Bedienungsanleitung der Biostreutoilette (BST)

It's Decided: We Will Use a BLT!

After having read the different chapters of this website, many have understood the importance of the approach taken herein and have decided to install a BLT in their homes. The key to success starts with a family consensus on the principle. In case of disagreement or hesitation, I always counsel visiting a family that uses and correctly maintains a BLT. An actual tryout of this toilet is worth much more than the most convincing of speeches.

Even for those who are convinced, it is wiser to test it out at home first with a temporary set-up before going out to purchase the definitive BLT. For that, you can use a common plastic bucket (sold for a few Euros or Dollars in plastic specialty stores) or an enamelled metal bucket that you can purchase in second hand goods shops.

This receptacle will be placed next to your WC. Also provide a container (basket or bucket) to hold the litter (in this case, sawdust or wood shavings). By using this temporary set-up, a family can become familiar with the simplicity and acceptability of this system as a new way to manage its excreta. If the experience is conclusive, only then do you go on to the next step: the purchase or building of your own BLT.

To those potential builders of new homes, I advise to foresee a location for a conventional WC by including an appropriate plumbing network, including the water feed and the drainpipe. The potential buyer may not want to use a BLT. In that case, he will have the option of retrofitting a WC, simply by breaking open the floor tile that covers the unused drain, installing a flush toilet and hooking up the flush tank to the water feed. This is a half-hour's work for a plumber.

In the mean time, instead of a flush toilet, you will have installed a BLT and your water management system can start-up...

Instruction Manual

1. All following components can be mixed together to form an appropriate litter for your toilet:

dry plant waste, shredded leaves and branches, dry grass clippings, all garden waste;
wood shavings and sawdust: these are not ideal, but they will do nevertheless;
some people use shredded cardboard (corrugated box type): in spite of ever-present printing inks, cardboard makes an excellent litter. The inks entirely decompose during composting. To shred cardboard, it first has to be moistened.

2. What must NOT be used as litter:

sawdust and wood chips from exotic tropical woods that can generate bad odours and provoke allergies;
too much kiln-dried sawdust, source of dust in the house:
compost or earth, ashes, peat moss.

3. To start, you put a layer of litter at the bottom of the bucket, a few centimetres (1 to 2 inches) thick. You will learn to assess the required quantity with use. Too much litter involves emptying the bucket more often. Too little makes you vulnerable to bad odours.

4. After each use, cover the faeces with a sheet of toilet paper and a bit of litter that you humidify with a water bottle sprayer (or garden sprayer) such as those commonly used for interior plants. Even better: if possible, urinate on it [1], spreading the urine on the entire surface of the litter that covers the faeces. Any type of toilet paper can be used and discarded in the bucket. This toilet will also accept compostable diapers and sanitary towels, if they can be found on the market [2].

5. Don't wait for the bucket to be full as it will be heavier to manipulate and discharge in the compost bin. Avoid containers that are too big and more difficult to manipulate. Smaller buckets will be easier in this regard, but… will need emptying more often.

6. Rinse and drain the bucket before putting it back in place. If it is plastic, it's better to have two: one in service, and the other that you leave outside for aeration. To remove odours absorbed by plastic, you can put in a mixture of water and a bit of sifted clay during this aeration process. This water can be used several times. Soapy water reclaimed from cleaning or laundry can also do. However, a stainless steel bucket is much preferable, although more expensive. In this case, a single bucket is sufficient. Nevertheless, even a stainless steel bucket requires a thorough cleaning every two weeks. For that, use a cleaning product designed for baths.

7. The compost bin destined to receive toilet effluent (maximum 1 m² per person) is set-up in a corner of the yard or garden, far from sight. You will also put in garden and kitchen wastes. To avoid fly propagation, always cover freshly deposited toilet effluent with a bit of garden waste (grass clippings, dead leaves, weeds or straw).

8. In November of each year, empty the compost bin and set it up in a second separate compost heap, sloped like a roof and that you must cover with 20 cm (8 inches) of straw. After one year of curing, the resulting compost is ready to use in the garden including for food crops.

Flush Toilet Cohabitation with the BLT
It often happens that some people prefer conserving a WC in the home, even if the household has adopted daily use of the BLT. The main argument invoked to justify this decision is: «we don't have the right to impose a BLT on our guests».

Experience of a great number of households has shown that cohabitation of the two toilet types inevitably leads to the setting aside of the BLT. Never underestimate the potential return of ingrained habits.

In addition, this is a more expensive option in an ecological sanitation concept. When you have implemented a selective grey water treatment system, you are then obliged to provide a separate system for treating WC effluent (reserved in principle for guests, thus marginally used). Such an expense is unreasonable.

It is more likely that those who dare not «impose a BLT on their guest» are not totally convinced of the merit of their approach. Subconsciously, they are a bit ashamed to be «different» from everybody else. This is a type of conformism or social conformance. However, when you analyse objectively all the elements of this problem, the ultimate conclusion is that those who should be ashamed are those who persist in destroying the environment with a flush toilet when they have the material and technical possibility of using a BLT.

For those families who have adopted this idea, fair and simple, the use of a BLT does not pose a problem for guests. Elementary good manners dictate that visitors respect the domestic order of their host. The use of a clean and well-managed BLT poses no problem to whomsoever. I have seen BLT's installed in luxurious villas, inhabited by aristocrats where distinguished guests used it without the slightest comment. The rejection level of a BLT by houseguests is inversely proportional to their level of education and savoir vivre.

Young children have no problem in adopting a BLT. For them, it is like any other game. Initially surprised, our son's classmates also adopted it without problem. Our son was proud to live in a home where water pollution was eliminated.

Among our guests, there were some who at first refused to use the dry toilet, while at the same time admitting the pertinence of harvesting rainwater. During the extended discussion on the latter, nature helping out, these persons eventually had a pressing need to go… and had no choice but to use our BLT. There, they realized the discrepancy between their ingrained perceptions and actual reality. After that experience, many of these persons became militant supporters of the BLT.

To continue your reading, go to Chemical composition of human dejecta

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