Is the Nano Membrane Toilet a way to improve upon how we handle human faeces? A team at Cranfield University has worked out a self-contained, waterless "Reinvented Toilet" after 7 years of research.

For a long time, we have been using potable water to carry faeces and urine to treatment plants where we hope to separate clean water and return it to the broader community.

In 1995, Joseph Jenkins published his results on successfully composting human faeces which evolved into a detailed manual (The Humanure Handbook).

Composting succeeds in destroying all but the most extreme medicines along with all organic pathogens. Composting creates material suitable for closing the loop we have between what we eat and what we put out. Composting can give us a low-tech way to stop contaminating potable water just to try and clean it. Jenkins now offers the fourth edition of book which covers handy information on composting, gardening and basic survival skills.

Journey to Forever and Modern Farmer have written about humanure as well.

We can add the high-tech nano-membrane toilet to the set of toilets we use. Yet, does the NMT meet all our needs for how handling human faeces fits into the big picture?

Further resources:

• Dan Chiras, Ph. D. The Scoop on Poop. New Society Publishers

• Interview with Dan Chiras on Mother Earth News