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Composting toilets help China go green

Aug. 11, 2010

The 21,000-sf Ailu Community Center in Shanghai, China, will soon become a center for community recreation in the midst of a massive, 2,800-unit housing complex. The building's architects intend for it to serve as a sustainable demonstration project, incorporating a closed-loop geothermal system, natural ventilation through a bioclimatic southern wall, energy collecting photovoltaic panels, and a location selected specifically for its high potential for daylighting and ventilation. But Ailu's most exciting green technology is in the toilets.

The community center will incorporate nine Clivus Multrum foam-flush toilets with two Clivus Multrum M35 Composters. Using a mixture of biocompatible soap and water, the toilets use only three ounces of water per flush, while the composters take the waste from up to 65,000 flushes a year and turn it into garden compost. Combined, the system promises to save as much as 202,000 gallons of water annually over traditional plumbing.

Clivus Multrum Input 209 at BDCnetwork.com/quickResponse

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