Compost Toilets

[Vidya Moksha]

Ive started this new thread with the intention of fleshing it out when I get chance, and hope others contribute too. I have been promoting these toilets for more than 20 years, I am an aquatic biologist and much of my work has centred around the shocking environmental damage when you take things essential to life (water and manure), mix them together to form a poison then release it into the aquatic environment. :(

Compost toilets are good for pollution control, are cheap to run (once built) and dont need water. They are not good at providing compost, the amount produced is just too small to be factored in to a garden's requirements.

I will try to detail 3 types of toilet:
1. A simple bucket - no space great for planting fruit trees etc
2. A toilet that separates manure and urine
3. Separate toilets and urinals.


I will also try and talk about urine and its uses, which are many!

[MargueriteBee]

Thanks for this thread Vidya, I'm looking forward to it.

[Vidya Moksha]

#1. The EASY way :)

I like this method so much it took me almost 3 years to build my compost toilet. In the end I wanted a shower and separate urinal, so I built a bathroom incorporating all my ideas. I also wanted to play with mosaics, so it became more of an art project than a toilet construction.
Anyway...
1. Take a large bucket, as big as you can easily carry when it is full of soil. One with a lid is better, but this can easily be fashioned, or weight a piece of wood with a rock.
2. Take a nice plank of wood, cut a circular hole in to suit as a toilet seat, we are all different shapes and sizes, whichever fits you best, or copy a toilet seat. Support this plank of wood over your bucket, using bricks, or rocks, or a wooden frame.
3. Use the toilet as you would a 'flush' toilet, manure and urine together. After use add wood ash, to remove smell and add potassium. Sawdust is a poor substitute of wood ash.
4. Dig a hole where you want to plant your next tree, fruit trees like human compost. I dug my hole 1m deep.
5. Empty the bucket, when full, into the hole, and adda sprinkling of soil. Repeat until the hole is 50-60% full. Then add 20cm soil, then plant your tree.
6. Repeat as above as long as you have a tree planting list

You can put the bucket inside a wooden structure, especially if you will use it inside the house (there is NO smell if you wood ash).. something along these lines:
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp357/lerrocco/toilet1.jpg

or you can put a lid over the whole thing, to hide the toilet seat. Make sure the toilet seat is tight fitting, to prevent flies getiting in, you dont have this problem with a lidded bucket.

In the woods, you just need a lid on the bucket and the plank with a hole in it.

[Vidya Moksha]

#2. To sit or to squat?
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp357/lerrocco/toilet4.jpg

Sitting on toilets was one of the worse ideas we ever had in our evolutionary 'progress'. Sitting does not fully evacuate the bowels like squatting does. You can install a grab bar to make getting up and down from a squtting position easier, or offer the choice like the picture below, try and get into the habit of squatting. If I had a choice I would sqaut every time.

[Vidya Moksha]

#3. Basic design.

I dont have any photos of my toilets, I didnt own a digital camera until recently.. So i will try and describe the build concepts, they are very simple:
1.The basic design is around a cube box, the holding tank for the manure. 1m x 1m x 1m is a good working size.
2. This cube can be made of any material, but rendered with concrete is best. I made all mine with bricks or concrete blocks.
3. This cube should sit on a reinforced concrete slab ideally. Although this is not essential it prevents cracking and seepage, and therefore preventing any local contamination.
4. The cube should be off the ground, so there is easy access to empty it (there are variations to this of course)
5. The cube should have a door on the front- - ideally a solar collector to aid composting.
6. The cube should have a hole cut into the top to allow for the siting of the toilet.
7. Easiest is to build 2 of these cubes side by side, one is used until it is full, then switch over to the other side.
8. The cubes should be vented (if 2 cubes then a common vent, where they connect) is a good idea. The vent should have fine wire mesh on the end to prevent flies getting in, and a cowel over that to prevent water getting in.
9. One cube should be used, while the other is sealed. Once full then seal it and use the other. When cube #2 is full then cube #1 will contain perfect compost, which has no hazard, it will be fresh smelling soil.
10. After each use add wood ash. Every month add twigs to allow better aerobic mix and better composting.
11. Avoid putting liquids or urine into the toilet.
12. The door should be openable to push down the mound periodically, and i used to silicone mine up after to prevent flies getting in.
13. use of toilet paper is beneficial as it will compost also.
14. twigs, paper and other dry material can be added, but i wouldnt advise putting kitchen wastes in as they invariably contain fly larvae.....

