Eco-friendly toilets
Who said that an entrepreneur needs to be young? Sven Ingvar-Nilsson is a 77-year old Swedish farmer, but he also owns a company which wants to help the world to be a better place. He's selling dry toilets and this might help countries where water or sewerage systems are a concern, as reports India News in "eco-friendly dry toilets turn human waste into manure." These toilets work by keeping the urine and the solid waste separate and using the second to create manure for farms. So far, the company has sold about 2,000 dry toilets, but the demand is growing worldwide. Read more...
Here are some short excerpts from the India News article.
'Don't mix, don't flush, don't waste' is the slogan of a Swedish entrepreneur selling dry toilets - a revolutionary concept that not only saves water but also converts human waste into manure.
Sven Ingvar-Nilsson, 77, [and owner of Wost Man Ecology AB,] has been successfully using the dry toilet design for the last 11 years at his massive farm on the outskirts of this small Swedish town. He says that the concept not only uses human waste but also saves a lot of water that is wasted every time you flush.
Below is a diagram of one of these toilet systems, the ClearVac_Duo (Credit: Wost Man Ecology AB). "Urine is flushed by gravity to a tank. The solid wastes are flushed by air together with 0.5-0.7 litres of water to a compost tank."
And below is another system, the WM-Barrel, a better solution for houses with an accessible basement (Credit: Wost Man Ecology AB). Its main advantage is it "is totally free from odour even when you use it!"
The company gives more details on how the system works on its Web site.
The urine section is rinsed using approximately 0.1 litres of water each use. The urine is led to a tank where it is collected for further transport, preferable for spreading as fertilizer in garden or agriculture. Solids fall into a bin housed in an insulated container in which negative pressure is created by a fan and vent.
The solid waste dries and thus bacteria and viruses are eliminated by a simple and reliable method. After a drying period of six months the solids can be composed, burned or dug down in the soil where it is quickly broken down. A standard bin (holding 80 litres) will need to be emptied every three months for normal family use.
If you need more details about this last process, here is how Ingvar-Nilsson empties this bin.
Finally, please join me to wish good luck to this entrepreneur!
Sources: India News, June 5, 2006; Wost Man Ecology AB web site
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