one for liquid).
The liquid automatically goes down some holes at the bottom of the toilet bowl into it’s own container.
The solid sits in the toilet bowl until you open a flap at the bottom of the bowl which then drops that into a composting bin that is filled with composting material.
After you’ve used the toilet and dumped the waste material into the bin – there’s a mechanism on the side of the toilet that you turn which stirs the new waste into the composting material.
You can use this type of toilet about 60 to 80 times before you need to empty out the compost bin. If you don’t want it to get 100% full (which may be harder to empty) we would recommend to change out the compost bin more frequently.
The front of the toilet does have a separate container for urine and that particular container should be cleaned out very frequently because it is much smaller than the main composting bin.
You may be wondering about the “smell” but composting toilets do come with an exhaust fan to move the odor out of the building / rv.
How Do Incinerator Toilets Work?
Incinerator toilets have been used in Europe for over 20 years but they are just starting to be discovered here in the USA.
They work very similar to compost toilets except the difference is that there is an electronic heating element inside the toilet bowl. It literally incinerates your waste. So yes, it has to be plugged in for electrical power.
When you need to use the toilet you lift the toilet seat, place a bag (specifically made for this toilet) into the toilet bowl and lower the toilet seat.
When you are finished, you close the lid to the toilet, press the incinerator button and the toilet does the rest. It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour to complete the incineration process.
But – the toilet can still be used by others during the incineration process (this would be important in homes of multiple occupants).
A container (looks like a pot) is in the base of the toilet and that is where the ash from the incineration process is collected.
How Do Low Flow Toilets Work?
There are two types of low flow toilets.
- Gravity fed
- Pressure assisted
The Gravity Fed toilets are the most common that you will find in most hardware stores and new homes.
Gravity Fed toilets are work very much like a standard toilet. When the user pushes down on the handle lever, the flushing valve is lifted which allows water to move from the tank to the bowl to flush the waste in the toilet.
The Pressure Assisted toilets are usually seen in restaurants, airports and other commercial settings but it is not necessarily uncommon to see them in residential homes as well.
When the user flushes a pressure assisted toilet, compressed air in the tank is released which in turn releases pressure that forces the waste in the bowl to be flushed. It usually looks and sounds like a little explosion of water and the flush is very quick.
If you have any questions about eco friendly toilets, call Atlantis Plumbing today at 770-443-8229. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.