Waterless urinals: Cheap. Green. But many think ‘gross’
Despite environmental message, many stick up their noses at eco-toilets.
By Vijaysree Venkatraman | Correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor/ March 19, 2009 edition
Sanitary fixtures in men’s rooms don’t make for polite conversation. Nor would many people want to read about them over a morning cup of coffee.
But it’s Jan Aceti’s job to encourage people to think about them.
As principal of consulting firm Aceti Associates, Ms. Aceti tries to spread the word about “waterless” urinals, an environmental innovation that she hopes can ease the world’s water problems.
Fresh water is a dwindling resource worldwide. A waterless urinal saves one to three gallons of fresh water per flush, compared with a normal model, according to a 2008 report Aceti’s firm prepared for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. In an office with 1,000 men, that adds up to 1.56 million gallons of water saved annually.
This waterless message has finally started to catch on, says Aceti.
“Can you imagine a more scenic setting for a waterless urinal?” she asks, pointing to the picture of an installation at the Taj Mahal in India.
At American ballparks, airports, and tourist attractions, waterless urinals are becoming increasingly common.
Yet despite the message of efficacy and environmental stewardship, the 15-year fight to further introduce these unorthodox urinals is far from over.
Hygiene myths abound. Many hold their noses when they hear of this no-flush system. Diverting streams of urine for use as fertilizer is another tough sell. But the industry is optimistic.
“By our estimates, less than 1 percent of the world’s urinals use these waterless systems,” says Randall Goble, vice president of marketing for Falcon Waterless Technologies in Grand Rapids, Mich.
He explains that the technology behind the setup is fairly simple. A biodegradable liquid sealant, such as oil or alcohol that is lighter than water, floats on top of a conventional water-filled drain.
The barrier layer, a one-way seal, allows liquid waste to flow through but blocks sewer gases from coming back up and entering the restroom. (See diagram above.)
One of the first waterless urinals, patented in Austria more than 100 years ago, involved periodic cleaning of the waste sediment. But modern, water-fed plumbing put an end to this chore.
In the 1990s, sealant-filled cartridges for waterless urinals were introduced. “Those cartridges took the ‘ugh’ factor out of the maintenance,” says Mr. Goble.
In 2006, kitchen- and bath-fixture giant Kohler Co. came up with an optimal funnel-shaped design for the bowl, eliminating the need for disposable cartridges.
“In traditional urinals, the surfaces on the inside are wet much of the time, and you get biofilms of growing organisms,” says Prof. Charles Gerba, an Arizona State University microbiologist who has researched surface contamination in public restrooms.
Flushing further creates a spray that lands on the rim and floor, creating a breeding ground for microorganisms.
“If easily-maintainable, water-free urinals had been developed first, no one would use conventional urinals because of all the contamination they cause,” he adds.
While Mr. Gerba says that design innovations can now ensure that waterless urinals are both more efficient and more sanitary than their traditional counterparts, educating consumers and facility managers about the proper use and maintenance of waterless urinals is the key to wider acceptance, according to Shane Judd, senior manager at Kohler in Milwaukee.
“People have misgivings about water-free sanitaryware, but those who try it embrace it,” he says. Because of the aesthetic of the sleek model, green designers have started installing it in clients’ homes as well, he adds.
Most marketing for waterless urinals target organizations with environmental sustainability goals. Other groups gravitate to them for financial reasons. The waterless designs reduce operating costs and eliminate common plumbing emergencies, such as clogging and flooding, says Goble of Falcon Waterless Technologies.
“Students are known to flush anything from unwanted lunches to report cards in urinals,” he says. Also there are no flush handles that can be tampered with.
In rural regions of the third-world where sanitary infrastructure is nearly nonexistent, these urinals present the option of leapfrogging past systems that use up precious water, says Jack Sim, an advocate of compost toilets. In 2002, he launched the World Toilet Organization, a nonprofit group based in Singapore and committed to improving toilet facilities worldwide.
“Human urine is also a good and cheap source of plant nutrients,” says Mr. Sim. Farms in the developing world can use it to improve crops without buying expensive fertilizers, he adds.
In parts of the United States, wastewater treatment plants discharge liquid waste into seacoasts, says Carol Steinfeld, author of “Liquid Gold: The Lore and Logic of Using Urine to Grow Plants.”
