We are currently building a composting toilet on 4 Linden trees so that we can continue to use the resources here. Every person excretes valuable nutrients, which are necessary for the growth of plants, every time they go to the toilet. This means that we all produce source material that can be reused as fertilizer after appropriate treatment. By closing nutrient cycles (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), finite resources can be conserved.
In conventional wastewater treatment, the nutrients are mixed with more or less clean drinking water and fed through an elaborate sewer network into wastewater treatment plants for centralized treatment. The recovery of resources is not yet sufficiently possible.
One way to close material cycles is to compost the contents of dry toilets. In this process, faeces are stabilized with the addition of oxygen during humification so that they can then be used as a soil conditioner. This also creates a carbon sink, as carbon is added to the soil in the long term and less CO2 escapes into the atmosphere.
For optimal treatment of the faeces, urine and faeces must be separated to create optimal conditions for recycling.
If you are interested or have any questions about sanitation, just get in touch with Andreas.