Virro Launches Renew Waterless Toilets on a Mission to Reinvent Sanitation

Virro Launches Renew Waterless Toilets on a Mission to Reinvent Sanitation

Aug 31, 2026 · Findlay, Ohio

Virro announced the launch of Renew, an advanced waterless toilet series that defines a new “ReGen” category of composting toilets. Renew is now available for presale at VirroLife.com, with the first units scheduled to ship Nov 15, 2026.

Renew is the company's first step in a larger mission of reinventing the toilet into a resource recovery system instead of a waste disposal system.

Virro Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Bartchlett has a long history in the design and manufacturing of composting toilets.

Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer Gaelan Brown brings decades of experience in product development, sales & marketing, commercial composting technology and urine-based fertilizer research.

"Renew aims to define a new category of waterless ReGen toilets that offer a next level user experience and an attractive style," said Bartchlett. "While most people think of composting toilets as a potentially awkward option for RVs, vans, tiny houses, boats and cabins, our goal is that Renew offers such a great experience that people want it for all of those uses, and ultimately in their homes."

Virro’s mission is much bigger than just creating a better toilet. The company aims to transform sanitation broadly by integrating best available technologies and processes to empower people to actually convert their biowaste into fertilizer. And while regulatory issues currently impede mass adoption of composting toilets in typical US homes and businesses, Virro’s founders intend to change that by providing solutions that actually convert waste into value.

The company founders recently published their “Manifesto”, which lays out their long term mission.

"The topic of composting toilets is no longer just about RVs, boats and off-grid cabins, it’s about the economic and environmental foundations of our civilization,” said Brown. “I believe it’s time for ReGen toilets that actually solve the problem of human biowaste treatment, while conserving resources and saving people money.”

Designed for dignity and flexibility

Renew features a modern visual style and is available in white, gray or black, adding beauty & dignity to any restroom. Renew’s design keeps liquids and solids separate, which helps reduce odors and allows urine and solids to be managed and processed separately for potential resource recovery.

Every Renew model features a premium, full-size standard toilet seat. Choose Renew Manual for hand-crank agitation, Renew Electric for 12V-powered agitation, or Renew Flex for both agitation methods and both urine-handling options.

Renew’s design is engineered to control odors and provide flexible options for mobile or permanent installations.

The urine-diverting toilet bowl keeps liquids separated from the solids composting chamber, which in combination with other features eliminates the odors commonly associated with composting toilets.

Renew's urine-diverting trap-door covers the composting drum, enabling men to urinate while standing. Renew’s low-power requirements vary by function. Every model uses a continuous 12V DC aeration fan drawing approximately 0.02A, while Renew Electric and Renew Flex draw approximately 3A at 12V only while mixing. See the full Renew model comparison.

Inside, a real composting process uses active mixing and aeration for aerobic composting.

Urine can be diverted into existing drain plumbing, or stored in the optional internal tank that includes a full-sensor.

A low power aeration fan continually brings oxygen into the composting drum, with an active carbon filter on the exhaust.

Renew can be easily installed directly on an existing toilet drain flange, with urine diverted into the drain, unlike most other composting toilets. Users can also easily switch between urine-storage or direct-drain, or between electric and manual compost mixing, enabling ultimate flexibility.

"I am optimistic about our big picture goal of actually solving the sanitation waste issue, but it all boils down to creating a better user experience that saves people money and recovers value,” said Brown.

The science behind odor control and composting

Urine can be a major source of odor in composting toilets. As explained in The Science Behind Urine, urea can break down into ammonia during storage, creating the familiar sharp odor. Separating urine from solids helps control odor in the solids chamber and supports the aerobic process described in The Science Behind Composting. Stored urine still requires proper management.

Virro is testing various urine additives that stabilize the nitrogen while also preventing odors, including commercial scale and residential scale systems that convert urine into dry fertilizer.

"Urine deodorization and stabilization solutions are in development now, with several options for different applications," said Brown. "In the short term we will offer simple affordable plant-safe additives people can use to eliminate urine odors while stabilizing the fertilizer value. In the long term we’re planning solutions for whole-buildings and whole neighborhoods."

Virro is also developing solutions for public restrooms and temporary event & jobsite toilets.

To learn more, visit VirroLife.com or email support@virrolife.com.

About Virro & Its Founders

Virro is an Ohio-based company building the infrastructure for a world where waste is never wasted. Virro makes composting toilets for homes, RVs, boats, events, public restrooms and remote facilities. Its long-term mission includes developing systems and partnerships that can help properly processed outputs return to productive use.

Conventional sanitation systems were built to move waste away — into sewer networks, into treatment plants, ultimately sending most of the nutrients into watersheds. Conventional sanitation was never designed to recover what the waste contains: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, organic carbon. All of the nutrients we pull from the soil to grow food, we currently flush away, at great cost.

Virro is building the toilet system that starts a different value-chain. One where human waste becomes finished compost and concentrated fertilizer. One where the nutrients we eat return to what we grow. A closed loop, starting at the most ordinary fixture in the home, the toilet.

Virro Founder and CEO Kevin Bartchlett is the former Chief Operating Officer of OGO composting toilets. He has nearly a decade of experience designing and manufacturing innovative urine-diverting composting toilets, including multiple patents.

Kevin became an advanced software & hardware design engineer while still in high school as an intern and Project Manager at Medal Technologies LLC, and is the founder of Avo Aero, a flying car company.

Virro Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer Gaelan Brown has more than 15 years experience in the commercial compost technology industry and is the author of The Compost-Powered Water Heater book. He is on the Board of Directors of the US Composting Council and is also an advisor to The Compost Capital Network. Gaelan has been involved in the compost technology industry since 2009 when he founded the Compost Power Network.

Over the years Gaelan has worked for many leading compost technology companies, composting facilities and farms all over the world, including Agrilab Technologies, Green Mountain Technologies, Vermont Natural Ag Products, Sanergy, and Vermont Compost Company along with dozens of university projects. Prior to his work in the compost industry he was VP of Marketing at groSolar, Director of Marketing at 1% for the Planet, and Senior Marketing Manager at Keurig/Green Mountain Coffee.

To learn more about Virro visit VirroLife.com or email support@virrolife.com.