I was interviewed earlier this week by a writer from Fortune magazine for a story he was doing for CNN Money about green waste technology.

If you look close enoguh (at the very end) you’ll see a little quote from me.

I am glad composting toilets are being mentioned on CNN period. But, it’s unfortunate that the last paragraph of the story puts a negative twist on our discussion:

The difficulty is, compost toilets cost considerably more - up to $2,000 - than the standard models available off the shelf at Home Depot. That’s a steep price to pay for going green.

This is definately true when comparing adding a composting toilet to a home vs. adding a standard flush toilet to a home connected to the municipal sewage system (until they start charging more for the use of fresh water to flush). But, this is not true in many other applications.

On the positive side, it must be noted that a composting toilet…

1. Saves a lot of valuable water by using little or none at all. Hard to put a real price on this.
2. Is in fact much cheaper than a typical septic system.
3. Is often cheaper than adding new plumbing to an unplumbed space (like a garage).
4. Is easier (on you and the environment) to install than a septic system.
5. Eliminates the need for expensive sewage plants.

I hope there will be more discussions of composting toilet technology in the mainstream media. I just hope they do more than brush the surface. Until this happens, it will be difficult to get people away from the flush it away mentality that prevails.