More Hot Poop on Composting Toilets: Biolan
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 04. 2.07
We were at the Cottage Life Show in Toronto this weekend, but soon there might be a whole spinoff, "Compost Toilet Life Show" , there were so many new products in the alternative toilet world. One that surprised us was the Finnish Biolan- we are used to some complexity in these things and this is little more than a well insulated container with an insulated toilet seat. According to the distributor, adding a peat moss and sawdust mixture after each use and sealing it up tight generates enough heat and biological action to do the job and evaporate most of the liquid. The literature says that it can serve a family for a year without emptying.
Most of the other composting toilets we know of have mechanisms to aerate the poop and electric fans to keep the air moving; this has none of that. Can something so simple work and be odorless as the manufacturer claims? ::Biolan In Canada, email Larry @ Patronproducts.com
Biolan also makes interesting gray water handling systems and garden composting products like the "stone" shown below the fold - a big plastic composter disguised as a rock to be "inconspicuous."
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Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
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Can you review self-contained composing waterless electric toilets again? Your last review was in 2005 and the toilet that was recommended was never fully reviewed- i.e. never used. I have had trouble finding reviews or user's real experiences wtih commercial residential composting toilets. I want to put one in the second story of my home in the mountains.
Thanks.
Janna
We're renovating an old farmhouse that will eventually become a retreat which will, at certain times of the year, have high traffic (i.e. 20 guest rooms). We are trying to be as ecologically conscious in doing this as we can, and combined with a water shortage in the area, we'd like to find out more about composting toilets. I've read your reviews and those of several others, but I'm interested in finding out if there are any systems most appropriate for a dwelling of this size with so many bathrooms? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I was so glad to read the reviews of alternative toilets...my husband and I are contemplating a move to west Africa. If (and we plan to) we build a house, we would seriously look at the composting toilet...at present the mission center has no water, so this is a serious consideration for us. We are looking at building an earth-bag home, and I most definitely do NOT want an outhouse!! LOL. I don't know what the natives do at present, but I can imagine, and if we plan to live away from the city, an alternative must be found. I would love to see a more recent review...technology has advanced considerably in most fields in the last 5 years, surely this one as well.