We can all agree the world needs people like Hilda Maingay and Earle Barnhart, two longtime Falmouth environmental advocates concerned with the future of the planet and how the human race uses the earth’s energy, water and land resources.

For many years Hilda and Earle’s particular obsession has been “eco-toilets,” composting and urine-diverting toilets that use no water and reuse the urine and feces deposited in them.

As a result of their advocacy, 11 years ago, when the town’s water quality management committee (WQMC) was created, one of its first missions was to evaluate how well eco-toilets could work in Falmouth.

How much nitrogen would they remove? What would it cost to install them in a home? What would be involved in operation and maintenance? Most importantly, would homeowners be willing to install them?

To reach every homeowner in Falmouth, the WQMC sent out a special insert with the water bills to 20,000 households and businesses, describing the town’s Eco-toilet Incentive Program and offering a$5,000 cash payment to any home or business that would install eco-toilets. Marketing efforts included newspaper articles, attendance at community events, and public workshops held at Hilda and Earle’s Eco Toilet Center in Hatchville.

One hundred-seventy homeowners responded to the mailing and outreach. The WQMC obtained a test site permit from the state Board of Plumbers and Gasfitters. Fifty homes were evaluated by professional eco-toilet installers paid for by the town. In the end, only nine homeowners chose to install eco-toilets.

In addition the WQMC initiated, and the state Legislature passed a special act offering an additional incentive to the 1,600 homeowners who were in the Little Pond Sewer Service Area (LPSSA): in addition to the $5,000 incentive payment, if they installed an eco-toilet they would not have to pay the $13,000 sewer betterment. Every homeowner in the LPSSA received a letter notifying them of this offer. No one accepted.

Finally, the committee offered a $10,000 incentive payment for any homeowner within 300 feet of West Falmouth Harbor to install an eco-toilet as part of the West Falmouth Harbor Shoreline Septic Remediation Program. Of the 30 homes that ultimately participated in this program, not one chose to install eco-toilets.

The reasons for homeowner non-participation were several, as cited in section 3.3 of Falmouth’s approved Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan.

The cost to install one eco-toilet ranged from $2,600 for a small, self-contained unit where the bin holding excrement and urine is directly below the toilet bowl to $9,500 for a central composting unit with a remote bin. For most homeowners, though, cost was not the deterrent.

Operation and maintenance were. They include weekly maintenance of composting bins as well as residuals management. Residuals include compost (feces and urine mixed with wood shavings) and leachate, the excess liquid not taken up during the process of composting—approximately two gallons per person per month.

Urine-diverting toilets require periodic pumping or urine from a holding tank. Regular turning and ultimate burial of compost is usually done by the homeowner, but hauling of residuals and urine must be performed by a licensed septic hauler. All eco-toilets require some sort of odor control. Periodic occurrences of flies and gnats were reported as well.

An email found on Hilda and Earle’s Eco Toilet Center website, from “Dean,” an eco-toilet owner, is descriptive of the operational issues involved.

“I used a modified Sun Mar that I put a Separett urine separator and seat assembly onto. It works fairly well though I had to cut off the top of the urine bottleneck and now when I dump it into my urine processing tank some of it spills outside of the funnel onto the tank. I need to either make or find a better urine bottle…”

“When using it I sprinkle plenty of sawdust on the feces first, then press down a sheet of newspaper on top of the feces, this dessicates the feces and reduces the odor to zero. Never mix urine and feces in a sawdust toilet despite what the “experts” tell you. I burn the sawdust/feces in my rocket stove and then plan to mix the ash with the aged urine.”

Of the 170 households which had expressed initial interest in installing eco-toilets, most cited operation and maintenance requirements, and concerns over future resale value of their home, as their reason for not participating.

After expending $190,000 on eco-toilet consultants, incentives and evaluating the nitrogen and phosphorous removal ability of eco-toilets, the WQMC and select board concluded that while eco-toilets are an option for any homeowner who wishes to install them, consumer resistance is a huge barrier to their widespread use.

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