Composting Toilets - Is One Right for Your Family?

With living expenses on the rise and family incomes falling, more people than ever are now looking for ways to cut costs at home.  Pair this frugality with the increased popularity of going green, and it's easy to see why composting toilets are becoming a widely accepted alternative to the standard flush toilet.  Not only are they environmentally friendly, but they can also save most families a significant amount of money on annual water and sewer or septic costs.  However, before you rush out to replace your flush toilet with a new composting model, there are some considerations you should take into account to decide whether a composting toilet is right for your family.

First and foremost, the type of composting toilet system you'll need should be based on the number of people living in your household.  You must also ask yourself if you want to replace every toilet in your house with a composting system, or only one or two.  This will also have an impact on the model you select.  The reason for this is because composting toilets are sold based on capacity-that is, how much waste they are designed to hold and process.  This capacity is typically stated in the number of people using the toilet.  For example, a system designed to be used by a family of four on an ongoing or residential basis will be significantly larger and more expensive than a unit for use by one or two people on an occasional or weekend basis.

Your next important consideration should be the people that make up your family.  Do you have young children or teenagers living at home?  Are there elderly people with some physical restrictions?  Some composting toilets are built a bit taller than a traditional toilet.  The reason for this is because the composting chamber, also known as the drum, sits beneath the toilet seat, and this drum must be large enough to accommodate the waste that the toilet will process.  Units with elevated seats usually also feature a small footstool attached to the front of the toilet, allowing the person to easily step up.  If you have children or elderly people living in your home, you must consider whether they would be able to easily reach the seat.  If it might be a problem, then you should be sure to select a unit that has a standard height seat as opposed to an elevated one.

For homes with very young children, there are some other considerations as well.  Anyone who has kids knows that lots of children have a fascination with flushing strange items down the toilet.  With a traditional toilet, this usually results in a clogged pipe which can be remedied with a plunger.  In the case of a composting toilet, it's not so simple.  Because the waste isn't flushed away, whatever the child puts into the toilet is going to simply remain in the composting drum, and may have to be manually removed.  Therefore, if you have kids in your home, you’ll want to be sure to impress upon them the importance of not putting any foreign objects into the toilet.

Buying a composting toilet is a big investment and it's not something that you should rush into.  As you can see, there are a lot of questions to ask yourself and the answers will factor into your purchasing decision.  Once you've considered some of these important aspects of composting toilet ownership, you'll be in a better position to determine whether one might be right for your family.