Founder

Founder Story

Why I Built WCTNZ®

I’m Dylan Timney, founder and Managing Director of WCTNZ®. I built this business because I could see that composting toilets, greywater systems, and alternative wastewater solutions were misunderstood, under-supported, and often badly explained.

WCTNZ® grew out of a simple idea: people do not just need a product. They need to understand the right system pathway for their site, their building, their users, and their long-term outcome.

Where my thinking started

Northland, water, and a practical way of looking at the world

My connection to this work started long before WCTNZ®. I grew up in Northland around rivers, waterfalls, bush, and people who knew how to solve practical problems. Being around that landscape gave me a real connection to water, land, and the way human systems interact with the environment.

I also grew up around engineering thinking. That shaped the way I look at problems. I have always been interested in how things are designed, how they work in practice, and how a better system can make life easier for people.

That combination — nature on one side and practical problem-solving on the other — is a big part of how I ended up where I am now.

I have always been more interested in the whole system than the product on its own.

Before WCTNZ®

Water, buildings, hygiene, and practical systems

Before WCTNZ®, I worked in environmental water treatment, manufacturing and helping implement livestock water quality technology. That gave me a practical understanding of water systems, field conditions, and how technology has to perform once it leaves the workshop.

I later moved into building, with a focus on bathrooms and sanitary spaces. That gave me a strong appreciation for hygiene, usability, construction details, and the reality that proper sanitation is not a luxury. It is a basic need.

During that period, I also spent time around permaculture thinking. That gave me another layer of understanding around resource cycles, soil, water, waste, and the idea that good systems should work with nature rather than against it.

Finding dry toilet technology

When I found this technology, I could see the potential

When I came across dry toilet and composting toilet technology, I found it genuinely exciting. I could see that it had far more potential than most people realised. It was not just about replacing a flush toilet. It was about rethinking water use, sanitation, infrastructure, off-grid living, and how we treat organic matter.

But I could also see the problem. Composting toilets were often misunderstood. Some people thought of them as old-fashioned, smelly, or only suitable for remote huts. Others were interested, but did not know which system to choose or how to make sense of the installation and maintenance requirements.

That gap between the technology’s potential and the public’s understanding of it became one of the main reasons I built WCTNZ®.

I did not want dry toilet technology to stay stuck in people’s old assumptions. I wanted to bring it into a more modern, practical, and professionally supported space.

What I saw in the industry

There was a gap between interest and understanding

I could see that more people were interested in composting toilets, waterless systems, greywater, and off-grid living, but many did not know where to start. Some were overwhelmed by product choices. Some were trying to solve a consent or site problem. Some had been told composting toilets were strange, difficult, or second-best.

I also saw that poor system matching could create real problems. The wrong product in the wrong project can lead to odour, moisture, capacity, maintenance, support, and installation issues. Often, the problem is not that the technology is bad. The problem is that the system was not properly matched to the site and the people using it.

That is why WCTNZ® puts so much focus on education, specification, and practical support. I want customers to feel confident that they understand the pathway they are choosing, not just the product they are buying.

What I am into

Systems, ideas, and practical technology

I am drawn to technology that solves real problems. In the WCTNZ® world, that means composting toilets, greywater systems, toilet buildings, off-grid sanitation, product design, public infrastructure, and smarter ways to manage wastewater without defaulting to old assumptions.

Better sanitation design

I am interested in systems that reduce unnecessary water use, support better source separation, and make more sense for sites where conventional wastewater is expensive, difficult, or poorly suited.

Real-world product thinking

I look closely at how products actually work once they leave the catalogue: how they install, how they are used, how they are maintained, and how customers are supported.

Problem solving

I like working through the hard practical questions: access, ventilation, capacity, user behaviour, greywater, consent pathways, long-term operation, and what needs to change when a project does not fit the standard answer.

Why I built WCTNZ®

This was never just about selling toilets

I did not build WCTNZ® because I thought New Zealand needed another online toilet store. I built it because I could see a gap in understanding. People were interested in composting toilets and alternative wastewater systems, but they often did not know where to start, what questions to ask, or how to tell the difference between a product that looked suitable and a system that would actually work for their site.

Composting toilets have often been misunderstood. I have spent years working to change that perception by focusing on better products, better advice, better support, and better system matching.

The same thinking now extends into greywater, pump stations, toilet buildings, and wider wastewater packages. The goal is to help customers move from uncertainty to a system pathway that actually suits their site and use.

My goal is for WCTNZ® to be the place New Zealanders go when they need serious, practical advice on composting toilets, greywater systems, and alternative wastewater pathways.

Experience and authority

Experience built through real projects

My experience has been built through the practical work of WCTNZ®: customer conversations, system selection, product comparison, support issues, installation questions, off-grid projects, public-use facilities, tiny homes, baches, rural properties, and commercial enquiries.

Through WCTNZ®, I have been involved in a wide range of project discussions and applications, including work with councils, public-sector contexts, iwi-led environmental goals, community projects, and wider alternative wastewater conversations. Every one of those experiences has helped shape the way I think about systems.

Composting toilet system selection and project matching
Greywater and alternative wastewater pathway thinking
Off-grid, rural, tiny house, bach, public-use and commercial applications
Customer support, troubleshooting, parts, consumables and long-term operation
Product improvement thinking and future system package development

Since 2007

Built WCTNZ®

Focus Systems

Driven by Ideas

The WCTNZ® culture

The company reflects the way I think

WCTNZ® is a founder-led business, and the culture of the company reflects the way I think about problems. We try to be practical, direct, knowledgeable, and honest about what a system can and cannot do.

I want WCTNZ® to be more than a checkout cart. I want it to be a specialist wastewater business that helps customers make better decisions, avoid poor system choices, and understand how their system should be installed, used, and supported over time.

That is why we keep building knowledge pages, guides, support systems, product pathways, and better ways to help customers choose. The work is never really finished. There is always a better way to explain something, package something, or support someone.

Where I am taking WCTNZ® next

Building a stronger alternative wastewater platform

The next stage for WCTNZ® is about building stronger system packages, better greywater pathways, clearer support structures, smarter customer tools, and better project guidance for residential, commercial, public, and off-grid wastewater solutions.

I see WCTNZ® as part of a wider shift. New Zealand needs more practical options for waterless sanitation, greywater reuse and discharge pathways, public toilet buildings, pump stations, and alternative wastewater systems that are properly supported and understood.

That is the direction I am pushing the company toward: more knowledge, better packages, stronger systems, and a more serious place for alternative wastewater technology in New Zealand.

Connect

Trust, transparency, and real people

A big part of WCTNZ® is that real people sit behind the business. Customers are often making decisions about projects that matter: homes, baches, tiny houses, public facilities, commercial sites, rural properties, and off-grid builds.

I want customers to understand the person behind the company direction, the thinking behind the product range, and the practical approach that shapes WCTNZ®.

Find me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dylan-timney

Need help choosing the right system?

My team and I can help you think through your project and identify a more suitable composting toilet, greywater system, pump station, toilet building, or package pathway.

Use Help Me Choose » Contact WCTNZ® » About WCTNZ® »