Nature Loo provides a hygenic method of recycling human waste. It avoids the need to waste and pollute precious water. The waste is collected in a small chamber directly beneath the toilet pedestal. A low powered 12 volt electric fan continually circulates air through the chamber, evaporating liquids, speeding the composting process and eliminating odours.
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The batch process Nature Loo models come with at least two composting chambers. Fill one, put it aside to continue composting, and put the second chamber into use. When it’s time to change chambers again, the contents of the first chamber should be well and truly composted. You then remove the compost, put it on your garden or bury it, and re-use the chamber.
The modular Nature Loo batch system means that capacity is virtually unlimited. If usage increases, buy an additional chamber and rotate the chambers more often.
The continuous process toilet, the Excel, completes the composting process in situ. Once finished, the humus is removed from the tray at the base of the unit and disposed of as per the batch process models.
Good composting is achieved by ensuring correct levels of moisture, oxygen, temperature and carbon/nitrogen ratio. All Nature Loo systems use the same type of ventilation and drainage to take away excess liquids from solids and provide adequate oxygen. Warmth is developed inside the pile itself and by exposure of the chamber to direct sunlight, or in thecase of the Excel by a heating element. Carbon rich mulch is added when necessary to develop the correct carbon to nitrogen balance.
Keeping your Nature Loo clean and fresh is incredibly simple. Every so often, just as with a conventional flush toilet, you might need to give it a scrub with a toilet brush. When you do, use a biodegradable detergent. Better still use Nature-Flush enzymes (see Accessories and Parts).
The Nature Loo system is completely free of chemicals and odours.
Even a complete novice can install a Nature Loo in about half a day.
All you need is a clearance of 750mm for the Ensuite and around one metre beneath your toilet room for our larger Classic model. In the case of our self contained single units, the Excel & the Compact, the entire unit sits directly on the slab floor.
You can place an upstairs unit almost anywhere you want, completely independent of your downstairs unit. Some manufacturers of composting toilets have systems which allow two pedestals to feed into one chamber. Whilst this is cost effective it limits the design of the house to back to back toilet pedestals. With a Nature Loo you are free to locate the second loo wherever you want it. We also offer discounts on second units destined for the same home.
A Nature Loo does not need to be installed on the north side of a home because all chambers eventually get exposed to direct sunlight once full.
The moisture content of a compost pile is very important. Below 40%, organic matter will tend to dry out and not decompose rapidly. Over about 60%, not enough air can get into the pile and it can become anaerobic {no oxygen}.
A moisture content of approximately 50% is ideal for composting. Nature- Loo reduces the naturally high moisture content of human waste by separating the liquid waste from the solid waste by displacing it through a perforated floor into the liquid chamber. This prevents the process from becoming anaerobic.
Subsequently when the chamber is full and left to stand in the sun, no additional liquid is being added and the moisture content falls rapidly. Direct exposure to sunlight further reduces the moisture level. Unlike most other commercial composting toilets, with Nature Loo there is no need to only position the toilet on the sunny side of the building.
With the Excel in normal use, the thermostatically controlled heater and fan evaporate all excess liquid.
Micro-organisms that require oxygen to survive are called aerobes. Organic materials are decomposed most rapidly by aerobes ~ much more rapidly than the anaerobes used in septic systems.
Aerobes need many cubic metres of oxygen per day for rapid breakdown. A small ventilation fan in the Nature Loo supplies up to 420 litres of air per minute, more than enough to keep the process going at optimum levels. This has the added advantage of acting as a highly efficient extractor fan to remove rising odours from the toilet room.
The heat coming from piles of organic material is generated by the feeding and multiplication of millions of microorganisms. Technically, the stage of the temperature cycle below 40 °C is termed mesophilic, above 40 °C is thermophilic.
Composting is most rapid in the thermophilic stage. As the temperature rises over 40 °C, mesophilic organisms die out and are replaced by an upsurge in the population of thermophilic organisms; the agents of fastest decomposition.
Nature Loo functions well in both thermophilic and mesophilic stages, but in most cases it operates in the faster, thermophilic stage. This happens for a couple of reasons:
- Air is drawn into the Nature Loo through the toilet pedestal. As the air inside a house is usually warmer than the air outside, the Nature Loo chamber is also kept warmer. In colder climates, the chamber can also be insulated with a thermal insulation material.
- The containers are black. This means they are an excellent absorber of heat, especially if located in natural sunlight as is recommended once they are full. Unlike most other composting toilets where the chambers are located under a house, the full Nature Loo chambers are exposed to natural sunlight for at least 50% of the composting cycle. In the case of the Excel the optimum temperature is maintained by the thermostatically controlled heater.
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Influence of time and temperature on selected pathogens in night soil and sludge
(a) Enteric viruses (b) Shigella (c) Taenia
(d) Entamoeba histolytica (e) Vibrio cholera
Source: Featchem and others, Sanitation and Disease.
An important function of the composting process is the destruction of pathogens. Most are killed in the thermophilic stage. Composting at temperatures above 55 °C for one day kills almost all pathogens.
As the Nature Loo chamber is in use for around 6 months, and is composting by itself for another 6 months, there is little chance of any pathogens surviving, even if the composting process does not reach thethermophilic stage. In addition, our unique use of isolated chambers ensures no recontamination from fresh waste.
Since a Nature Loo chamber’s internal temperature can reach 45 degrees centigrade in winter in Northern NSW, there is little chance of any pathogen surviving a number of months under such conditions even in cooler climates.
The temperature profile of the Excel is controlled thermostatically so as to ensure that any pathogens do not survive.
A typical analysis of the humus from a Nature Loo shows no traces of Faecal Streptococci, Faecal Coliforms or Salmonella sp.
