Welcome to the first edition of KBzine since our Summer break. I hope that if you too, have had a break, it’s been a good one.

I’ve attended several festivals over the Summer and although I’ve been banging on about the benefits of compost loos for years I don’t believe I’ve shared any pictures. The ones I’ve used have been semi-permanent, posh wooden shacks with proper seats set into a wooden platform, with a pit below for everything to drop into. Users sprinkle sawdust over their contribution and everything smells really sweet, all the time. At some stage after the composting process is complete, the waste is removed and used to create energy. Perfect!

One festival I’ve attended for years is set in the grounds of a stately home. The owner told me this year that more than half the energy used ‘in the house’ and for the festival and other events held on the land, now comes from a combination of this human waste and food waste and peelings. That’s really good, isn’t it?

This year at another festival I saw temporary compost loos being installed, so took some pictures. These were raised to create space for green waste bins or non-porous sacks, which were to be taken away before composting had been completed, to the facility that would use the waste. This meant that effectively there would be no waste and that the festival field would be left as was, once all the revellers had departed.

This industry has moved forward in leaps and bounds over recent years, raising awareness of the need to reduce water and energy usage, while bodies such as the Bathroom Manufacturers Association, through the European Water Label, have done a grand job in encouraging manufacturers to produce the required products and widely publicising the wares of those that do so.

As you can see from my picture, the loos I’ve been using at these festivals are very basic (the wooden ones are even more quaint!). With the growing need for us all to reduce both water and energy usage, compost loos are a brilliant concept but need some adapting before they’re really suitable for home use.

I’m hoping one day soon to be able to write about someone from this industry who’s taken up the challenge and produced a ‘posh’ compost loo that’s fit for the home.

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Yours,

Jan Hobbs