Philadelphia—September 2010—The Friends of the Wissahickon (FOW) and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR) will celebrate the opening of the second composting toilet in Fairmount Park at the WPA shelter near the Rex Avenue Bridge on Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. This composting toilet is totally self- sustaining, with no need for plumbing, and electrical power supplied by solar panels.
“We are excited to partner with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation on the installation of the Wissahickon Valley’s second bio-composting toilet,” says FOW Executive Director Maura McCarthy. “This is the first compost toilet entirely powered by alternative energy sources.”
A survey conducted by FOW in 2006 indicated that 74% of park users wanted more bathroom facilities in the Wissahickon. These toilets are helping to meet that need and are serving as prototypes for future composting toilets in the park.
FOW structures crew worked with Fairmount Park District 3 staff (part of PPR) and the Student Conservation Association to restore the WPA structure and install the composting toilet. The toilets are cost effective, environmentally safe, odorless, and require no water or chemicals and very little maintenance.
“These composting toilets are one of the many ways we are building a green infrastructure in the most important green space in our city,” says McCarthy. -Denise Larrabee
Yay, go Philly! This is some some local news for me, we’re getting another composting toilet. Have you ever looked into these? Pretty awesome stuff. What isn’t awesome is the price ($2,000+), but you use them in the proper application (ie in a public park), they pay themselves off pretty quickly.
So the paid way to go would be something like what Envirolet offers: http://www.envirolet.com
Or the build-it-yourself way, found at wikiHow: http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Composting-Toilet
Not surprisingly, I’m pretty curious about this. Plus I have a broken toilet and a lot of scrap wood in my backyard…uh oh!