Turd-eating worms clear air around Canadian toilets

CANADA: Anyone relying on their nose to guide them to a toilet at Quebec's La Providence golf course won't find one -- that's because its outhouse is odorless.

Beneath a tidy wooden latrine on the grounds is an army of earthworms that churn decaying organic materials into compost.

The worm-powered design is a first of its kind in North America, according to Ecosphere Technologies international sales representative Frederic Neau. It was developed near Nyons, France.

A half-kilogram (1.1 pounds) of Eisenia fetida or red wiggler worms native to Europe imported from France and raised locally by Helene Beaumont are placed between layers of dung and straw in an underground space beneath the toilet. "A worm eats almost its own weight in food each day," she told AFP during a demonstration at the golf course in Saint-Hyacinthe east of Montreal. "And the more poop there is to eat, the more they reproduce." The washroom uses neither water nor electricity, and can be used 10,000 times before needing maintenance. AFP