Strawbale Toilet Building – Sustainable Living Content

In 2010 the Eco Garden was becoming a very popular place for schools and the public to come and visit to do our workshops. The number of visitors per year was increasing dramatically! The only toilets we had back then, were 2 porta loos in the carpark. Not Nice!

So, we decided to build a new toilet building but not just any old building. We wanted a building that was a shining example of Sustainable and Ecological principles, to everyone who used it.

It was decided to construct a Strawbale Building with Composting Toilets.

WHY Composting Toilets? 

One full flush on a regular toilet uses about 5 Litres of drinking water.

Can you see a large 5 litre bottle sitting on the railing?

During the school term the Eco House and Garden is frequently visited by large school groups. Some groups can have up to 60 students, plus their teachers on site.

If each student used the toilet just once on that day, the total water usage would be 300 litres!

That’s a lot of water!!

Composting Toilets are waterless:

• Every time you use these toilets you save 5 litres of drinking water from being wasted.
• Our waterless urinal collects urine in a separate tank which is discharged to the sewers without the use of water. Urine may become a valuable resource in the future as it contains minerals which are important in fertiliser.
• Toilets are aerated using fans 24/7, pulling air down and out. Notice the lack of yucky smells?
• Woody mulch added to human waste produces healthy, stabilised soil in 6 – 12 months.
• Collection barrels capture the human waste and are set aside to mature when they become full.
• Mature compost is always buried below the surface and not under any edible plants, following NSW Health Guidelines.

WHY a Strawbale Building?

• Great Insulation qualities. Cool in summer & Warm in winter. Also, good sound insulation.
• Natural materials – Straw (is the stems from wheat & other cereal crops) – can be returned to nature when demolished.
• Easily covered with lime & cement render that ‘breathes’ to keep the straw dry.
• Relatively cheap for the building materials.
• Quick to build, warm & personal feel, soft organic appearance.
• Strawbale Buildings have a LOW ‘embodied energy’ rating.
• Very Durable and Long Lasting if the straw is kept dry.

Straw has been used for 100’s of years in buildings with mud and clay etc.

Can you see the strawbales behind the glass windows?

Constructing the Strawbale Building

We decided to use this opportunity to educate as many people as we could from the community, to learn HOW to build a straw bale building.

We engaged a professional Straw Bale builder, Frank Thomas, and hosted a four-day, hands on, practical, Learn-As-You-Build class for 20-30 people.

The floor was built before the 4-day workshop. By the end of the 4 days, all the walls were up, and rendered & the windows & door frames all in. The roof and doors and other finishing off was completed in the few weeks following the education workshop.

We used as much Reused Materials as we could, sourced from our Kimbriki Buy Back Reuse Centre. Eg Windows, doors, wash basins, etc.