What is a Composting Toilet System?
Composting toilet systems (sometimes called biological toilets, dry toilets and waterless toilets) contain and control the composting of excrement, toilet paper, carbon additive, and, optionally, food wastes. Unlike a septic system a composting toilet system relies on unsaturated conditions (material cannot be fully immersed in water), where aerobic bacteria and fungi break down wastes, just as they do in a yard waste composter. Sized and operated properly, a composting toilet breaks down waste to 10 to 30 percent of its original volume. The resulting end-product is a stable soil-like material called “humus,” which legally must be either buried or removed by a licensed seepage hauler in accordance with state and local regulations in the United States. In other countries, humus is used as a soil conditioner on edible crops. The primary objective of the composting toilet system is to contain, immobilize or destroy organisms that cause human disease (pathogens), thereby reducing the risk