15. drainage.. i bury a plastic pipe in the base to act as an emergency drain. covered with fine wire, then stones then sawdust this drain should never operate during normal use, but is an emergency drain. Anything coming out of the drain will be contaminated water. The drain can feed into a comfrey bed, comfrey can take anything you throw at it and can be chopped later for mulch or to add to the compost heap.

http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp357/lerrocco/toilet3.jpg

the above is a good idea of the general plan, twin chamber with bathroom above. My acces holes would be maybe bigger than these.

The solar collectors can double up as the doors also.

..more to follow....

[Vidya Moksha]

#4 separating urine.

Despite obvious anatomical differences both men and women pee to the front and defecate to the rear. This is useful where toilet design is concerened. In post #4 , on the squat toilet, you can see a separate urine collector which would work for both genders. Also if you make a conventional toilet box shaped you can add a gutter to the front of the box, and this will also collect urine. In both of these sytems the urine would be directly fed to a garden near by. The growth in the urine fed garden would be terrific.
Urine burns plants and roots in high concentrations, so always follow the urine with 4 times as much fresh water.

My design of choice is a completely separate urinal, again with a direct feed to the garden. Therefore there are 3 holes in the toilet block, two for manure, one for urine. The urine produced sometimes during defecation is no problem, and especially if toilet paper is used (a good soak) then it will activate the composting process.

When constructing the bins, or after emptying them, add 10-15cm of sawdust on the bottom of the colelcting cube to absorb excess liquid.

In india urine is collected and evaporated and cures a range of diseases when used as a massage oil! wow, this is a whole subject in itself....

[Vidya Moksha]

#5 The toilets
You only need one toilet over one of the holes and this can be moved to either hole. Or you can build two, as long as you can seal one of them during the 'cooking' period. I would suggest filling one cube, this will take at least a year more likely than not. The switch to cube number 2, sealing cube no 1. when cube 2 is full, cube 1 can be emptied... this process is repeated.

I built my toilets as a box, with a flat lid, which formed the seal I needed while waiting a year or so. To make the seat I routed a hole in the box, but you can use a conventional seat as long as it can be sealed like this one:
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp357/lerrocco/toilet5.jpg

I used a wide pipe to connect to the top of my box and run down into the cube below. This can be cleaned as required and makes sure all bodily wastes enter the pit and dont end up in places you dont want them :o

I installed a shower, a urinal and a bath in my toilet block, and I tiled using mosaics (the above is not mine)... as you wish....

[Vidya Moksha]

#6 Alternate designs

If you are short of space, or want a small amount of compost more regularly then you can design a toilet with only one collector. Along these lines:
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp357/lerrocco/toilet6.jpg

Pros: less room. constant compost

cons: more complicated to construct. more to go wrong. you may be handling nasty bacteria as the composting may not be complete.

[sunflower]

Using an outdoor toilet in winter time.....a piece of synthetic rug cut to fit the toilet seat greatly adds to the comfort of sitting outdoors in very cold weather. Our friends had several hanging on a nail by the kitchen door. You just had to remember to bring one out with you and bring it back in afterwards.

[sunflower]

If the Avalon library is revived this is indeed good information to be added to it. Thanks, Vidya.

[delaware]

really an interesting topic

[Roseheart]

I am researching waterless toilets at the moment. Building one is beyond my capabilities at the mo...
Does anyone know what the best are to buy in Australia?
Any Aussies here have experience with them?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in anticipation...

[Pagan]

In Finland we have lot's of outdoor toilets. Most of them haves a big bucket that in times have to be emptied wich is an unplesant duty. i'll came up with an idea, several years ago but never applied it to practice.

As follows:



The idea is to just dig a hole in the ground and when the hole is filled up,
the whole toilet is moved.
By time there will be several holes duggen(the harderst part is to dig the holes)
and the holes would be possible to be re-used(easy to dig up once composted)
when the stuff is composted. In this way, nature would deal with the crap

there is atleast 2 possible ways to go:

1. put the toilet on a track/wheels so you can move it.
2. prepaire it in a way that, for example 4 persons can lift it with bars, when needed.

Happy ****ting! :)

[Roseheart]

Thanks for that! ;)

[PHARAOH]

http://http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mordac.org/travel/hawkeye4/images/070929_095339_7841_Going_into_woods_to_pee.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mordac.org/travel/hawkeye4/20.php&usg=__Atw9e8n_Gpw7tL5vWISehAPPec4=&h=334&w=500&sz=114&hl=en&start=5&sig2=i5IGcp8GneVd5ZFYk3sWag&zoom=1&tbnid=OqSa1TxN7EtxdM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=130&ei=vZKtTaOqIMqRgQfSwdz6DA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgoing%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bwoods%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1317%26bih%3D576%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1

:shocked:

[Fred259]

Why are people in the western world going back in time and using compost toilets? Is this called progress? These went out in Victorian times.

