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Composting Toilets with an Andean View! |
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For Reservations: Black Sheep Inn |
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We are not experts on composting
toilets, |
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Click for photos of how it all works |
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Sign to Composting Toilet |
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It does not make sense to
contaminate clean water with poop. We learn this when we go camping and we
are taught to dig a hole at least 50 meters away from any water source. We
are also taught from a very young age that it is unhealthy to mix fecal
matter with food or drink. We wash our hands after going to the bathroom.
Clean drinking water is becoming a precious resource world wide.
Composting toilets provide an alternative to flushing away our wastes. A flush toilet that has no water is unappealing after just one use. If it is used two or three times without flushing it is disgusting, and if used four times or more with no water, nobody wants to go near it. The "FLUSH" for a composting toilet is the "dry stuff", made up of sawdust, dry chopped leaves or any other dry organic matter. Human feces consist of approximately 65% water and 5-10% nitrogen. Urine has 10-15% nitrogen. In order to compost human waste, a ratio of 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen is needed. That means a lot of dry stuff!! The dry stuff is the necessary “flush” and helps keep insects and odor at a minimum. Finished compost has no smell, it does not resemble feces in any way and it's a great fertilizer for gardens and trees. Imagine turning 'poop' into sweet smelling roses! Why do people take photographs inside our composting toilets? |
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Toilet with Roof Water Collector |
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Flower Gardens Inside Toilet |
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From an early age we are accustomed to relieving ourselves in the privacy
of small cubicles. Public toilets are small stalls and the only view is
occasional writing on the
wall. Household bathrooms provide more comforts, but rarely
have windows with a view nor flower gardens.
When camping the act of 'pooping in the woods' is not the most comfortable experience. The view may be great, but you still have to dig a hole, squat and bury your waste. The composting toilets at the Black Sheep Inn bridge this gap, providing an excellent view, making you feel at one with nature, while offering privacy and comfort. |
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Path to Composting Toilet |
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Multi-Function is Important The roofs of our composting toilets are made of a transparent material providing natural light for bathroom and gardens. Roofs also funnel rainwater to small tanks used for hand washing. Using biodegradable hand soap, wastewater from the sink irrigates interior flower gardens which are fertilized with finished compost. The book, The Toilet Papers by Sim Van der Ryn explains the design and process of the composting toilet. Why did we choose composting toilets?We first experienced composting toilets at Ecuador's pioneer ecolodge: Hostería Alandaluz in 1992. We were impressed at how well they worked and how they saved water. When starting to build the Black Sheep Inn in 1995 our very first project was a composting toilet. By studying the out-of-print book, The Toilet Papers by Sim Van der Ryn, we were able to come up with our own creative design. Guests have enjoyed scenic pooping ever since! Since then we have used The Humanure Handbook, a guide to composting human manure by J.C. Jenkins 1994, and The Composting Toilet System Book, a practical guide to choosing, planning and maintaining composting toilet systems, an alternative to sewer and septic systems by David Del Porto and Carol Steinfeld 1998. We have now built 11 composting toilets. There are still millions of practical things that can be learned from books! |
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Composting Toilet and Bottle Wall |
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Design of Our Toilets |
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| Easy Bucket System | Out of Print Back-to-the-Land Bible | Outlines many different Systems |
| Now for some pictures of how it all works... | ||
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Ventilation Tube Inside Toilet, |
Rainwater Sink drains into Gardens |
Clean Out Doors |
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Dry Stuff for the "Flush" |
Pile of "Poop" |
Odorless Fertilizer |
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Composting Toilets are just one link fitting into the Permaculture chainPermanent agriculture offers positive solutions to problems caused by the earth’s diminishing natural resources. It focuses on how to design sustainable productive human settlements that provide food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs. Permaculture combines many ecological features: organic gardening, building with natural materials, alternative energy, water conservation, composting, dry toilets, animal production and more. It is a way of inter-connecting many features so that they become more productive and stable. Permaculture copies natural eco-systems and therefore designs for production and sustainability. |
| Composting Toilet Links: ECOSANLAC - Saneamiento Ecológico en Latinoamérica y Caribe se sustenta en individuos o contactos a nivel de cada país que interactúan con el objetivo de informarse, investigar, difundir y poner en práctica proyectos y actividades referentes al saneamiento ambiental sustentable. http://www.ecosanlac.org/ Composting Toilet World is an advocate for the use of composting toilets worldwide. Their goal is to educate, promote and facilitate the use of compost toilets. They believe that the use of composting toilets by persons in all countries will substantially help the environment and improve living conditions now and in the future. http://compostingtoilet.org/ Global Dry Toilet Club of Finland was founded in 2002 to promote the use of dry toilets. Their vision is to make dry toilets an essential part of sustainable development, thus securing clean waters and a healthy environment for future generations. Their mission is to introduce functioning dry toilets together with controlled management of toilet waste and to make people aware of the benefits of dry sanitation. http://www.drytoilet.org/ IWA Specialist Group "Ecological Sanitation" http://www.ecosan.org/ World Toilet Organization is a non-profit organization, established 2001, that communicates the need for better toilet standards in both the developed and developing economies of the world and provides a service platform for all toilet associations, related organizations and committed individuals to facilitate an exchange of ideas relating to health and cultural issues. http://www.worldtoilet.org/ |
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GOALSBlack Sheep Inn’s goal is to become self-sufficient in energy, water and food production. We have made significant steps in this direction, such as researching and designing for alternative energy installations, expanding gardens, and improving water collection. The Black Sheep Inn will never be a ‘finished project’. Change, efficiency and improvements are a part of Black Sheep Inn’s everyday process. Using permaculture ideas, we plan on further connecting existing features and buildings on our property for a more efficient use and re-use of resources. We have built a new laundry washing area that uses roof collected rain water, recycles gray water. This new laundry area provides a roofed open air space for drying sheets, towels and clothing. All laundry at the Black Sheep Inn is hand washed and line dried. Another goal is to implement environmental education in the area, provide enhanced protection for the Iliniza Ecological Reserve, and also increased participation in global ecotourism conferences to share successes and best practices. |
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| Being eco-friendly is an all-encompassing lifestyle and includes sustainability with a low impact, conservation, and community work. Click here for our ECO Definition. It starts with awareness. We are always looking for new ways to improve our facility and make it more self-sufficient. | |
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Visiting the Black Sheep Inn is both enjoyable and educational. |
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Andres Hammerman & Michelle Kirby |
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