ISO 30500:2025

This document specifies general safety and performance requirements for design and testing as well as limited sustainability considerations such as recovery of nutrients, water consumption and reuse, energy consumption and recovery, and a life cycle assessment for non-sewered sanitation systems (NSSS).

This document is applicable to NSSS that are either manufactured as one package, or manufactured as a set of prefabricated components designed to be assembled in one location without further fabrication or modification that influences the NSSS function.

An NSSS, for the purposes of this document, is a prefabricated integrated treatment unit, comprising frontend (toilet facility) and backend (treatment facility) components that:

• collects, conveys and fully treats the specific input within the NSSS, to allow for safe reuse or disposal of the generated solid and liquid outputs, and the safe emission of air, noise and odour outputs;
• is designed to operate without being connected to a networked sewer or networked drainage systems.

This document also covers NSSS backend components that are designed to be integrated with one or more specified frontends.

This document is primarily intended for NSSS that are designed to operate without being connected to water and electricity networks. However, it may also be applied to systems that utilize supplies of either water or electricity, or both.

This document defines the basic treatable input as primarily human excreta and gives options for extending the range of input substances. Requirements for the protection of human health and the environment are provided by the specified quality of the outputs, and recirculated water, if any.

This document provides criteria for the safety, functionality, usability, reliability and maintainability of the system, as well as its compatibility with environmental protection goals.

This document does not cover the following aspects:

• guidelines for selection, installation, operation and maintenance, and management of NSSS;
• requirements for the amount or type of energy or resources to recover;
• transportation of treated output outside of the NSSS (e.g. manual transport, transportation by truck or trunk pipes) for further processing, reuse, or disposal;
• treatment processes taking place at another location separate from that of the frontend and backend components;
• external reuse and disposal of NSSS output;
• the plane or surface (e.g. flooring, concrete pad) upon which a fully assembled NSSS is situated;
• NSSS constructed in situ without prefabricated parts.