Our resources

As for physical resources, these are some of the things we found on the land that we could use.
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Old wooden doors that we found inside the house when we moved in. We took these out as they were dividing the room into smaller spaces. They are mostly just lots of big holes joined together, but they are solid and large, so could be used for the toilet structure. I also think they are quite beautiful, they are decorative around the edges with carvings in a very old style, and the old pale blue paint has faded on them and I like them.
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Scrap wood from our neighbour. A mixture of scaffolding planks and various bits of wood. There's a lot here that we can use. 
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Natural resources from the land. We have over 4 hectares of land to collect mulch and wood from, if we should need it. 
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I have been researching for advice in a great book called The Humanure handbook, by Joseph Jenkins. I've had a copy of this book for ages, and have skimmed through it in the past, but never had the pressing need to fully read it and understand the full process of composting your own manure. It is known as a bit of a bible for anyone thinking of building a composting toilet, and rightly so, as it's an amazing book. The author has composted the wastes of his family of 4 for around 30 years, so has a huge amount of experience and knowledge. 

And our boundaries

Location
  • location of the toilet - living on a slope, care for run off down to house, looking at flooding, animal tracks and possible access for creatures to get in 
  • physical boundaries of the land
  • visibility to neighbours and passers by 
  • just began on the land, may want to change where things are/growing space. Locate the toilet in an area definately not likely to be used for another purpose..
Time
  • time constraints - this is needed as soon as possible as we are living on the land already
  • also... boundaries me and uri have time wise... to maintain a toilet, how much time do we want to put in/can we put in? and with volunteers coming in the future, are we designing a toilet for just us to use or for many people, the differences between designs for these, or one possible to adapt?
Environmental consciousness
  • how long do we plan to stay on the land, is uncertain... if we decide to leave if things don't work out we don't want to leave a pile of half rotted waste for the next people to deal with, who may not know how to. Being conscious of not leaving any waste behind.
  • no environmental degradation.... visibly attractive, cautious not to leak any possibly pathogenic waste onto land we may use for planting, living etc... keeping all waste contained until completely broken down and made safe
  • also... insects, in the summer months especially. Sealed containers will be needed
Financial constraints
  • we have very little cash for this project
  • finding the balance between using recycled materials, which take more time and effort to prepare, and outlay of cash to make things quicker and easier
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