How the idea for bog developed
I’ve been interested in shipping containers used for other purposes since seeing a programme called ‘guerilla homes’ shown on BBC 3, I think in 2004. I am interested in green roofs after being emailed a flyer about the concept a few years ago. I’ve been going on at people about green roofs for some time now as they are a great solution - moving biodiversity upwards rather than out of our cities. After watching a programme called ‘Its not easy being green’ where I saw an item where they made a water wheel using a generator attached, I followed some leads to find a generator supplier, who was also a wind turbine manufacturer (based in stratford on avon). On his website he was advertising for sales staff and so I had a meeting with him because I was thinking that selling wind turbines would be a good way of making positive environmental change.
In general, I’ve been looking for the most environmentally conscious ideas as to how to refurbish a house, and how to apply these technologies to existing structures, so thinking about solar hot water heating, turbine electricity generation and eco friendly building materials.
I am interested in composting toilets because I was looking for a solution to a house we are working on in the Czech Republic, where the sewage system has been taken over by the next door neighbour. After some research I found a supplier in Greece who could supply flushing composting toilets. It’s crucial that these don’t look like composting toilets to the end user. I’ve had reports of some very off-putting encounters with toilets which would be suitable in the middle ages, but not now.
Reed beds are Roman technology, but my godfather is a civil engineer and recently put one in for Powys County Council for the public toilets at the Storey Arms in the Brecon Beacons.
I know how important accessible bathroom facilities are as 1 in 50 people are wheelchair users and they are not currently catered for in all sorts of different environments. This was really brought home to me by Gallent 2000 during my Access Audit training.
I heard an item on the radio one day a few months ago about how all the water you would need to flush a toilet could be gathered by a really small roof area. I also met someone at the green roof seminar who was looking into using grey water in a church centre to flush their toilets. I had been thinking of ways to add a rainwater collection system to existing buildings & had talked to a plumber friend about this.
The whole idea came about as one unit when I went to the wedding of my friends Diane & James. There was what they though was a wheelchair accessible toilet at the hotel, but the door had been put on the wrong way round, so it would have been impossible for a wheelchair user to get to the toilet. When we were driving home, my flash of inspiration was to combine everything I’d been learning about over the last three years. Bog.
I feel that if the system could be developed so that if a ‘bog standard’ unit could be produced for less than £10,000, it would be a good way of making people take on environmental technology as well as investing in good, accessible facilities.
I am a serial entrepreneur, and this is the most important of the many, many things I would like to do with my life. I believe that bog is a good solution to increase access to everyone and help stop climate change. I’m making sacrifices to achieve this dream… currently financial! But also in giving up work that I love (writing bids for voluntary groups), and being nicknamed ‘bog lady’!
On the plus side, I’ve met some fantastic people and the experience alone has been worth the work so far. I would be very grateful to hear from anyone who would like to help me on this journey (nic at 500 year vision dot com).
Nicola Robinsonova