How does a portable toilet work?

How does a portable toilet work? – Over the course of our posts, we’ve talked about a range of different things to do with portable toilets, from the types of toilets we provide at Midland Toilet Hire through to just how beneficial they can be at small events as well as large.

What we’ve always aimed to do is give you an insight into aspects you may not have otherwise known about, as well as aspects that are genuinely going to be of interest and / or of benefit to our customers and potential clients.

And today, we want to discuss one point we haven’t touched on before and one that you may not have read about previously – how does a portable toilet work? The plastic portable toilet type. I will cover the trailer type units at a later date.

Most of us have used a plastic type portable toilet at some point in time or at the very least, we’ve seen one and know what they look like.

Generally speaking, they’re plastic in construction, but metal ones are available (we don’t however supply the later) self-contained units that house both a toilet and some kind of hand-washing facility, whether that’s hand-sanitising gel or a traditional sink that contains a water reservoir. The water from this reservoir is then pumped by a foot operated pump to supply water to the sink tap.

Although there are various different types of such toilets available, they almost all work in the same way when we’re looking at the actual toilet facility itself.

With a standard toilet – in terms of one that’s actually plumbed in, such as in your home – once the toilet has been used, it is flushed and water takes the contents down into the waste pipe and eventually into the sewage pipes. When we look at a portable toilet, however, as they’re self-contained, the contents obviously can’t go into a waste pipe and instead go into what is essentially a holding tank.

Within this tank, a whole array of different chemicals are used for a variety of reasons, but most notably to break down the waste and to remove any odour, meaning the toilet can remain an attractive facility to use.

Then, as part of a regular maintenance and service schedule, the waste tank can be emptied and disposed of in the correct way.

The reason we wanted to discuss this today is because we know that for many, it can seem as though it’s a bit of a hidden aspect or a little secretive, with some believing the waste just drains away. The truth is it’s actually a relatively simple process (on a high level!) and with all toilet facility hire from Midland Toilet Hire, if there’s one thing you can guarantee, it’s that our toilets work in the most effective and efficient way possible, ensuring the best facilities are always available at your event.