In Africa and the developing world they are every day installing flushing toilets and improving sanitary yet we seem to have this desire to go back to the Ox and cart.

[Pagan]

Depends how one lives. On the countryside it is a good solution and all natural too. There is a problem with freshwater suply in many places in the world and why would one really **** in the clean water? ;)

[DawgBone]

Why are people in the western world going back in time and using compost toilets? Is this called progress? These went out in Victorian times.

In Africa and the developing world they are every day installing flushing toilets and improving sanitary yet we seem to have this desire to go back to the Ox and cart.

If the crunch every comes, Fred, it may be difficult to get fertilizer from the local farm and garden store.

If you have to grow your own food, humanure is an alternative.

[Fred259]

Depends how one lives. On the countryside it is a good solution and all natural too. There is a problem with freshwater suply in many places in the world and why would one really **** in the clean water? ;)

I was thinking about your post Pagan, you mentioned that you still have many outside toilets. I think I’m right in saying that Finland is perhaps the most prosperous country in the world so I was wondering if these outside toilets are in the country areas perhaps up north.?

You mentioned about your solution for digging a new toilet when it’s full. This is what they do in Africa as you say they dig a new pit and use the mud from the new pit for the outside walls of the outhouse.

However I don’t think they ever really fill up that much, over time they decompose and I think, if you scatter lime down the hole it assists in this process. I think its lime I’m not certain.

[Pagan]

I was thinking about your post Pagan, you mentioned that you still have many outside toilets. I think I’m right in saying that Finland is perhaps the most prosperous country in the world so I was wondering if these outside toilets are in the country areas perhaps up north.?

Well, Finland is prosperous but also fairly, sparsley populated. The Finns loves being in the nature, hence lots of summer cottages, all over the country. The toilets are in most cases(cottages) of outdoor type. My mothers house were built(in the woods, on an island in the east sea, just next to water) a few years ago. She haves both kind of toilets, also 2 saunas, wich one of them is heated with wood. So this pararel old and new tech is often found in Finland, even in new builds.

Yes, lime is the stuff often used but also tree peels/dirt mix

[Ron Mauer Sr]

Composting Toilets

The Simple, Low Cost Humanure Sawdust Toilet:

Build your own (http://humanurehandbook.com/humanure_toilet.html).
Instruction Manual (http://humanurehandbook.com/manual.html)
Sanitation by composting (http://humanurehandbook.com/downloads/Compost_Sanitation_Paper_9_2011.pdf)
Humanure Handbook (http://weblife.org/humanure/default.html). Free. Available in 7 languages.

The “$25 (or less) Hinged-Top Humanure Toilet” used all over the world. This system has three necessary components: the sawdust toilet, cover material (peat moss, sawdust, etc.) and the compost bins. Two compost bins are needed because composted waste must sit for at least one year without fresh manure being added before it is safe to use on your garden. If the compost pile is too small to get hot then wait two years. The entire award winning Humanure Handbook is available as free download online. Hard copies can also be purchased in several languages. No one should be without an inexpensive simple composting Sawdust toilet during periods when potable water is scarce.

Compost temperature is important. In chapter “Monitoring Compost Temperature” of the Humanure Handbook it is said that a temperature of 120 degrees F for a few hours would eliminate pathogenic organisms completely.

One user of a sawdust toilet reported that he had found a way to bypass the need to construct and maintain the composting bin specified by Jenkins. Instead, black trash bags intended for use in a trash compactor (much tougher than garbage bags) were used as a bucket liner. When full, the black bags were removed and put in a sunny spot next to the garden. After an unspecified length of time the contents were completely decomposed and the finished product was without odor. Once the compost had cooked the trash compactor bags could be emptied in the garden and recycled as a fresh liner in the collection container.

“Despite all the books on manure and how to use it, human manure composting is not covered elsewhere, making THE HUMANURE HANDBOOK: A GUIDE TO COMPOSTING HUMAN MANURE a fine reference for any who would learn these basics. Now in its 3rd edition, THE HUMANURE HANDBOOK covers all the basics of human waste management, from septic systems to commercial composting toilets, sewers, and more. A history of various composting methods, science, and problems is accompanied by a healthy dose of humor plus a solid foundation of science into pathogens, pros and cons of competing systems, and more. If you’re an avid composter, there’s nothing like this on the market.” Midwest Book Review

Composting Toilets (http://ronmauer.net/blog/?page_id=216)