My office recently got waterless urinals. Now, I’m all for environmentally sound products and practices. But these things have not been perfected. First of all, you get that damn urine smell because there’s no flow of water to wash the porcelin. Also, anyone who spits in the urinal forces later guys to either act as “cleaning hoses” or otherwise deal with the gobby mess. Yuck. The other complaints are psychological. It feels sort of dirty to walk away from the urinal without flushing. Also, it’s impossible to give a “courtesy flush.” I throw a handful of water from the sink into it afterwards to clean it a little, but that’s hardly perfect, is it?
I saw how they work on the history channel but have forgotten the details. There’s a liquid in the urinal that is either denser or less dense than urine. (I forget which) this maintains the seal that keeps sewer air from coming out of the urinal but still lets the urine out.
But boy, does it save water.