Commercial Composting Toilet at Lewis & Clark College

A composting toilet (M54W Trailhead) will be installed on the campus of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. Composting toilet systems generally provide a lower cost, lower impact option for restroom locations lacking existing access to utilities or in areas where improving access would be prohibitively expensive. Composting toilets provide significant environmental benefits when compared to conventional flush systems. In Portland, this system has the added benefit of reducing impacts on an already taxed sanitary and storm system, reducing its contribution to combined sewer overflows to the Willamette River.

Harvesting Rain to Drink at Bacon-Brenes Home spurred New Codes

This home was one of the first in Oregon to permit rainwater for drinking. By pioneering a potable rainwater innovation, the owners and the design/build team helped spur Portland to become an early adopter of a city-wide rainwater harvesting code in 2004. The specialty designer on this project was landscape architect Pat Lando who himself has gone on to pioneer many advanced strategies for treating stormwater and recycling graywater and blackwater.

Graywater Reuse in the Apartments at Bud Clark Commons

This building provides 130 transitional housing units and support services to people in Portland experiencing homelessness. It was one of the first in Oregon to treat wash water from showers, bathtubs, and residential clothes-washing machines, known as graywater, to flush toilets. It was permitted using a Statewide Alternative Method under Oregon’s Specialty Plumbing Code that allows commercial greywater reuse.