A new dry toilet recently installed on WA’s remote Canning Stock Route could provide a template that will revolutionise the Outback toilet experience.
After years of installing ‘traditional’ bush dunnies on the iconic track, volunteer organisation, Track Care WA, decided there had to be a better, more hygienic, lower maintenance option out there.
Their loo research led them to Papua New Guinea where Sago dry toilets have been lifting sanitation standards for years.
After meeting traditional owners from the Birriliburu people, Track Care installed the toilet system at Well 5.
“With the current toilets we use, it’s a matter of hooking full toilet tanks onto a trailer and then trying to burn it, if possible,” said Rod Durston, Track Care’s Canning Stock Route Projects Coordinator.
This new ‘dry’ loo could be about to revolutionise the Outback toilet world. PIC: Track Care WA
“It’s a horrible job and doesn’t always work out as it can be still moist, so it can be a matter of burying it under logs and sticks to try to stop toilet paper flying all over the place.”
The Sago toilet is different in that it has a dual chamber system. While one is in use, the other is locked while its contents decompose into safe material.
Volunteers worked together on the construction of a new ‘dry’ toilet for the Canning Stock Route. PIC: TRack Care WA
In Papua New Guinea, the bins are swapped over every six months and the safe material disposed of. Mr Durston believes that in places where loo use is seasonal, the rotation could be yearly, making maintenance work significantly less demanding.
And from a toilet user’s perspective, he says the Sago toilets will be cooler, less smelly, and far more pleasant. All that it requires is for users to put a teaspoon of ash in the toilet.
Track Care hopes the system will eventually be adopted by councils across the country, but it may require Health Department approval first. A Sago toilet will now be monitored for the certification process.
While Mr Durston says the Canning Stock Roure toilet was marginally more expensive than the traditional bush toilet to put in, its advantages are overwhelming.
“Track Care is a labour force and our motto is ‘access for the future’, and one of the biggest reasons things are closed down is because of mess,” he said. “If we can help address that problem then, as far as we are concerned, it is job done.”
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no because we use composting toilets and the great feature is we can go up to 5weeks without emptying the no.2 chamber its great… freedom!
What a great idea! The current system doesn’t seem to be working very well as the smell & insects can be atrocious, especially in hot weather. This may cost more initially but with a cleaner environment hopefully the outcome will be much better! Having used a composting toilet at a private site where we just covered our no 2’s with sawdust, it was a very pleasant experience! And the end result is compost not a load of s%$#