In law, there is no designated authority responsible for providing sanitation facilities for boaters. Unfortunately, our community has experienced first-hand that the CRT cannot be trusted to support us in this way, with poorly maintained boater facilities falling into ongoing disrepair or disappearing entirely. Wanting to avoid the weekly chore of lugging a cassette up the towpath—only to find the elsan broken—or taking a long detour to a pump-out, many boaters have turned to separating (composting) on-board loos for both ecological and convenience reasons.

Circular Revolution was born in 2021 with the aim of providing boaters with a reliable and sustainable solution to manage their separating loo ‘waste’. C.R. believes that, with the right resources, we boaters want to care for our shared environment and that, with our knowledge of the community and the waterways, we are best placed to do so. The core C.R. service collects dry material from separating loos on boats across London on a monthly or fortnightly basis by e-cargo bike and processes the amassed material into soil conditioner—transforming ‘waste’ into a valuable resource.

C.R. became a Co-operative Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2023, meaning the business is owned and controlled by its members to meet their shared needs. Their aim is to showcase to the UK that a successful, grassroots alternative to the broken-by-design traditional sanitation industry is possible—and that we boaters can be at the forefront of leading this shift.

They are also working hard to make their service accessible to all who want to use it, including introducing sliding-scale drop-off points and running a volunteer scheme where people can contribute a small amount of their time in return for a monthly subscription.