The toilet, called Toilet of the Future, was the winning design in the Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge. California Institute of Technology engineer Michael Hoffman and his colleagues designed the toilet, which was then developed by Eco-San, a Chinese technology company that is piloting the toilets in China and South Africa.

Now, CCCC is in the midst of installing one of these toilets in the Frank and Maureen Wilkens Science and Engineering Center in West Barnstable. The main technological components of the toilet are currently being shipped from Shanghai.

The bathroom itself looks like a regular bathroom, and the toilet looks like a regular toilet. Everything that happens after the flush will take place in a small room right next to the bathroom. The room has a large window where visitors will be able to see the technology that makes the toilet work. There will also be educational material, including text and figures, displayed in the window.

In an email, CCCC President John Cox explained what will take place behind the window. After someone flushes the toilet, solids will go to the biological treatment tank. Here, the solids are reduced in volume and their nitrogen levels are lowered through a process called anaerobic-aerobic biodegradation. Then the solids will go into a sludge collection receptacle, which will be cleaned out and disposed of about every six months. The liquid goes into an electrochemical reactor where it is treated with chemicals that degrade pollutants and bacteria. The liquid in its final state has negligible levels of organic carbon and nitrogen and “no measurable pathogens,” Mr. Cox wrote. That liquid can then be reused as flushing water or for other non-potable purposes. This process cycles as people continue to use the toilet, which is what makes this a closed-loop system. For this reason, the entire system does not require any connection to sewers or water.

The system benefits the environment because unlike with septic systems, none of the materials put into the system go into the environment, including nitrogen. CCCC Vice President of Finance and Operations Chris Clark said that the team behind the science building project thought installing the Toilet of the Future would be a good idea given the Cape’s ongoing issues with wastewater management and high nitrogen levels in water.

In Falmouth, these issues are just as potent. A recent draft of the Falmouth Water Quality Management Committee’s Great Pond Targeted Wastewater Management Plan describes an eco-toilet pilot project in the town from 2018 to 2020. The draft says that participation in the project was low “despite significant financial incentives and ongoing promotion to encourage participation.” The draft said that while the town “does not have plans to pursue additional eco-toilet initiatives,” eco-toilets “continue to be listed as an I/A septic system option” for property owners who will need to make changes to reduce their nitrogen output.

The Toilet of the Future is just one of many environmentally-friendly designs being built into the science center. In as many places as possible, wood was used in place of concrete and steel, both of which emit more greenhouse gasses in their production processes than wood, Mr. Clark said. There will also be solar panels on the roof of the building, and there will be a rain collection system to water a lawn that will be outside the building for student use, among other ecologically conscious design choices.

In addition to being environmentally friendly, the new science building has design elements that are meant to bring STEM to non-STEM students. Similar to the window display for the Toilet of the Future, several of the labs feature large, glass windows along the hallways where visitors can observe students conducting experiments and even working on robots, Mr. Clark said. The building is also placed at a central location on campus and has paths connecting to an academic building and the student center.

Cape Cod Community College To Install Eco-Toilet After Falmouth Considers Eco-Toilets – The Falmouth Enterprise