Hi again all, Around our stand against the SFPUC giving away toxic sewage sludge as fertilizer, I was also recently quoted as a Green sustainability organizer in a couple of articles about the possibility of San Francisco beginning a shift to composting toilets. The first article is the best one. (The second article incorrectly states that the SFPUC 'pooh poohed' the concept - it in fact did not do so and is in the preliminary study phase of the idea.) You can see the very promising SFPUC report on composting toilets at http://ourcitysf.org/Composting_Toilets_SFPUC.pdf Here are the articles and the URLs to them: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/12/09/are-there-public-composting-toilets-... http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/12/san-francisco-takes-sniff-composting... Are There Public Composting Toilets in San Francisco's Future? By Tilde Herrera Published December 09, 2011 Are There Public Composting Toilets in San Francisco's Future? If a local activist gets his way, the City of San Francisco could become one of the first in the nation to pilot test a composting toilet system. Eric Brooks, chair of the San Francisco Green Party's sustainability working group, has proposed that the city test several composting toilet models outdoors and in public buildings to determine if it is feasible to deploy the units citywide. He views a comprehensive composting toilet system as a way to address the city's aging sewers, save water, reduce the use of sterilization chemicals and potentially create hundreds of green jobs in the process. Brooks has been advocating composting toilets to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for more than a year. An informational report commissioned by the agency on composting toilets was released in October, finding that while a composting toilet is more expensive that a conventional one, there may be a cost advantage in cases where significant sewer upgrades are necessary or if water and energy prices increase. Diverting human bathroom waste toward organic composting, rather than separating the human waste from wastewater, would reduce treatment costs and free wastewater treatment plants to focus on removing chemicals and other biological input from the water system. At the same time, the potential for water savings in the city could be significant. "If every toilet in the city was a composting toilet, that would save over 5 billion gallons per year because each (composting) toilet saves 6,600 gallons per person per year," said Brooks, who is also campaign coordinator at the grassroots organization Our City. Seattle, Austin and New York are among the U.S. cities that have explored public composting toilets, but perhaps not quite at the same scale as Brooks' proposal. The local business community, he believes, would be able to save both water and money, similar to their adoption of energy efficiency technologies. "Businesses will want to switch to something that saves them more water, just as they wanted to switch to things that saved them electricity," Water stress and scarcity, Brooks noted, promise to become even more acute in the coming years because of climate change. "If we get ahead of this in time over the next few decades, we will be solving a climate-induced water crisis before it happens." ~ http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/12/san-francisco-takes-sniff-composting... San Francisco takes a sniff at composting toilets By: Sarah Gantz | 12/07/11 Examiner Staff Writer Recycling: The contents of composting toilets are collected in a basin, separating liquids from solids. After the waste hardens, it can be used as compost. A porcelain throne that turns its contents into fertilizer instead of flushing could revolutionize the way The City does business, environmental activists say. Composting toilets, which do not use water, could provide relief for San Francisco’s deteriorated sewer system and its public defecation problem, said Eric Brooks, who brought the idea to the Public Utilities Commission. “They could make sense everywhere there is a toilet,” said Brooks, chair of the San Francisco Green Party’s sustainability working group. “They’re not just for outhouses in the mountains anymore,” he said. After Brooks suggested the idea at several meetings, commission Vice President Art Torres asked staff to compile a report on the product that confirms — in a section titled “Odor Issues” — that today’s composting toilets are not the rank holes in the ground of backwoods lore. Composting toilets, according to the report, work this way: Instead of emptying into sewer pipes, the contents are collected in basins, separating liquid from solid. Once the waste hardens, it’s emptied and brought to farms. Correctly installed and operating composting toilets have a ventilation system and constant suction through the toilet to prevent noxious odors. But commission spokesman Tyrone Jue pointed out several problems The City could face, including where to bring the compost, the health and safety of removing the stuff and the cost of retrofitting buildings. “I don’t want to say it’s not possible, but we also have to think about these other challenges,” Jue said. Though the commission has pooh-poohed the idea of permanent composting toilets, Tenderloin community organizers think a portable prototype could play an integral role in addressing a shortage of public lavatories in that neighborhood. Clean City and the North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit District are working with environmentally minded Hyphae Design Laboratory to create a portable composting toilet they say would be less expensive to install and maintain because it would not need electricity or plumbing. “We’ve been working hard to clean up the Tenderloin and this is another step,” said Gia Grant, executive director of Clean City. If the project stays on schedule, the Tenderloin could have a new toilet by this summer. But because it will need approval from several city agencies, it’s possible things will get backed up. sgantz@sfexaminer.com