Environmental Assessment concerning Environmental Load Reduction at Highway Service Areas in Japan by Introducing Low Environmental Load Toilets

摘要

In this study, the reduction on the environmental load by the replacement of conventional toilets with low environmental load toilets such as water recycling urine-diverting toilets newly developed at highway service areas in Japan was quantified and a cost-benefit analysis concerning introducing low environmental load toilets were performed. The Moriya service area, which is one of the large-scale service areas and the Minori service area, which is middle-scale, were selected for the case study. As for the results, the water use and energy consumption, cost, and pollution load, especially, total nitrogen and phosphorous were expected to be reduced greatly as black water was removed by the water recycling urinals and urine-diverting toilets. Concerning the cost, a reduction of 247 and 25 thousand dollars, respectively, in the Moriya and Minori service areas was estimated by reducing the amount of water use. These results of the estimation are valuable for considering the cost of treatment for the removed urine in this system.