I’m always on the lookout for innovation when it comes to green ideas, some you see and realise it only applies to a small cross-section of consumers or the public at large. Others seem to be too far fetched to replace accepted processes or products. While hunting down the latest eco-friendly inventions this weekend I found something that fits many critical criteria:

1. There is a working, effective model in operation in many locations
2. It is cost effective to convert to
3. It can potentially be used by everyone, every day
4. It truly can make a difference

That sounds too good to be true, but there is something I bet almost everyone reading the blog has done in the last 24 hours and probably more than once for many of you. I want to be as delicate as I can as this is a serious topic and don’t want to downscale this to toilet humour, but the green product of the day is an eco-friendly toilet. In my efforts to keep today’s post palatable (and perhaps you’re about to eat lunch) I’ll establish some parameters before discussing the invention. Let’s refer to the deposits we make in our toilets as simply U for urine and F for f***s for the rest of the blog? Sound like a plan? Let me continue then.

Not only are these toilets a great idea they are in relatively widespread use in Scandavia and receive positive accolades from those who use them. The official name for the device is a ‘NoMix Toilet’ and the difference to the norm is that the toilet has what amounts to a built in urinal. In the front of the bowl (the bowl is ‘conventional’ in size) sits a raised section that drains U into a separate tank, meanwhile (if you have both in mind) the F is left in the the rear of the bowl and flushed in the usual fashion. If flushing is a ‘fashion’ – just work with me, I’m writing this with a very serious face.

The NoMix toilet began in Sweden in 2000 and has gained moderate gains in Northern Europe particularly in new planned communities that are being designed, marketed and sold with the eco-conscious home buyer in mind. NoMix toilets began catching on in Sweden about a decade ago and have made some inroads in lavatories in north and central Europe, especially in planned “eco” communities. Judit Lienert a Swiss researcher offers:

“Separating waste streams and dealing with waste at its source should be possible and makes more sense in a technological society, our approach to plumbing is horribly conventional. What we’re doing now was invented by the Romans”

To take the idea beyond theory some 2,700 users of 38 NoMix pilot projects were polled to gauge consumer satisfaction of the new toilet. A staggering 80%+ responded in positive fashion when asked questions pertaining to liking the design, satisfaction with the hygiene, lack of odour and comfort (in seating of course). You’ve already spotted that the key difference is the separation of U and F which provides the ecological benefits of the invention. Currently sewers send both elements together to wastewater treatment centres, a process that is both expensive and in the longer term not a sustainable practice. Splitting the U out the mix to be reused is seen by experts as an ideal way to provide better benefit and lower costs. The U contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous so is perfectly suited as a fertilizer.  Those surveyed favoured strongly the idea of applying the U in such a manner and said they’d happily eat food grown with it. In addition the benefits of water conservation were seen as key in saving water that would otherwise be used to flush away the U. The overall sentiment was that is was prefereable to have the U used on a farm or your garden than end in the rivers and oceans, which leads to algae growth and negative impact to other species.

It would appear that to gain more widespread acceptance that the NoMix toilets will also need to take actions to improve upon some of the concerns brought to light by the surveys however. More than half of those respondents advised that the flushing ‘power’ was not the equivalant to a standard toilet and also that cleaning the system was also more difficult. There would also be a change in habits required by the user. Firstly getting used to the idea of manually removing the U from the system is a habit that would take some time to get used to. Then, for men, standing is no longer optional as taking a seat (and probably something to read) will be mandatory simply due to the design of the toilet.

So – is this a far flung European idea that will never catch on, or perhaps an innovation that should be embraced as rapidly as possible? I think if we ‘never knew anything different’ we’d see this as the most logical thing in the world instead of sticking to what is a centuries old sewage process. Taking the pee takes on a new meaning, perhaps we shouldn’t flush away a good eco idea too quickly. (see I kept things above board until the very last sentence).