Quinta do Vale is an an off-grid permaculture project of 2.5ha in the mountains of Central Portugal and an evolving demonstration/experimentation site for many aspects of sustainable living.
They created a composting toilet system with a flush toilet, a worm-composting bin and a filter bed. Nothing is wasted and the garden is given nutrient dense organic matter.
“From a conventional flush toilet, flushings drain through a waste pipe into an insulated plastic container. The container holds a large quantity of worms who inhabit the surface layers of a mass of carbon-rich organic material (wood shavings, bracken, leaf litter, etc. topped with a starter layer of half-processed compost).
When the flushings enter the container, the solids remain on the surface to be processed by the worms and the liquids drain through the organic filter material and exit the container. They then pass through another waste pipe to a growing bed, also full of carbon-rich material, where they’re taken up by plants or processed by soil bacteria.”
Read more about how to build a composting toilet system with a flush toilet HERE…
