Composting
Indoors
Family
Tiny House
Urine-diverting
Year-around
Luxurious
Cabins
RVs
Large capacity
Cold climate
Small capacity
Gardens
Glamping
Outhouses
Batch toilets
Golf courses
Boats
Sale
Beaches
No Electricity
White
Public use
Continuous
AccessoriesWaterless Toilet Shop
Our Story
One man show
The story of Waterless Toilet Shop began in the early 1990s in South-West Finland when a man named Jukka Lindroos was seeking a new direction for his career. At that time, Finland was enduring the greatest economic recession in its history following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Jukka had worked in the field of gardening, accumulating extensive experience in composting and biology. Known for his innovative spirit, sociability, and commitment to an ecological lifestyle, Jukka was a well-known figure in his community.
In 1992, Jukka took a risk and established his first company, Pikkuvihreä, which translates to “Little Green” in Finnish, in Turku, South-West Finland. Initially, Jukka’s business plan centered around selling common gardening products such as composters, tree cutters, lawn trimmers, and related supplies to the local residents. He opened the first Pikkuvihreä brick-and-mortar store in Turku just before the summer of 1992.
Jukka’s new venture took off successfully. Notably, one of his best-selling products was a composting toilet that he had ingeniously developed from a garbage bin. He named this product the Green Toilet 330, after its 330-liter capacity. The Green Toilet quickly became beloved by hundreds of satisfied customers who used it in their summer cottages throughout the South-West Finland archipelago.
A career devoted for dry toilets
Inspired by the success of the Green Toilet, Jukka began to shift his focus specifically to composting toilets. He quickly became a spokesperson in a niche that had long been overlooked as underrated and unglamorous. Jukka was frequently present in local media and sometimes even in the national media across Finland, advocating for composting toilets and an ecological lifestyle. Known for his great sense of humor and the ability to blend deep expertise with unabashed pragmatism, Jukka appealed to many. He was often photographed sitting, pants down, in an outhouse, showcasing composting toilets—a humorous yet earnest promotion that made people smile. Jukka was always fun, but he was never a joke.
By the millennium, Jukka had established himself as the foremost expert on composting toilets in Finland, which launched his presence onto the world stage. He traveled extensively through Europe, Asia, and even South America to meet with others interested in waterless toilets. Not only did Jukka establish the world’s first waterless toilet association, Huussi Ry, in Finland, but he also coined the term “Dry Toilet,” which he added to his company’s name, making it Pikkuvihreä DT-Center. Jukka’s achievements were particularly remarkable given the time period—before the internet and today’s advanced telecommunication capabilities.
Resilience in the face of tragedy
After years of touring the world, winning multiple environmental awards, and enjoying many successful business years, Jukka was nearing retirement age when tragedy struck. Jukka and his wife, Leena, faced unimaginable sorrow when their only son, who was poised to take over the company’s leadership, died in a car accident at the age of 30. The loss was devastating.
For years, Jukka and Leena were virtually incapacitated by their grief. For Pikkuvihreä, this meant a period of subdued activity and very low sales. Jukka nearly decided to shut down the entire company.
Five years after the tragedy, Jukka finally began to recover. Despite the tough times, he rediscovered his passion for composting toilets. Together, Jukka and his wife fought hard to revive the company and return it to profitability. However, the challenge was compounded by the fact that the world had changed significantly by 2015, largely due to the internet. Moreover, Jukka and Leena were approaching their 70s, well past the typical retirement age.
A new home was found
In 2017, Jukka and his wife were exploring options to find a new owner for their company, Pikkuvihreä, when they attended a business expedition designed for ownership transfers. It was there that they met Minna and Ari Palo. Consequently, Pikkuvihreä found a new home with the Palo family after Minna and Ari purchased the business and brought on their sons, Eemeli and Väinö, to help run it.
Under the new management, Pikkuvihreä was swiftly modernized with a strategic approach that emphasized an online presence and digitalization—areas that Jukka had not fully explored. Despite the major strategic changes, it was clear that the new management inherited a tremendous amount of knowledge about composting toilets and excellent products from Jukka, to which he had devoted most of his career.
Great new innovative products are introduced
Following in Jukka’s footsteps, the Palo family continued to innovate in the field of composting toilets. The Green Toilet 120 Family, a smaller, next-generation model, was one of the last developments Jukka had been able to make before passing the company to the Palos. This model was succeeded by the Green Toilet 100 Easy, a new self-contained composting toilet, and the Green Toilet Light, which features urine diversion.
Additionally, the Palo family developed several smaller, yet significant accessories, such as a waterless urinal for men and a dry toilet filter for composting toilets.
However, the most significant breakthrough occurred when the Palos tested a Green Toilet composting system combined with a porcelain-made dry toilet pedestal for indoor use. The result was a groundbreaking new type of composting toilet that revolutionized indoor-use composting toilets, setting new industry standards.
A Strong Finnish-Australian Alliance is Established
The strategic shift by the Palo family to enhance Pikkuvihreä’s online presence quickly bore fruit, with the company receiving numerous global inquiries. Among them was a notable one from Green Loo in Australia. Roland Schroeder, a new business owner, expressed keen interest in distributing the Green Toilet composting toilet. Initially, a pallet of Green Toilets was shipped to Australia, soon followed by increasingly larger shipments, each surpassing the last in volume.
The success of Green Toilet in Australia was so significant that Pikkuvihreä and Green Loo jointly established a manufacturing company there to shorten the supply line and produce locally.
As the Finnish-Australian partnership flourished, discussions began about the U.S. market, where commercial waterless toilets were notably scarce. The partners resolved to address this gap, seeing a significant opportunity for expansion.
Waterless Toilet Shop opens to Nevada, USA
After months of meticulous planning and hard work, Spring 2024 marks a significant milestone as Waterless Toilet Shop welcomes North American customers. Today, the company is steered by Eemeli Palo, Pikkuvihreä’s former dry toilet expert and son of Minna and Ari Palo. Eemeli has relocated his family from Finland to Henderson, Nevada, reinforcing Waterless Toilet Shop’s commitment as a true family-run business.
The next chapters of Waterless Toilet Shop’s story are still unwritten and far from over.
Thank you for being a part of our story and making it your own.