opinion about composting toilet

[Sarico]

our allotment site has been award with 10K from the national lottery so they could secure the fence buy some hot compostbin and composting toilet... our site is split in 2 site one with about 50 plots and the other one only 5 (is where i have my plot). so now at the agm they asked opinion about it and now on sunday they asked me to meet them form my opinion about where i think they could put the composting toilet... now i understand a toilet on the big site where they have festival, community plot, shop and most of the plots but is it worth invest 1800 pound for one on my site? the other 4 plot holder they never been at any meeting and never care about any issue ( we had a pile of rubbish dropped outside the gate and i contact the council and the chairman to get someone cleaning) that's why they asked me for my opinion... i think composting toilet only for wee is not gonna make much and only work if has been used often and maintained properly... so considered they didn't care about the rubbish at the gate i doubt they will do the weekly maintenance to avoid smell and make the composting toilet work.. plus my site doesn't have water tap and someone told them that would cost less then 2000 pound for a connection... my opinion is better having water then a place for an occasional wee...what you think?

[Alison]

How on earth does a simple compost loo cost that much! That aside I'd agree that it's not worth spending the money and I'd much prefer to use my B&Q bucket and pour it on the compost heap than a badly looked after toilet.

[veggiechicken]

Try to get water piped in - much more useful in my view.

[bearded bloke]

Go with the water main Sarico

[Greenleaves]

Water everytime

[Sarico]

so i'm happy that everyone agree with me...is a lot of money for the benefit of only 5 people.. plus i use the wee for the compost bin and i have almost half of the bin composted already... if they can't get water in there and they are willing to spend that money they could at least buy some water butts so save me some travel with water tanks,get a nice hot compost bin, something usefull then a toilet...plus compost from composting toilet is not good for food so someone need to empty and put it somewhere ( which i doubt the other plot holder will do it)

[Guest]

I agree - get water, not the toilet.

[alldigging]

Try to get water piped in - much more useful in my view.

Apart from the bill!

[alldigging]

I think all 5 plot holders need to get together and discuss it.

A compost loo isn't a lot of work, doesn't smell and doesn't need running water. Ours has a water container and foot pump into a sink to wash hands.

The water thing was quotes us over 2k to get connected and then there's the water bill. What if one of you uses more water than the rest?

2k is a waste for running water for 5 people when you can get some IBCs (or huge water storage tanks) installed off roofs for a fraction of the amount.

[Kristen]

you can get some IBCs (or huge water storage tanks) installed off roofs for a fraction of the amount.

It needs a fair amount of roof area to replenish them in summer - e.g. 1" of rain on 40 sq.m. of roof will fill an IBC, that's kinds large for a shed roof

[alldigging]

It needs a fair amount of roof area to replenish them in summer - e.g. 1" of rain on 40 sq.m. of roof will fill an IBC, that's kinds large for a shed roof

Yes you're right, summer rain is unlikely to provide enough water off a small shed roof, but every little helps. A really huge storage tank could be buried maybe as an extra store.

[Sarico]

I know 2 for the benefit of 5 is a waste for water supply but 1800 for a toilet sit in there is also a waste. Even the water problem for wasn't a problem considering I'm only 26 years old but maybe for the other plot could be. I was gonna buy an ibc so I could fill it up over winter. The nice thing that our association doesn't want that we feel like they don't care about the 5 plot on our site and want to spend some money for us.

[Kristen]

Yes you're right, summer rain is unlikely to provide enough water off a small shed roof, but every little helps. A really huge storage tank could be buried maybe as an extra store.

I find it depressing how much storage volume is required to bridge Winter-to-Summer - depressing in the sense that at £1.50-or-so for 100 cu.m. of water (on a meter) there is no incentive ("Soft" rainwater vs. "hard" mains water, apart) to buy and install rainwater harvesting kit ... it should be subsidies to encourage more uptake, and be compulsory in the Building Regs for any new builder property with a garden (I'm talking a bit more than just the occasional water butt under a greenhouse/shed downpipe, so not exactly relevant to Allotments, but more so to household gardens)

[Sarico]

So I've met all the committee today and other plot holder and they told us that they applied for a grant for the toilet and they got it and now they have to use the money for what they applied otherwise they have to give them back. So composting toilet will be.

[sparrow100]

That is a bit of a pain - why didn't they talk to the 5 of you before applying? We have an improvised composting loo on our site which is invaluable as there are no public loos around us. It's a shed on stilts with no water supply and what drops below is shielded from view with bamboo/willow screening. We've had it for over 3 years now and it has yet to need emptying out. We did need to get planning for it, and it's in some woodland in the 'uncultivatable' part of our site.

If they could talk to the grant officer, perhaps they could discuss whether there is the option of a variation of grant conditions to allow the money to stretch further and get water for your side and a loo for the other site?