Composting Toilets vs. Traditional Systems: Real-World Pros, Cons, and Legalities

[jbeech]

Thanks for sharing the results of your research. And especially the tip regarding wood pellets. Good example of lateral thinking in my opinion.

Only reason I'm sticking with kitty litter is twofold. One is, it's ready available through Amazon. I went for cheap but varieties exist compounded to mask odors (Arm & Hammer brand, but others add baking soda, also). Second reason, however, and entirely because of a bum shoulder, that there's a lightweight variety. This makes it much easier for me to handle.

This is what I bought. Worked well. Of course, if your plan is to compost, then wood pellets, shavings, or sawdust is the way.

Nice thing is some of these is they're available for free from any cabinet shop. This, because it's a waste byproduct of their work, which they sweep up (sawdust) and throw away.

Bottom line? We don't have to deal with blackwater. From my perspective, only using the rig for a few days a month during the summer months when I attend model airplane events, this works perfectly. And beats the heck out of dealing with a blackwater containment tank, the drain and fill hoses, plus paying to dispose the contents (often waiting in line for the privilege). Not when I can toss the bag along with other household waste, or if I'm into gardening and composting, make my own!

Finally, as to making your own enclosure, it's my plan as well. Thus far, to proof the concept, I bought a toilet seat off Amazon that snaps onto a 5-gallon bucket. Lined it with a garbage bag, added kitty litter and placed it in my model airplane workshop.

Few days later, when the urge to move came over me, then instead of hustling to the house, I took a dump right there. Then I poured a bit of kitty litter on top of the steaming pile and left it in the shop. No odor. Like none!

Anyway, the plan is to make a Jenkins box (designer of the Loveable Loo) out of plywood. not rocket science. And if motivation lags (to sketch my own design, cut wood and put it together, along with stain and polyurethane to finish it off), then I'll pay the piper (buy theirs). This, because they've done all the hard work 'and' offer it for a fair price.

To learn more about rolling your own, this how-to article shares plenty of photos. Only change I'd make it to theirs is extend the box slightly to accommodate an elongated toilet seat.

Let us know what you end up doing!
--
John

 

[Mr. Beefy]

This is not related to anyone's comments above. But I always cringe when I see folks on YouTube referring to their 5-gallon buckets as 'composting toilets'. That's not the way it works. Maintaining aerobic conditions that naturally produce a dominant population of aerobic bacteria/fungi within the 'heap' is the key to preventing noxious odors. The fan on a commercially-produced composting toilet doesn't just exhaust stink outside the vehicle... it also keeps a stready stream of o2 flowing for this purpose. The 'mixer' is necessary because air on the surface isn't enough, but rather needs to be mixed in on regular intervals to prevent anaerobic pockets from forming which will naturally result as decomposition progresses, and to replinish the o2 used by the microbes during decomposition. The peat moss or other 'brown' (aka non-nitrogenous) portion you add is also responsible for maintaining aerobic (non-sodden) conditions, as well as an acceptable C/N ratio.

It's entirely possible to build your own composting toilet as good as or better than commercially-available varieties, but doing so requires some knowledge of composting in general. Just keeping pee & poo separate isn't enough.

 

[jbeech]

Composting toilet as in, leave the contents within the toilet container long term to do its thing? Hmmm, I thought what everybody did was dump the contents on a compost pile and turn it over on occasion. Except me, who grows nothing and simply puts the bag into the bin going to the street for pickup along with the other household refuse. And FWIW, I went to three events last year so that was three bags with litter and poop (a separate funnel into a 2L bottle for urine, which goes down the toilet upon return home to flow into the septic tank). So strictly for my poo a few times a year.

Meanwhile, I've read about a Loveable Loo used as an adjunct toilet for a home office. I have these thoughts because my workshop has an upstairs area, which I converted to that very purpose. Anyway, the lack of a septic tank and drain field for that structure stayed my hand at adding more than a sink and washing facilities for my hands, which I drain into a french drain I dug for a 55-gallon drum will with crushed rock using a backhoe to back fill around the drum about 2 feet around. So the 5-gallon bucket isn't for composting at all. Merely to serve the exact same function as for a household cat . . . and no composting whatsoever!

But no bodily waste other than a small amount grime on my hands and soap goes into this. Note; I'm only talking about washing my hands maybe once a month in that sink over the past 20 years. Mostly I wash up at the house.

FYI, I thought to have a sink with running water mostly on the off chance I got something in my eyes. An ad hoc flushing station.

 

[chumcity]

I'm building my own toil;et also, its too easy, why give someone else my money to make something so easy, makes no sense to me.

Agreed. Composting toilets are so easy to make and all popular brands that make them are sooo expensive?!

 

[Mr. Beefy]

Composting toilet as in, leave the contents within the toilet container long term to do its thing? Hmmm, I thought what everybody did was dump the contents on a compost pile and turn it over on occasion. Except me, who grows nothing and simply puts the bag into the bin going to the street for pickup along with the other household refuse.