The waste contains nitrogen that cause aquatic plants to thrive. These blooms eventually die and decompose, pulling oxygen out of the water and suffocating fish in the process.
“Much of that nitrogen is from the urine alone,” she says. “Avoiding expensive denitrification could be as simple as diverting that stream. Waterless urinals point to a direct opportunity to harvest fertilizer. Urine is usually pathogen free – unlike the brown stuff.”
As a resource recycling specialist, she designed a “Garden Urinal” for green-product company Ecovita in New Bedford, Mass. The urinal can be plumbed or directed to a self-contained planter. This waterless urinal – which can also be used by women – will be available for sale this summer. “Ornamental plants use up the nitrogen in urine, keeping it out of receiving waters,” she says.
Diverting and using urine in backyards may seem gross now, but Ms. Steinfeld predicts that the environmental benefits will eventually outweigh the icky factor.
Meanwhile, water savings from waterless urinals could be the main draw for consumers. “Why do we flush [what could be] drinking water down the urinal every time?” asks Mr. Judd, of Kohler’s Water Conservation division.
Because people have always done it that way, he says, answering his own question. “But now, with well-designed waterless urinals, there is a chance to change that.”
( More stories )
Comments
2. Scott Hamilton | 03.19.09
Glad to see more dicusssion on this, as I have seen these around for the past 15 years or so; like the idea on a garden urinal and am curious how that will be accepted ; looked on web and found 4 companies doing this, but seems like with anything else there seem to be differences in how they operate and what the running costs are, one insert costs $6.50 the other $40!! But we gotta do something about our water use.
3. A Black | 03.19.09
Flushing urinals were invented for a Reason. I will keep my flusher. Thank you!
4. Steve Bolin | 03.19.09
Pasadena California has them all over the place including where I work. The city has made installation of new urinals mandatory that they be waterless. Experience has shown a few things. First, they can be clogged if misused. People will pour other things than urine into a urinal in spite of signs telling them not to. This can lead to clogging and the same expensive repairs as for a conventional urinal. Second, regular maintenance is a must. Miss adding the sealer and you have a real stinker going. Also, as the urine starts to decompose without its layer of sealer it will clog the drain. The inside is also supposed to be wiped on a daily basis or the buildup of urine will lead to odor.
While the idea of using urine for fertilizer seems appealing, this is not what is typically done. They are usually just plumbed into the existing waste pipes.
5. Phil Ekstrom | 03.19.09
A company I sometimes visit has a waterless urinal, and it stinks badly. I’d not expect that model to be a commercial success.
6. Hope For d’Futr | 03.19.09
I am fascinated by this product and the potential it has to spearhead “recycling” in the USA. Many parts of Europe and Japan have already made recycling a cultural norm. Why we weren’t the first to do this is still a wonder to me…
7. jim cody | 03.20.09
i’ve seen it in use at the hollywood bowl and its soooo much nicer. no smell and much cleaner restroom.
8. Joel Crandall | 03.20.09
Thanks for a good article on an unusual topic. It was all new to me, but I see there has been quite a bit of constructive thinking here, and some promising improvements. When they start showing up on the New Jersey Turnpike, I’ll know they’re really on the way!
9. Scott Hamilton | 03.20.09
Glad to see more dicusssion on this, as I have seen these around for the past 15 years or so; like the idea on a garden urinal and am curious how that will be accepted ; looked on web and found 4 companies doing this, but seems like with anything else there seem to be differences in how they operate and what the running costs are, one insert costs $6.50 the other $40!! But we gotta do something about our water use.
Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.
10. Grant Klokeid | 03.20.09
I have a waterless urinal at work and it works fine. Funny not to flush at first but you quickly get use to it. We did have problems due to men pouring things into it like coffee and water. Urine only is what they told us.
11. Big Bass Daddy | 03.20.09
These are silly. #1, why flush with fresh water? Use gray water! #2, Why use a urinal at all, “get over the ugg factor”. What a waste. What’s wrong with a tree to a trough?
12. Jay West | 03.20.09
This story is one-sided and incomplete. If you talked to someone who has to maintain these, in a retrofit situation they cause more problems than they solve because the fall of the sewer line assumes regular cleaning based on a flush of water. The people peddling these have been slanting the story to get them adopted despite these problems.
13. grant | 03.20.09
How do I become an Investor in this technology? Well worth supporting and promoting.
