If you’re considering installing a toilet in a garden room or on a glamping site with minimal fuss, perhaps one of the water less eco-toilets available in the UK may very well be for you…

A gorgeous example of an eco-loo by http://www.eco-toilets.co.uk/

It is usually possible (under permitted development) to install a small garden-studio at the end of your garden without requiring planning consent but if your plans involve connecting this building to the mains water, you may then find that a full planning application is required.

The cost of applying for and gaining your planning approval (circa £1,500+) plus digging up the garden to put in a water supply and a sewage outlet, (which may need a pump if the lie of the land isn’t suitable) can increase the your capital outlay significantly (several thousand pounds).    Installing an eco-toilet not only avoids all this expenditure, it also means that a toilet can be installed within a couple of hours.

If cost savings aren’t enough,  research would also indicate that adding water to human waste is a problematic way to dispose of our sewage and although it’s the most common practice it’s certainly not the best solution from an environmental perspective.

Composting toilets treat human excrement using biological processes, turning it into organic compost material that can be used to fertilise the soil. They are small-scale, complete waste processing systems. Composting toilets are an excellent example of sustainable design. They provide a safe and effective way to save resources and prevent pollution, whilst saving money and energy for the owner and the community. At the same time they produce a valuable end-product that can be used to fertilise the soil.

Eco-Toilets cater for glamping sites and they state on their website that: “Composting toilets offer a wonderful solution, especially as the ‘green’ credentials of such toilets can be used in publicity to encourage campers to not only enjoy themselves, but help the environment at the same time! They save huge quantities of water in a world where water is an increasingly scarce resource, and require very little infrastructure. We have now developed a combined toilet and shower cabin, which can be sited almost anywhere, offering a wonderful shower, a smart and pleasant toilet and, if required, a water treatment system to recycle the water and urine output and return it to the cabin meaning very low water consumption too.”

Another supplier (WooWoo), who have a myriad range of fantastically cool eco-toilets (as per the picture below) state on their website that:

WooWoo eco-toilets website http://www.waterlesstoilets.co.uk/

“We provide waterless, composting and low water toilets for a huge range of applications. From large capacity public toilet systems to compact composting toilets for boats. Easy assembly – watertight – minimum maintenance – no water – no electricity – no chemical products – waste is transformed into a neutral, odour free material – 100% ecological.

Of course, it’s possible to contact either of the suppliers mentioned above and ask them to construct you their own style toilet unit for you and provide the toilet as one package.

Alternatively,  we can source the toilet on your behalf and install it into a mini-rotunda to complement your garden-room. The image below is a 2m internal diameter Rotunda with a 100mm wall cavity, single skinned poly carbonate dome and surface mounted lights.

Another eco-loo by www.eco-toilets.co.uk this time installed in a custom-built 2m diameter Rotunda w/c