Worms at Work in Lebanon: Vermicomposting Toilets for Displacement Settings
- Lily Hallam
- Apr 29
- 5 min read
Since 2023, Lebanon’s Masnaa border crossing in the Bekaa Valley has seen a growing influx of Syrian refugees. At the same time, the region faces a major environmental crisis: the Litani River, one of Lebanon’s largest water sources, is heavily polluted - much of it due to untreated sewage. Because Lebanese policy prohibits formal refugee camps, informal settlements have emerged without adequate sanitation infrastructure.
Sanitation Challenges in Informal Camps
In these tented camps, families often live in overcrowded shelters. These structures typically fail to meet basic safety or sanitation standards. With an average of 9 people per tent, sharing toilets means there are privacy problems, overcrowding, and challenges with accessing toilets in the winter. Additionally, the toilets are makeshift and built haphazardly, using easily available cheap resources that do not consider safety and proper sanitation requirements.
However, the biggest problem is not structural, but lies in waste disposal. Some toilets drain into underground barrels that require manual removal of human waste, while others use small containers that are frequently emptied by truck. These systems regularly overflow, especially in winter, when rain causes waste to resurface and flood the camp. The result: foul smells, unsafe conditions, and contamination of groundwater.
A Regenerative Sanitation Pilot
To address the urgent issue of waste leaking into groundwater and contaminating water sources in the region, Farms Not Arms (Turba-Farm), supported by Re-Alliance, launched a vermicomposting project at Turba Farm in Zahle, Bekaa, next to a tented informal camp housing 120 Syrian refugees. This initiative involved using local materials to build three vermicomposting toilets - alternative latrines that filter urine and use worms to convert faecal matter into compost, improving sanitation while restoring soil health. Designed as a pilot project, the toilets built provided an insight on the functionality of the design and the positive impacts vermicompost toilets can have on reducing contamination and flooding camp wide.
How Vermicomposting Toilets Work
Vermicomposting uses earthworms to compost organic waste matter. Each toilet consists of three components: a seat, an insulated worm tank, and a soakaway or “green filter bed.” The toilet designed by Farms Not Arms is built above the worm tank so that human waste is easily transferred from the toilet to the tank, where the worms are located. The worm tank consists of different layers – gravel, covered by a nylon mesh, a mix of dry organic materials (such as wood shavings, straw, and dead leaves), and a mixture of compost, manure, and kitchen scraps. This is the perfect environment for the worms to thrive, multiply and decompose the faecal matter. Additionally, the tank is insulated with a wooden sheet to protect the worms from extreme temperatures. There is a perforated drainage pipe inside the tank, wrapped with a nylon mesh, stopping any worms or organic material from seeping through to the soakaway area.
The vermicompost filters the urine, removing 90% of the pollutants, and through the drainage pipe is further filtered by the green filter bed, ensuring that no human waste pollutes the groundwater. The solid waste turns into compost that can be used on farms and sold. Maintaining the toilets is done by those using the toilets. After its build, the only costs are from the wood chips that need refilling every 2 months, making these toilets ideal for refugee camps where resources are scarce.
Community Engagement and Local Adaptation
The project showcases a collaborative process between the Farms Not Arms team and the camp residents, who were enthusiastic about the toilets after the workshops. The enthusiasm remained after the build as the new toilets eliminated the foul smells, provided sanitation to a tent previously lacking a toilet, and reduced the need to empty their former septic tank. The team also spotted early indications that suggested health improvements among those using the vermicomposting toilet rather than their old methods.
Farms Not Arms saw that involving the toilet recipients in the build fostered community ownership of the project, and local expertise led to an adjustment in the toilet design. Replacing wood with concrete and metal sheets to build the structure reflected the needs on the ground and incorporated durable and cost-effective materials.
As always when implementing a regenerative initiative, adaptation to the local context is crucial. This project faced some challenges due to the local context, such as cold temperatures slowing the worm reproduction and, consequently, the initial use of the toilets. Fortunately, since the use of the toilets, there have been no other functional difficulties. The limited space in the camp also restricted the placement of the toilets near existing structures. Therefore, the toilets were placed in tents without existing bathrooms or enough space to build a new toilet next to the existing ones.
It is worth noting that vermicomposting toilets require height to elevate the toilet adequately above the tank to avoid problems with the drainage system and space for the green filter bed suitable for daily use. Some users expressed concerns about the stairs to access the toilet, particularly for elderly individuals, however, as the land in this camp is flat and the tank must be above ground, this is an issue which could be mitigated in areas with different terrain.
Another factor to consider is that vermicomposting toilets use water; therefore, if water is scarce, you may want to consider choosing dry toilets rather than vermicomposting toilets.
Unfortunately, due to the area’s current instability, this case study does not include up-to-date testimonies about the current state or community’s experience of the vermicomposting toilets.
Part of a Broader Regenerative Approach
This pilot, in partnership with Farms Not Arms, is one of 16 projects implemented as part of Re-Alliance’s Regenerative Camps and Settlements Guidelines research. Re-Alliance supports grassroots-led, regenerative solutions in disaster, displacement, and conflict settings through gathering evidence, sharing capacity, and creating accessible resources to influence systemic change across the humanitarian sector.
Learnings from the Zahle project and other pilots supported by Re-Alliance are informing a growing suite of illustrated guides and multimedia tools designed to support communities and practitioners worldwide in adopting regenerative sanitation approaches.
Learn More and Take Action
Interested in building similar toilets in your context, or learning from others who have?
Explore our free guides, join a Re-Alliance event, or connect with our peer-learning network to join the movement for community-led, regenerative response.
This case study was compiled by Lily Hallam, a recent Global Studies graduate from Maastricht University and a current volunteer at Re-Alliance. She is passionate about progressive policy and inclusive social development. Her main areas of interest are exploring the structural roots of systemic injustices, particularly at the intersections of conflict, institutions, and development challenges.
