Since the Garden moved from Leigh Woods in 2005 and has slowly matured, its popularity within the city and University has grown year on year - in 2018 we have already seen 15,000 visitors - and our facilities were becoming inadequate. As a new Botanic Garden, we feel strongly that we should set a green example, so chemicals are rarely used, composting is important and wastage is kept to a minimum. We wanted this to extend to the decision about new toilets.

Research suggests that the average person uses 45 litres of water each day flushing a toilet; if we could find a way of restricting this we could save thousands of litres in the Garden. 

We commissioned a new toilet that is French in design but that wouldn’t look out of place in a Scandinavian woodland; it is not so much a compost toilet but a desiccating device. A sealed tank is sunk into the ground with a chimney raised from the back. This chimney faces south, with a turbine on the top which draws in warm air, removing smells and evaporating moisture. In time this is said to remove pathogens and leave next to nothing in the tank. 

The toilets look very unusual and the idea of helping the environment has struck a chord with our visitors; there is genuine interest. These facilities are becoming more common now across National Trust properties, golf courses, allotments and even canal barges. 

The Botanic Garden is open seven days a week until December and is free to University staff and students.