14. Andrew Goetz | 03.20.09
I have used many of these urinals, which have appeared in the past 2 or 3 years in larger restrooms, locally. There probably is a local inducement to install any water-reducing technology in dry Colorado, but whether it’s a rebate or outright requirement, I don’t know. I didn’t know what made these toilets flushless, until CSM’s article, and have wondered about cleaning. They are, thus far, odorless, but many if not all are starting to develop a distinct yellow-gray coating near the drain; I’d guess there’s an issue about how to prevent cleaning chemicals from interfering with the trap. I don’t know, but my guess is that the urine isn’t being composted. Otherwise they seem trouble-free. I have yet to see one inoperative.
15. Tom S. | 03.20.09
Carol Steinfeld’s comments in this article neglect to mention that “dead zones” in the sea caused by dying algae blooms feeding off nitrogen are also caused by agricultural runoff, not just human sewage. Merely diverting human urine to fertilizer would not eliminate dead zones like the one in the Gulf of Mexico, which is caused by excess nitrogen from fertilizers on farms in the Mississippi River watershed. That fertilizer runs down the river into the sea. I think the waterless uirnal and a urine fertilizer system are both good ideas, but we should be honest about the total costs and benefits of each.
16. getting richer | 03.21.09
i have not used water to dispose of my urine for years and i have the best lawn on my block
17. comatus | 03.21.09
Jay West brings up just one of the negatives. Like the Rockefeller Self-Composting Solid Waste unit, these are swell for a mountaintop but don’t make sense where centralized supply and sewage lines exist. Reclamation is hygienically safer and more economical when the waste is all in one place. Any liquid waste polluting a waterway is insufficiently treated–probably by order of a politician. The idea of collecting a full tax load, then spending less (or nothing) to provide water and sewage infrastructure is naturally appealing–to government “providers.” There is no shortage of water where I live. Certain people think we should re-engineer the world so they can bask in the desert like film stars. If we treated their attitude as it deserves, we wouldn’t even need urinals.
19. Ernie M | 03.22.09
Infineon Raceway in California has installed these throughout their new facility. They do not stink, the restrooms actually smell MUCH better than the old flush style urinals did. They don’t smell at all. I congratulate anyone who uses these. In a large public facility the amount of water saved is quite large.
20. Huang Di | 03.22.09
If that was such a good idea, it would have been already known in 2008 already, no ?
The disappeared (waterless) backyard’s toilets, works on exactly the same principles, minus the “costly spare-parts & maintenance” !
However, I have strong doubts against one of the arguments put forth in the article :
“urine makes aquatic plants boom, who steal oxygen from water” … like any kind of green plant, they ALSO transform far more CO2 into oxygen when they live; didn’t CO2 used to be “the only cause” for climate “change” ?
21. Jamie D | 03.23.09
We had waterless urinals in the mens rooms where I work–they were installed to save money. The stench from them was unbearable–it travelled out into the hallway, and I had to hold my breath to walk past them to get to the ladies room. I felt so sorry for the men and cleaning crews who had to actually enter the mens rooms. After two or three years, they were finally replaced with regular urinals.
24. not eco friendly | 03.27.09
It’s not correct to say water is being “wasted” when flushed, or that water supply is diminishing globally. Water circulates, and there is the same amount of water on earth as always.
These urinals, especially those with crystal cartridges in them, are like most eco “fixes” such as ethanol, shade grown fair trade coffee, the use of palm oil, etc. They cause far more damage to the environment than if we did nothing.
25. Frans Durieux | 03.31.09
I have been to the toilets in the Taj, and they were cleaner then the average toilet I have been to in India. I think this might be a solution for these water scarce places in these kind of countries, as long as the complete chain has been looked at ==> what do we do with the urine and how do we keep the toilets clean and odor free. In all western countries with plenty of water and proper waste water treatment facilities, just keep on flushing the toilet. There are better ways to spend your money then to pour it into decentralized solutions. It might look green, but it smells bad and the environment isn’t helped by it at all.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. Mary Hoffman | 03.19.09
I think this is a fabulous idea that needs to be made available worldwide. I just returned from Kenya where the need is great for something like this. People need to understand the science behind this and get over the ugg factor. Please keep in mind a design that will accomodate the handicapped. A hole in the ground is difficult to use when wheelchair bound.