Clivus Multrum

Clivus Multrum is a type of

composting toilet A composting toilet is a type of dry toilet that treats human waste by a biological process called composting. This process leads to the decomposition of organic matter and turns human waste into compost-like material. Composting is carried out ...

and the name of a company that markets this brand name of composting toilets. " Clivus" is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

for incline or slope; "multrum" is a Swedish composite word meaning "compost room", thus a "Clivus Multrum" is an inclined compost room. The first prototype was built in 1939 in Tyresö, Sweden, by art

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

Rikard Lindström, who owned a property on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

in Stockholm, Sweden. Lindström built a single-chamber concrete tank, with sloped bottom and

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are t ...

, for disposal of kitchen and toilet waste. It functioned for several decades and was eventually patented in 1962. In 1964, the first commercial model was constructed out of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand