A group of researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) have launched a new prototype for a waterless toilet, which uses mushroom root networks to decompose human waste into compost.

The MycoToilet, which opened for use on 26 September in the university’s Botanical Gardens, is the result of several years of development by lead researcher Joseph Dahmen and his team.

The facility was born from early designs that sought to provide refugee camps with functioning toilets where water is not readily accessible.