A little while back I bought Joseph Jenkins 'Humanure Handbook' to help answer the question of whether to opt for a waterless composting toilet or not.
Almost everyone I found who'd written about reading this one highly recommended it, including me, however it's probably fair to say the audience is likely to be fairly self-selecting.
After reading the book, and checking against various other sources I found about the place, both Kyle and I are pretty convinced that it's a good idea from both a water-conservation and a matter-conservation/soil health perspective. The biggest unknown for us is what it will take to get approval, given that we really have no intention of spending lots of money on a commercial model when we could make one ourselves and have greater control over its function. I know of several other households in NSW who have used composting toilets of the style Jenkins describes, but don't know what they went through to get approval (if they bothered).
So, naturally, I went looking for the rules. The National Construction Code V3 Plumbing Code of Australia (in Section F, Part 1, On-site Wastewater Management Systems) states "The size determination, design and installation of waterless composting toilets must be in accordance with AS/NZS 1546.2". Standard 1546.2 can be purchased from Standards Australia for a little over $200. Considering that construction of a Jenkins-style loveable loo is likely to cost us quite a bit less than $200 we have no intention of purchasing a copy of the standard (which would probably eventually end up making its own deposit in said loo anyway once we were done with it). I've tracked down a copy at the National Library of Australia (conveniently just down the road), which I'll take a look at in a few days.
NSW Health has approval guidelines for waterless composting toilets though it's unclear what relationship they bear to Standard 1546. They predate the Standard by several years so one can only assume they have been superseded by it. The NSW Health rules seem rather restricting of DIY solutions, which is less than encouraging, but they do provide construction guidelines.
The NSW Local Government Act 1993, section 68, puts approval for Onsite Systems of Sewerage Management (OSSMs) firmly in the hands of the local council but doesn't go into any detail about the standards against which approval may be granted. Palerang Council, within which we will likely reside, has information sheets available on the approval process for an OSSM, with a good one detailing the risk factors they check during the inspection stage prior to approval. Palerang's factsheets are quite general, not nearly detailed enough to provide construction guidelines, so we will definitely need to at least skim read the standards.
Almost everyone I found who'd written about reading this one highly recommended it, including me, however it's probably fair to say the audience is likely to be fairly self-selecting.
After reading the book, and checking against various other sources I found about the place, both Kyle and I are pretty convinced that it's a good idea from both a water-conservation and a matter-conservation/soil health perspective. The biggest unknown for us is what it will take to get approval, given that we really have no intention of spending lots of money on a commercial model when we could make one ourselves and have greater control over its function. I know of several other households in NSW who have used composting toilets of the style Jenkins describes, but don't know what they went through to get approval (if they bothered).
So, naturally, I went looking for the rules. The National Construction Code V3 Plumbing Code of Australia (in Section F, Part 1, On-site Wastewater Management Systems) states "The size determination, design and installation of waterless composting toilets must be in accordance with AS/NZS 1546.2". Standard 1546.2 can be purchased from Standards Australia for a little over $200. Considering that construction of a Jenkins-style loveable loo is likely to cost us quite a bit less than $200 we have no intention of purchasing a copy of the standard (which would probably eventually end up making its own deposit in said loo anyway once we were done with it). I've tracked down a copy at the National Library of Australia (conveniently just down the road), which I'll take a look at in a few days.
NSW Health has approval guidelines for waterless composting toilets though it's unclear what relationship they bear to Standard 1546. They predate the Standard by several years so one can only assume they have been superseded by it. The NSW Health rules seem rather restricting of DIY solutions, which is less than encouraging, but they do provide construction guidelines.
The NSW Local Government Act 1993, section 68, puts approval for Onsite Systems of Sewerage Management (OSSMs) firmly in the hands of the local council but doesn't go into any detail about the standards against which approval may be granted. Palerang Council, within which we will likely reside, has information sheets available on the approval process for an OSSM, with a good one detailing the risk factors they check during the inspection stage prior to approval. Palerang's factsheets are quite general, not nearly detailed enough to provide construction guidelines, so we will definitely need to at least skim read the standards.
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