The green revolution sweeps into the bathroom

The humble toilet could be set for an upgrade.
Environmentally-friendly "NoMix" toilets that separate urine and faeces could help to reduce pollution and save water. And support is growing for the adoption of the techno-toilets, CNET reports.
NoMix toilets collect urine at the front and faeces at the back. Separating urine before it reaches sewage treatment plants could reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients entering rivers and triggering algal blooms, according to a paper in Environmental Science and Technology. The collected urine could also be recycled as agricultural fertiliser, conserving water.
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology reviewed surveys of 2700 people across Europe, and found 80 per cent supported the idea of the toilets.

What's more, three-quarters of those surveyed said they found the comfort, smell and cleanliness of the new loos equalled that of conventional toilets.

Meanwhile a zoo in the UK is hoping to put its animals' leavings to good use. Paignton Zoo in Devon wants to use the dung produced by its inmates to create biogas that can be burned to produce electricity, says The Guardian newspaper. The zoo's two elephants produce 2 tonnes of dung each week.
It's not the first time animal faeces have been used to produce energy, though: chicken droppings have been used in European power plants for years, dung is often burned on open fires and even doggie doo-doo has been investigated as a potential fuel source.