The best type of toilet depends upon the situation. Questions like:

  1. Who will be using the toilet?
  2. Who will maintain it?
  3. What type of toilet do people want to have?

will determine the best design. Anytime you want to recommend a type of toilet make sure you have personal experience with it. What level of maintenance does it actually take to upkeep the toilet? If you haven’t done it yourself it’s not possible to give people honest, accurate, information about what they will need to do.

The book, “Community Guide to Environmental Health,” has resources for choosing composting toilets. Groups like the Sustainable Sanitation Network have an active forum on international projects. Composting toilet pioneers like Joe Jenkins have extensive experience working internationally and offer advice.