No, they're only 'composting' in terms of promoting aerobic decomposition, a byproduct of which is (much) reduced odor. They're not capable of creating finished compost in anything resembling a reasonable timeline. Even if you never used it as a toilet and fed it nothing but dry leaves and grass clippings, there's not enough volume to support the mass of material necessary to reach proper hot-composting temperatures, nor a means of turning the pile so that all the material sees those temperatures for a time period necessary to kill off unwanted forms of life.

You also wouldn't want to mix the contents of your composting toilet into a conventional compost pile. Conventional composting just isn't rigorous enough of a process to guarantee every bit of the material involved gets to and stays at X-temperature, for Y-time, at Z-moisture content, which is necessary to kill off pathogens.

Composting feces, fully & completely, including for use on vegetables used for human consumption, certainly is possible. But not many people are in a position to do so, and even those that are often can't do so legally. For 99% of the composting-toilet-using population, 'composting' is merely a means of keeping it from smelling long enough to dispose of it appropriately.

 

[s2mikon]

In a bus they are just human litter boxes.

 

[jbeech]

I'm one of the least experienced campers here. And in fact, I'm not really big on camping. Parents dragged me camping as a kid. I've spent more of my life in the deserts of California, and on innumerable bass-fishing trips in an around the southeast, to satisfy any conceivable itch to convene with mother nature for as long as I have left on this mortal coil.

This, because at heart, I'm a civilized sort. But I do like to fly remote control model airplanes. And going to the races isn't unheard of. But going to a few events with a few toys means a hotel won't cut it.

Since I'm not a pickup truck kind of guy, it means I don't have a propulsion source for a travel trailer. And forking over $100-500k for a motor home seems like a stupid use of capital. I'm the same as everybody else, it would see very little use (whilst depreciating at an unbelieveable rate). This, whilst at the same time being harder to get fixed because the roadways belong to class 8 rigs from the likes of Volvo, Freightliner, and Kenworth. Nope, motor homes aren't for me, either.

Moreover, whilst bus conversions are interesting, and while I'm hanging with skoolie folks, by the time I learned of their existence I had pulled the trigger on something else. I opted, instead, on a used class-8 expediter as best for me.

If you're unfamiliar with the terms, expediters are those strange looking rigs, which have a sleeper cab but have had the wheelbase stretched (approximating a bus). This, for the purpose of grafting on a 24' box (like local delivery uses). Mine even has a Tommy lift, which I use to tote a small Harley in order to have local wheels.

Anyway, I'll never be a full timer, so my camping expeditions are strictly short duration, only. Talking day, maybe two, a week at most. So to me, my rig is really more about being a glorifed pup tent, plus mobile workshop in which I can tote model airplanes and work on them, e.g. charge, minor repairs, etc. Put another way, I'm not about seeing the glorious USA by road whilst being away from my creature comforts. That's what airplanes are for.

Point being, for my use, one of these dry toilets, a human litter box (as s2mikon terms it), is perfect.

 

[Rock-N-Ruth]

I've been wondering about weather it would be a better idea to get a composting toilet over a regular system, My bus is supposed to be as simple as possible, so if that means I can avoid mounting another tank, then I'd be happy! But I don't know much about these kind of toilets, and I don't know if I should use it in a wet bath situation.

I will be mounting a grey tank, but that's because my sink and shower will use it, but my bus does not have a practical space for a black tank. I was going to use one of those shower pans with a built in tank, but I'm wondering how good a composting toilet is, maybe an alternative.

Any help or experience is appreciated!

PS: expect more questions from me, because I've completely ditched AI.. Just couldn't trust it anymore..

We have been living in a school bus since 2018. We started with the bucket method, trying different mediums over the years. We finally settled on wood pellets. With just a little experience, we have found a method that does not require a urine diverter, and produces a dry waste that doesn't stink. On our own land we have a compost heap that completes the composting process. When traveling, we line the bucket with a kitchen bag, that can be tossed in the trash. You can get wood pellets at tractor supply for about eight bucks per fifty pounds. We use about a bag a month for two people.

 

[Bjorkinman]

Not trying to speak for Nikitis, but I'm pretty sure he meant he'd drain it ahead of travelling. I hope.

I know you joined recently, but were you a lurker here when 'Lone Star' was a thing, Bjorkinman? 'Professional' (I'm air-quoting here so hard my fingers ache) bus builders out of TX?

I still LOL (literally) every time I think of one of their videos where they were selling a feature on their busses that allowed you to open the grey tank valve remotely from the cabin. They described it as being able to 'drain to the city'. LOL... yep, still funny. Them going out of business was the worst thing that ever happened to YouTube.

No I never heard of them but they sound like a builder for the masses. I do have the solenoid valves on my gray tank and they work fantastic

 

[Mr. Beefy]

No I never heard of them but they sound like a builder for the masses. I do have the solenoid valves on my gray tank and they work fantastic

Masses of really PO'd customers, lol. You should search the term here. The Lone Star Skoolie threads were epic entertainment.

@jbeech, Not much difference between 'composting' and what you're doing, particularly with the litter you chose. Sounds like a great idea to me.