HOW DOES IT WORK?
DEHYDRATION INTO DRY FERTILISER
URINE DIVERTED AND SOLID WASTE CAPTURED
Users of the Sago Dry Toilet sit directly on the toilet pedestal which forms an adult seat while children have the option of using the integrated, smaller kids’ seat.
Urine is caught by a small funnel within the toilet pedestal called a Urine Diverter and solid waste drops directly into the Dehydration Tank below.
Urine is relatively safe and free of harmful pathogens and is disposed of into the soil via a small filtration pit. Solid waste, however, drops into the tank below to be stored, ventilated and dehydrated.
ASH ADDED AND CHEMICAL LEVELS BALANCED
After each toilet use, a scoop of ash is ideally added down the toilet. Ash has a high pH level, is high in calcium and assists the solid waste to break down over time by helping to maintain a good balance within the dehydration tanks.
Each time the toilet is used the user is reminded of the 4 steps to using the toilet by graphics built into the Sago Dry Toilet:
‘POO, PEE, PAPER, ASH ONLY’
‘ONE USE, ONE ASH’
‘CLOSE LID WHEN DONE’
‘WASH HANDS TO FINISH’
DUAL TANKS AND CONSTANT DEHYDRATION
The Sago Dry Toilet uses two large tanks to store, ventilate and dehydrate waste on a 6 month rotational system:
During the first 6 month period, the first chamber is used.
Two large wind-powered vents and convection-driven ducts constantly draw air into the tanks and expel smells out high above the toilet in a process that dehydrates the waste and transforms it into dry fertiliser.
At the 6 month mark, the first chamber is decommissioned
and the second chamber is activated, simply by moving a Pedestal Cap.During the second 6 month period, the second chamber is used as the toilet and the waste in the first chamber dehydrates, reduces in volume and transforms.
FERTILISER EMPTIED AND CYCLE REPEATS
At the end of the cycle at the 12 month mark and a full year after commissioning the toilet, responsible family or community members
simply open the Dehydration Tank hatch and remove the fertiliser from the first chamber with a shovel. The waste will have reduced in volume and transformed into dry sand-like fertiliser as it dehydrated over the 12 months.
The fertiliser is safe to be used at the base of fruit trees or flowering plants or can be buried but, to be absolutely safe, it isn’t recommended to put fertiliser directly on edible root crops.
At the same 12 month mark, the second chamber is decommissioned and the first chamber is reactivated, continuing on a 6 monthly rotation, recommended to be every January and July for easy monitoring.
