Compost Toilet Trial Report - Ministry of Civil Defence and ...

5 Conclusions
The trial of emergency compost toilets successfully demonstrated that they can be
used safely by a wide variety of individuals and households. Using the materials
provided and following the instructions participants were able to manage for four
weeks without using their flush toilet.
In summary the results show that:
People with an existing relationship with WREMO, even as simple as liking us
on Facebook, are more likely to volunteer for a project of this nature.
When recruiting, use a variety of methods to attract volunteers.
Using traditional media, such as newspapers, to advertise for volunteers may
not result in direct results, but may provide indirect benefits such as profiling a
project.
Wheelie bins were a good choice as a storage container, their wheels made
them easy to manoeuvre when collecting material.
Site access was variable; material was able to be delivered to and collected
from sites with relative ease.
Users will be anxious when first using an emergency compost toilet, however
for most these fears will be overcome in the initial few days.
Some users will need additional support and encouragement to use the
emergency compost toilet.
It will take a few weeks for new habits, such as remembering to place all paper
in the faeces bucket, to form.
In an emergency preventing access to ‘normal’ toilets may be needed.
Children can use an emergency compost toilet successfully.
Being allowed to decorate a toilet can be a way to engage children’s
enthusiasm, as well as clearly indicate the functions of the two separate
buckets.
Raising buckets, to reduce the gap between the bucket and the seat may be
necessary for units that are used by young children.
Flexibility of design allows users to adapt the compost toilet to their situation.
Provisions may be needed to supply some users with additional material.
The emergency compost toilet may work for business, though users may find
this brings unwelcome intimacy to work relationships. Provision of additional
units and allowing users some anonymity may aid implementation in a
workplace.
If used as per the instructions and emptied regularly there is little to no smell
from the compost toilet. Separation of the urine and faeces prevents the
development of a ‘long-drop’ smell.
Ideally the storage receptacle should be located in the shade and additional
mulch may be needed to ‘cap’ layers in the storage containers to reduce any
potential odour.
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