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How do the toilets work on an airplane?
Airplane toilets use a vacuum between the toilet bowl and the waste container. A vacuum is an area with very little matter in it. When somebody flushes an airplane toilet, a valve between the toilet bowl and the airplane’s waste container opens. The contents of the toilet bowl are under higher pressure and the vacuum next to it is at a lower pressure. This pressure difference pushes whatever was in the bowl into the waste container. Therefore, whatever goes into an airplane toilet is pushed into the airplane’s waste container by air. Airplane toilets use less water than regular toilets because air, rather than water, moves the waste. Also, airplane toilets do not need a pipe that goes downward since the toilet does not need gravity to work. So, the waste from an airplane toilet may be pushed up a pipe into the waste container.
