"Can the rest of the world have flush toilets? No. Composting toilets? Yes!": Mediating the Human-Nature Relations by Composting Toilets

Flush toilets pose challenges such as resource waste, public health, and social justice. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of clean water and sanitation for all, it is essential to address the complex issues around toilets and design alternative systems that effectively manage human waste. Inspired by Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this paper presents findings from a design ethnography in eco-villages about composting toilets and sustainable living. We describe three archetypal composting toilet systems and examine how they operate as creative, community-driven infrastructures that mediate human–nature relationships. We reflect on how ANT provides a useful lens for HCI to understand the socio-technical dynamics of alternative sanitation systems. We analyse how composting toilets mediate human-nature relations three interconnected processes: tinkering, linking, and becoming. We discuss the implications of fostering DIY infrastructure practices as a form of transformational creativity in the pursuit of more sustainable futures.