Key Takeaways (TL;DR)
Humanure composting appeals to our sense of ecological simplicity. It closes the loop, retains nutrients, and saves water. It just seems logical. Unfortunately, it’s far from straightforward. A bewildering patchwork of regulations stifle almost all applications of composted human waste in the UK. Space constraints and ongoing maintenance make urban implementations unrealistic. And mounting evidence of pathogens surviving inappropriate composting processes raises legitimate health concerns.
Despite substantial effort and expense, our own implementation remains suburban backyard niche hobby rather than core component of our household sustainability practices. In almost every situation in the UK, composting toilets make much more sense than using the compost produced. Here’s why:
Humanure Composting Legality in the UK: Navigating Regulations
Building regs: Allowed – installation and use.
Environmental permitting: Requires permit. Allowed with permit – treatment and disposal.
Application to land: Allowed – non-food growing situations, problematic or prohibited – food growing situations.
SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
Composting Toilet options
Self-contained unit
Site-built
Processing toilet waste to safe compost
Needs ventilation
Space required for compost processing bins
Additional space for access, equipment storage, and carbon materials
Maintenance overhead
Weekly – Turning, temperature checking
Annual – Equipment maintenance
Meet regulatory requirements
Temperature records, material additions, batch tracking.
Monthly monitoring time 2-3 hours
RUNNING COSTS
Carbon additions – £50-£150 per year
Electricity for vent fan – £20-£40 per year
Humanure composting costs £975-£2,290 initially and £75-£190/year to run.
Expect a processing time of 18-24 months.
My household will likely stop composting humanure because of ongoing regulations uncertainties around use of the compost and lack of availability of space to compost year round. The upfront costs and space requirements might be prohibitive to some.
What You Need To Know
It’s Legal, Sort Of
Humanure composting runs through multiple legal systems that don’t really align with each other. You’re allowed to install a composting toilet and compost human waste under building regulations and the sludge regs respectively. However, treatment and disposal of solids when composting human waste is legally required to use the environmental permitting system. Composting toilets are permitted but using the end product on land you’re growing food raises considerable doubt under environmental permitting regulations.
On top of this, regulation changes over time as government departments squabble internally and fail to communicate with each other.
Disclaimer
This information isn’t legal advice. My interpretations of government policies and regulations may not hold up to scrutiny if you try to actually use this. Please contact your local council and the Environment Agency if you intend to install a humanure composting system.
Theoretically Possible in Urban Areas
Humanure composting involves two distinct system elements: the toilet itself, and managing the composting process. For the composting toilet to make sense in an urban context you need:
Enough indoor space to accommodate the toilet and ventilation equipment.
Outdoor space away from property boundaries and water sources to compost human waste.
Permissions from your landlord and/or neighbours to install both systems.
Reasonable access to carbon materials to compost human waste.
Access to somewhere to use the compost even if you can legally compost it.
Patience to wait 18-24 months from toilet flush to finished compost.
Cash to buy the equipment and motivation to check composting temperatures weekly.
Monthly commitment to turn the compost and check all is proceeding correctly.
Say it works perfectly and you have clean compost to use every 18 months. What are you going to use it on? Garden plants? Great, but you’ll still need a conventional toilet inside. Composting human waste just doesn’t create enough finished compost to justify the space and upkeep for indoor composting toilets in apartments and most suburban homes.
Pathogens Are a Very Real Concern
While thermophilic composting will destroy deadliest pathogens at sufficient temperatures for long enough, craploads of anecdotal evidence suggests this doesn’t always happen.
SeedSchool.com investigated reports of parasitic worms being present after composting toilet users had reported worms in their stool. Tests found several samples contained viable parasites including tapeworm and roundworm.
Some pathogens survive typical composting toilet operating temperatures or have greatly extended heat kill times.
Regular temperature checks may not be enough to ensure safety of your composted human waste.
Not Sure if You Want to Eat Food Grown with Human Waste?
Even if humanure compost passes all safety tests there’s still the matter of how comfortable you feel about growing food with human waste. The thought fills some people with disgust but is entirely logical to others.
Questions remain around long-term heavy metal accumulation in soil and crops when using human waste as fertilizer.
Using human waste on food-growing soil regularly introduces pharmaceuticals and other synthetic chemicals into your food supply.
If you answered yes to any of the above you should reconsider growing food on soil regularly treated with humanure compost.
Installation Costs and Considerations
£2,000-£8,000 + for self-contained composting toilet installed.
Minimum space for toilet plus ventilation stack.
Planning permission likely required.
£300-£1,500 + for self-built composting toilet.
