Background

Situated 15 kilometres north-east of Port Douglas, the Low Isles comprise a four-acre coral cay surrounded by 55 acres of reef within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Area.

Low Isles is also a popular tourist destination and attracts thousands of visitors per year. Existing facilities on the island include a composting toilet installed 20+ years ago.  The existing facility is not coping with the visitor numbers and needs upgrading.

Low Isles is a highly sensitive site so any toilet system needed to have minimal impact on the site in order to preserve the integrity of the natural environment. 

Challenges

The existing toilet facility is not coping with the number of visitors to the island. A new facility is required that can cope with existing usage and future growth.

Low Isles is in a tropical cyclone area (Category 3) and can experience wind gusts up to 224kph.  

There is no electricity or water on the island, so any new installation had to be stand-alone. 

Low lsles is a remote site so the building kit had to be lightweight, easily transportable and easily assembled on-site with minimal equipment. 

The Island is surrounded by saltwater and is a highly corrosive environment. Therefore, the building, fixtures and fittings had to be non-corrosive and durable.  

Being a sand island, any new facility had to be 'self-cleaning' where possible and the stairs and floor material had to be non-slip.

Low Isles is an environmentally significant site. Therefore, any new facility had to utilise the existing building footprint and have minimal to no discharges to the environment when operational.

Solution

Ecoflo Wastewater Management supplied the complete kit with a local builder commissioned for the installation.

The complete kit included: 2 high capacity eco-friendly composting toilets - Clivus Multrum CM40 - with a design capacity of 80,000 visits per year. These are dry composting systems so there is no requirement for flush water.

A ‘Zero Discharge Facility’ incorporated into the design to create a ‘closed-loop’ system. The Facility is fully automated and operates using the supplied solar system.

Ecoflos’ standard 4 cubicle building module was used for this project. This was delivered to the Island as complete ‘flat-pack’ kit and included ‘marine grade’ stainless steel fasteners and Colorbond ULTRA sheeting. Highly durable fibre composite material (FRP) was used for all structural components. Slip-resistant FRP grating for the veranda area and stair treads was used to for safety and minimise sand buildup.

An FRP water tank stand with tank and the complete solar package was also supplied.

In April 2017 three brand new Clivus Multrum composting toilets were installed at Kiabola Beach Primary School located in the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea. This school has about 250 teachers and students and previously they have had to use pit toilets. This has obvious implications on sanitation, the environment and the senses.

When teachers at the school were asked “what is the main concern here at the primary school?” the response came quickly and with certainty – “SANITATION”. Hence the new toilet system which requires no water for flushing and ultimately provides the school with fertiliser for their gardens.