Ok, I think there needs to be some additional information added to this to be useful.

First, it needs to give much greater emphasis to the importance of carbon addition to produce good compost (and also to disinfect adequately the dangerous pathogens present in the sewage sludge). Generally speaking you need twice as much carbon-rich material as sludge, which can be difficult in a situation where carbon rich material is expensive.

Second, there is no mention of bioaerosols, which are a significant health hazard, particularly in confined spaces.

Third, it may need to be said about safety issues with the use of composted sludge - generally speaking it is not a good idea to spread onto crops you are actually going to eat (eg salad crops etc). Usually you'd be wanting to spread long before you're planning to sow, wherever possible.

I'd say that composting sewage is a viable option, but you really have to know what you are doing (particularly if the sludge gets wet at any time) otherwise you are just providing a fantastic incubator for the pathogens.

editing

This page is pretty horrible as it stands. I am going to try to improve it soon. Joeturner 04:01, 16 January 2013 (PST)

Links

These seem redundant, move to other articles or remove

KVDP 07:47, 3 October 2012 (PDT)

What do you mean by "seem redundant," here? Are these things better covered by other links?
I clicked through each - some are off topic, but a few are useful and I restored them. --Chriswaterguy 21:12, 23 February 2013 (PST)

check contacts

tagged as needing contact details checked. plus detailed check of what is being said Joeturner 13:40, 7 February 2013 (PST)

Reorganisation of information

I have decided to do the following: this page contains general information regarding the use of composting toilets; construction, maintenance and operational issues to be put on Composting_Latrines. I did consider merging the two pages together, but that would make one really long page. So intead I have moved temporarily some of the content from this page to A:Incubator/composting_toilets_extra_info with a view to trying to work out where it should be put. Joeturner 01:56, 12 February 2013 (PST)

reorganisation of page

I have decided that I am going to try to reorganise this page so that it is easier to understand by someone coming to appropedia to find out about composting toilets and acts as a signpost to other useful information on appropedia. I have moved the original page to Appropedia:Incubator/composting_toilets. This process might also involve some kind of merge with Composting latrines as I don't think it helps to have a distinction that is not in common usage. Most people talking about a composting toilet are meaning the whole system rather than just the toilet part. I think that it should help to have the avkopedia pages I have been porting to link to in the text. Joeturner 01:29, 14 February 2013 (PST)

are VIP latrines the same as composting toilets and ecosan?

Jim Dauster posted this on facebook

except that VIPs and pit latrines literally aren't composting toilets or ecological sanitation. they don't kill pathogens.

I think there is a legitimate argument to say that VIP latrines are not composting and are not ecosan. However, I can also see with convergence of these terms in academic literature and use within WASH circles. Personally, I'd be very happy to say that one should assume absolutely nothing is happening in a VIP latrine. Joeturner 04:27, 25 February 2013 (PST)

So, if the terms are used imprecisely within academic literature, should the Appropedia article aim to define the terms clearly, while noting that others might use the terms differently? (I think that's what we should do.)
I see you've done some more work on improving the choice of external links in the article - cool. I also changed a compostingtoilet.org link (a site sponsored by Envirolet) to its quite good FAQ, which seems more useful than the rather vague and somewhat promotional front page of the site. You might want to just check the FAQ, as I haven't gone through in detail, and you've got the knowledge on this. --Chriswaterguy 02:03, 26 February 2013 (PST)
To clarify, I think there are reasons to use a VIP (eg fly control), so well constructed latrines may well bring health benefits. I cannot really edit pages on design, which is one of the reasons I ported pages from Akvo. But I do think we should point out that the sludge in the latrine may not be undergoing any significant sanitation, and that therefore additional treatment is highly advisable. As I have said on the Infection_risk_from_Ecosan page, one academic working in the field says that any material from a toilet should not be used for food production for 10 years. I think this is sound advice, and we should be very hesitant in suggesting that any ecosan or appropriate tech system is completely sanitising feces, because it probably is not. I think we should encourage multi-stage processes, ideally including some kind of community co-composting and encourage users not to use any materials from these processes on food.
I was in two minds about the compostingtoilet.org website. On the one hand, it does seem like marketing. On the other hand, the idea is actually sound - providing moisture levels are maintained and there is sufficient aeration, it is not impossible to imagine a composting toilet system like that which actually works. But I'd say there is a mix of information on that page (and in general on the website), and the risks are not properly explained. So the FAQ can probably be said to be sound - but only as far as it goes. As a compromise, I'm reluctantly happy to let it stay, but not hold too much sway from it. Joeturner 02:21, 26 February 2013 (PST)
Just recording an interesting conversation I had yesterday with a guy who installs toilets in nature reserves and out-of-the-way places. In his view, urine can be considered to be a useful amendment, whereas sludge is a problem to be sanitised. I think this is a bit extreme, given that sludge contains organic matter and other nutrients, however it is a way of thinking I had not really appreciated before. If sludge is to be treated as a dangerous waste, then the priority must be to make it safe. In which case, maybe we need more destructive mechanisms in places where the standard methods are not consistent enough. For example, perhaps there is some way to make biochar with it in a rocket stove, and then bury. I'm not sure what to do with this idea, so just recording it here for discussion and future reference Joeturner 06:54, 27 February 2013 (PST)

Infection hazard banner

Is this overdoing it? Joeturner 06:53, 26 February 2013 (PST)

I do think that banner is a little overboard, especially considering our general disclaimer and the general danger of many community/individual based projects addressing basic needs. --Lonny 16:36, 13 April 2013 (PDT)
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