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Is anyone aware of a simple toilet system that uses mineral/vegetable oil to flush?  I can only find reference to expensive complex system's dating back to the 80's. Thinking of this as a concept to reduce water consumption and consequently reduce the cost of waste disposal;  I know its crude (excuse the pun), but instead of having a bucket of water available for flushing, have a bucket of recycled light mineral/vegetable oil.  After flushing the feces and urine/water would separate from the oil (sink to bottom) and the oil floating on the top of the pit could potentially be reusable? Not sure on: How contaminated the oil becomes and whether it is infact suitable for reuse.  I assume some level of treatment would be necessary before making it available for recycling; The functionality of using a liquid less dense than water for flushing and cleaning the bowl; How oil would impact on waste treatment; The prohibitive initial capital for oil purchase or oil loss/replacement frequency; Feasibility of such a system in schools, etc, (only where toilets can be managed closely). Just a thought, if someone has tried or willing to try (obviously not with a sewered systems), let us know how it goes. Cheers

From: Mark Hordern < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Subject: EcoSanRes: Oil flush toilets To: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Date: Sunday, July 6, 2008, 2:17 AM Is anyone aware of a simple toilet system that uses mineral/vegetable oil to flush? I can only find reference to expensive complex system's dating back to the 80's. Thinking of this as a concept to reduce water consumption and consequently reduce the cost of waste disposal; I know its crude (excuse the pun), but instead of having a bucket of water available for flushing, have a bucket of recycled light mineral/vegetable oil. After flushing the feces and urine/water would separate from the oil (sink to bottom) and the oil floating on the top of the pit could potentially be reusable? Not sure on: How contaminated the oil becomes and whether it is infact suitable for reuse. I assume some level of treatment would be necessary before making it available for recycling; The functionality of using a liquid less dense than water for flushing and cleaning the bowl; How oil would impact on waste treatment; The prohibitive initial capital for oil purchase or oil loss/replacement frequency; Feasibility of such a system in schools, etc, (only where toilets can be managed closely). Just a thought, if someone has tried or willing to try (obviously not with a sewered systems), let us know how it goes. Cheers

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Mark Thanks indeed for your excellent general summary on the importance of dry toilets. Better to divert, compost and reuse than to flush and forget and kill the kids in slums downstream. Using oil to flush with instead of water may sound like a creative idea if it could be perfected but would only reinforce the flush and forget practice in areas where water is plentiful. Oil could be something for gravity toilets in outer space. I am writing this from northern China in Erdos, a modern urban area of 1.3 million people where they are currently rationing water at random intervals amounting to less than one hour per day. The effects are becoming more and more obvious, flush toilets that don't work, hands and bodies that are not clean, food and utensils that are not washed properly, etc. Septic tanks are being emptied from hotels daily by trucks in a vain attempt to reuse. The dry toilets and urinals in our urban project are providing reliable service. Regards

From: Mark Hordern < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Subject: EcoSanRes: Oil flush toilets To: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Date: Sunday, July 6, 2008, 2:17 AM Is anyone aware of a simple toilet system that uses mineral/vegetable oil to flush? I can only find reference to expensive complex system's dating back to the 80's. Thinking of this as a concept to reduce water consumption and consequently reduce the cost of waste disposal; I know its crude (excuse the pun), but instead of having a bucket of water available for flushing, have a bucket of recycled light mineral/vegetable oil. After flushing the feces and urine/water would separate from the oil (sink to bottom) and the oil floating on the top of the pit could potentially be reusable? Not sure on: How contaminated the oil becomes and whether it is infact suitable for reuse. I assume some level of treatment would be necessary before making it available for recycling; The functionality of using a liquid less dense than water for flushing and cleaning the bowl; How oil would impact on waste treatment; The prohibitive initial capital for oil purchase or oil loss/replacement frequency; Feasibility of such a system in schools, etc, (only where toilets can be managed closely). Just a thought, if someone has tried or willing to try (obviously not with a sewered systems), let us know how it goes. Cheers