It became a joke before I left:

“What are you going to be doing in Israel?”

“I’m going to be learning about sustainability, peace and social justice. Oh and I’m going to be practicing humanure, whatever that is.” I would then give an over exaggerated shudder and laugh a little. Who knew the humanure bathrooms here are much nicer than many of the bathrooms I’ve been in throughout my life.

I have a family friend, Melanie, who rates bathrooms. We were at a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop once and she came out and gave the bathroom a score. I’d never thought about rating a place based on its bathroom, but it is also the motto of my friend Arielle when entering a tattoo/piercing parlor. The theory: if the bathrooms are clean, they are more likely to run a clean business and your chances of getting infections are less.

If you were to rate the eco neighborhood, the Bustan, based on our bathrooms (most days), I’d say we would do pretty well. The Bustan bathrooms are built around a composting toilet. When you walk in, it looks like a typical bathroom, or it at least looks as typical as a bathroom made from mud would look. However, there is an extra component. Next to the toilet there is a bucket of straw. When we use the bathroom, we replace flushing with pouring straw down the chute. The straw absorbs the smell and keeps bugs and vectors from moving in. Sometimes, if it is starting to smell, even after adding the straw, we add a scoop of ash and the toilets go back to their normal fragrance-free selves.

Compost from these toilets works a bit different than regular compost because they use anaerobic decomposition; where as one of the most important ingredients in regular compost is oxygen. Composting toilets use anaerobic decomposition because the ingredients need to be kept away from vectors (bugs that carry diseases). The waste falls into large trashcan bins and, when they are full, they are removed, covered, and allowed to sit for a year. After the year is finished, the compost can be used for gardening. Some people say that compost made from human waste should not be used for gardens containing vegetables, fruit or any other edible plant. However, according to some of our teachers, after a year in the bin, our poop becomes dirt and there should be no worries.

My mom has already informed me that I shouldn’t get any ideas about adding a composting toilet to our house. I don’t think I would be able to convince her otherwise. But for those of you out there looking to utilize your waste, and not flush it back into the water system that also supplies drinking water, you have many options. You can go the old, poop in a bucket method, and have a larger compost bin to which your waste can be added. OR There are companies that have started to produce composting toilets that you can buy and use in your house. Check out these links… and don’t forget the straw!

http://www.sun-mar.com/

http://www.compostingtoilet.org/

http://www.biolet.com/