After leaving Ontario last month, we drove to Lake Placid, NY, to spend several days enjoying the lakes and mountains of upstate New York. We looked forward to a little hiking, maybe a few lake swims, but nothing really prepared us for the excitement of totally compostable toilets.
Seriously, The Wild Center, an indoor and outdoor nature center about 1/2 hour from Lake Placid sits inside the first LEED-certified museum in New York State. You can tour the nature exhibits, watch a movie about the Adirondacks during the ice age narrated by Sigourney Weaver, and walk around the grounds outside to see live, local animals But don’t miss the compostable toilets.
Like most of us, I am a bathroom user. However, I dislike offensive smells, so I generally try to avoid out houses and port-a-potties. The compostable toilets at The Wild Center look like regular toilets in a regular outdoor bathroom–clean, no bad smells, totally user-friendly toilets. But they are also the most sustainable privvies available. Everything that goes into the toilets comes out to be used as compost. And these no-flush wonders use no water, so there really is no waste.
So if you are lucky enough to spend a few days in the Adirondacks on your vacation like we did last month, head to Lake Tupper, NY to visit The Wild Center. It’s a great place to learn about compostable toilets.
Photo courtesy of David Lovinger
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Sarah Pressman Lovinger
In trying to find the most effective way to help other people reduce their carbon footprints, Sarah turned to one of her favorite activities: writing. She started a green business, chicagogreenlife.com, to help her clients plan newsletters for their eco-friendly businesses. She also started her blog, mygreenerlife.blogspot.com, to provide useful advice to anyone who wants to lead a more environmentally friendly life. She also regularly contributes to www.afreshsqueeze.com, to let other Chicagoans know about eco-friendly stores, restaurants, and events. Sarah, an internal medicine doctor, works part-time in community health centers in the Chicago area. She graduated from Barnard College and Columbia University, and she lives in Evanston, IL, with her daughter and her husband. Stop by some time for some delicious, sustainable food--Sarah and her husband love to cook and entertain--any extras will end up outback in their composter.
One Response to The Adirondacks: Rest, Relaxation, and Compostable Toilets
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So how do we find the details on how they work?