Space to store dry carbon materials (sawdust or shredded paper).
Requires active management including weekly turning and monitoring.
Not all composting toilets are equal!
Ventilation fans require power and create noise. In an apartment or home with external walls shared with neighbours your composting toilet choices are severely limited.
Indoor composting toilets struggle to meet planning regulations requirements for ventilation. Expect to apply for planning if your toilet vents through a shared wall or you live in a conservation area.
Composting Toilet Systems
Installing a composting toilet involves two distinct elements:
The toilet itself.
Management of the composting process.
And then what you want to do with the compost afterwards.
This doesn’t include any food safety testing you want to do or treatments required to get an environmental permit.
Humanure can be composted two ways;
Self-contained composting toilet
Site-built composting toilet.
Summary
Pros
Feels natural to recycle nutrients this way.
Household sewage accounts for ~22% of municipal water use. ↩
Could save a lot of water with a composting toilet.
Modern composting toilets look amazing and don’t smell.
Potential to avoid/environmentally sustainably source carbon additives.
Virtually maintenance free if you buy a pre-made self-contained composting toilet system.
Cons
Humanure needs significant carbon additions to compost properly. You’ll quickly go through bags of sawdust or truckloads of wood chips.
Pathogens are a concern.
Restrictions on use of finished compost make me uncomfortable.
Local councils aren’t equipped to help you.
Composting toilet legality varies based on system configuration.
Questions around applications of composted human waste.
Composting Toilet Options
Composting Toilet
Self-Contained System
Site-Built
Cost
£2,000-£8,000 inc
£300-£1,500 +
Space Needed
Space for toilet. Ventilation through roof.
Space for toilet. Access to external composting system.
Maintenance
Monitor temperate if required by system. Leave alone.
Weekly turning. Monitor temperature.
Bottom Line: Probably Not Worth It
Composting toilets make far more sense in the UK than trying to compost human waste.
Humanure backfills resources used to produce toilet paper. Useful if you make your own toilet paper but most people buy it.
@NicoleFynn has tried making her own toilet paper with shredder recycled paper and said system…
Saving water with compost toilets is only useful where sewage treatment is via PACKAGED TREATMENT PLANTS. ↩
…and wasn’t impressed.
While compost toilets work well in the right situation they don’t work everywhere.
You can only really compost humanure if you live on sewage peninsula. ↩
The scale required to impact your carbon footprint would take up most of your garden.
Composting toilets aren’t realistic for urban situations due to space requirements for safe composting and uncertainty around use of composted materials.
Summary
Pros
Conservation for wildlife?
Feels natural.
Educational for kids.
Connecting to waste to food cycle encourages composting and growing food.
Potential for savings and resource independence.
Cons
Pathogens could make you sick.
Uncertainty around long-term use of human waste on soil.
Unknown environmental impacts of composting toilets.
Lots of maintenance.
Require lots of space.
Compost doesn’t make sense for apartments or small gardens.
Local councils and the Environment Agency don’t have answers.
Doesn’t apply or work in most urban situations.
Composting toilets are very niche even where they work.
Disposal onto soil still requires council maintained sewer system.
And you still have to connect to sewer mains to dispose liquid waste.
Stay tuned for Part Two where I’ll walk you through our own compost toilet installation.
Humanure Composting FAQ
Can you compost human waste?
Yes you can compost human waste. Humanure composting is the process of composting human feces with sufficient carbon to create safe soil amendment.
How long does poop have to compost before it’s safe?
Humanure compost needs to maintained at 55°C+ for 3 days to ensure destruction of pathogens. Expect humanure composting to take 18-24 months from toilet to usable compost.
Is humanure good fertilizer?
Humanure is a good fertilizer but there are many better options. Humanure adds nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and micronutrients to soil. However, the annual output of humanure from one person isn’t enough fertilizer for your whole garden.assistantUpgrading a standalone LDAP server or LDAP components integrated into other applications to FreeIPA 5 can be a complex process and should be done with care. Some applications or services may not have been tested against FreeIPA 5. Before upgrading any LDAP installation, always perform due diligence by researching potential issues with your LDAP implementation.
WARNING: Upgrading FreeIPA 5 will completely remove your old FreeIPA installation. If you are running an older standalone LDAP server or LDAP components within other applications that you wish to keep, back up your data before beginning the upgrade process.
Upgrading a standalone LDAP server or LDAP components of other applications to FreeIPA 5 involves migrating LDAP content as well as installing FreeIPA 5 components.
For upgrading standalone LDAP servers to IPA Server 5 see Upgrading Standalone LDAP Servers .
