The earth closet

Henry was both suspicious of and disgusted by the cesspool in his home, so he filled it in and informed his family they would be using buckets from then on. He buried the buckets contents in the garden, and that was when the magic happened. After the burials, Henry noticed that the garden didn’t smell, and after a few weeks, there was no trace of what he’d done. Henry then built a shed in his garden in which to mix the contents of a used bucket with dry earth. He discovered he could use the same earth repeatedly.

A local farmer was roped into Henry’s experiment. The men covered half a field of swedes with Henry’s special ‘poo mix’ and the other side remained as it was. The ones grown on the poo-side grew a third bigger than the rest!

While there were others who had similar ideas before Henry, he designed what he called an 'earth closet' and patented it. The invention looked a bit like a medieval torture device without the spikes and chains, and it worked by turning a handle, which dropped a small amount of earth or ash over the waste in the bottom, creating air pockets, which encouraged decomposition and reduced odour.

It wasn’t as convenient as the flushing toilet because the user had to refill and empty it, and people living in close-quarters, without gardens, couldn’t dispose of the waste properly. It couldn’t eradicate The Great Stink, and only when the Great Stink started affecting politicians in the Palace of Westminster was the situation taken seriously.

The engineer, Joseph Bazalgette, saved the day by making the sewers twice the size they needed to be, and these sewers are still in use today. Henry’s earth closet became obsolete after this, but with concerns about water-usage growing, earth closets are on the up: only now they’re called composting toilets.

Nature reserves can be ideal places for these water-free loos, which is why staff and volunteers at Lunt Meadows have constructed a composting toilet for site-users. Lunt Meadows is a perfect spot for such a toilet: it’s remote, it’s wild and it’s a flood storage reservoir as well as a wildlife haven, so water management is a big theme of the site. Lunt is also located within the Alt Crossens catchment, which has low natural resilience to high or low water conditions. Visitors and volunteers alike have also expressed desire for a toilet. Based on this feedback, ‘build a compost toilet’ then became a goal for Lunt’s Mesolithic and Modern Life Project, supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund.

We manage Lunt Meadows as a nature reserve, but it is owned by the Environment Agency, who work to create better places for people and wildlife and support sustainable development. As partners on the MML Project, EA very kindly donated a large chunk of the costs towards the construction and interpretation of the toilet, with the rest of the funds generously topped up by Crosby Soroptimist International (also partners on the Project) and National Lottery Heritage Fund.

How does the compost toilet work?

Compost toilets have had a bit of a makeover since Henry’s first design, with a couple of new features added. A slope attachment separates the urine and the faeces, because mixing both together can be smelly. The toilet at Lunt also has two water-tight vaults that the waste falls into. When the first gets full, the toilet can be moved to sit above the second vault. Once the second vault is full too, the first can be emptied of compost and used again. The resulting compost medium will be used on-site.

Using the toilet is simple enough. Once you’ve done your business you can cover it with handful of sawdust (made available in the loo), clean your hands with sanitiser and be on your merry way. It’s even easier if you’re only having a wee, as you don’t need to use sawdust at all.

A worry for some is that the toilet will smell, but if maintained properly, users report that they smell less than a flushing loo, as long as there is a fan pushing the air outside and the urine is properly separated. Separating the urine encourages solid waste to decompose aerobically (with oxygen present), as leaf litter does on forest floors.

At Lunt’s loo, there is a small extraction cowl at the top of the building to eliminate any nasty odours, but anyone who has been fortunate enough to use this toilet can confirm that it is a stench-free experience.

Compost toilets far and wide

Composting toilets are a great problem-solver for places like parks and nature reserves, or for people who live alternative-lifestyles, such as those living off-grid or in vans. For these people, who have no access to plumbing or a septic tank, composting toilets are much easier and cheaper to set up, and for those who also garden, the compost is a welcome bonus. Some allotments have composting toilets now, and the toilets can even be bought and fitted in bathrooms.

Festivals are also beginning to turn away from plastic portaloos in favour of the composting variety. And for the paranoid few, the worry that someone will tip the portaloo over while you’re sitting on it is no more.

The benefits of the composting loo

Overall, composting toilets have many advantages. Not only do they preserve water, they cost less too. Toilet flushing accounts for a third of drinking water used in the home so composting toilets can really cut down on bills for those who are on a meter. If more people used them, they would also put less pressure on the sewage works.

The compost encourages more fertile soil and produces micro-organisms that help to tackle pests and increase plant growth. In turn, this reduces the need for chemical-laden fertilisers and pesticides. However, it is not recommended to use the compost to grow your own food. Others add the contents of their composting toilets to an already established compost pile or bin to break it down further.

While flushing toilets eventually provide sludge that can be used on farms, there are a lot of chemicals used in the process. Evidence exists that poo was made to be buried to release nutrients back into the earth.

The compost toilet at Lunt Meadows (affectionately referred to as ‘the Turdis’ by volunteers) is not only a much sought after place to relieve oneself but will become an educational resource for visitors. The project partners hope that by people seeing it and using it for themselves, the experience will highlight the need for careful management of water, one of our most basic of natural environmental resources.