THE HUMUS TOILET
SHIT TURNS TO SOIL, TO BE PUT ON ONE’S ROOF
WHERE IT BECOMES MEADOW, FOREST AND GARDEN.
SHIT TURNS TO GOLD.
IT IS TRULY SATISFACTORY, THUS TO BECOME RICHER AND RICHER.
THE CYCLE IS CLOSED.
THERE IS NO MORE REFUSE.
OUR ENVIRONMENT REGENERATES.
WHENEVER I USE A WATER CLOSET
I HAVE THE SAME BAD CONSCIENCE
AS WHEN I DRIVE A CAR OR TRAVEL BY PLANE.
WC’S ARE ONE OF THE MANY DANGEROUS DEAD-END STREETS
OF OUR CIVILISATION:
The waste of enormous quantities of pure water to carry off a little bit of shit and urine. One two pound of valueable material are thus turned into 50 liters of dangerous liquid, poisoning subsoil waters, wells, rivers, lakes and the sea. The exhaustion of the soil is multiplied by the loss of vital substances. The country is impoverished. Artificial fertilizer is no replacement.
WC:
1,000 grams of shit becomes
50,000 grams of refuse-poison
Humus-toilet:
1,000 grams of shit turn to
50 grams valuable raw-material.
It is like furning waste into gold.
WHY I HAVE TO GIVE AWAY MY SHIT
IN ORDER TO POISON MY ENVIRONMENT?
I PREFER TO KEEP IT AND TURN IT TO GOLD.
In a humus toilet shit and kitchen wastes are condensed
to only 5% of their former volume. No water, no canalization, no pathogenous agents, no spreading of diseases, no refuse, no transport of refuse, no latrines, no cess-pool, no liquid manure handling, no chemicals, no water-purification plant necessary, free from smells, water can be re-used as humus-soil. All you need is a pail, a board with two holes, one to shit upon, the other for aeration, a lid, a stove-pipe, a small lamp or other source of warmth and humus bacteria to begin with.
In Sweden they have many brands of humus-toilets: Clivus, Mull-Toa, Mullbänk, Multrum and others. They are more modern than my own version, fully automatic and recommended by health authorities. And you can buy them.
Published in:
World Travelling Museum Exhibition catalogue Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1983, pp. 496-499