Composting toilet

[Mikey]

Hello peeps,

thought I'd pick the collective brain power here, I'm in the very early stages of creating a home office in the garden. As I want to create a self sufficient environment, I've been looking into composting toilets. Do any of you know how you go about separating 1 and 2's in this form of toilet, the information I can find on the subject seems to gloss over the practicalities of their use. I feel a trip to Machynlleth is coming up!

Oh and happy New Year to you all.

[SarzWix]

The only sensible info I've ever seen about them is in John Seymour's Self Sufficiency book Mikey. I think you'd be able to borrow it from the library if you don't want to buy it?

[Mcbee]

Having used them in nepal - i don't think you seperate them and I'm not sure why you would. Is there a specific reason?

We just used it like a normal toilet and then tipped some grass cuttings / straw on top. Seemed to work fine - bit "gamey" but i suppose that goes with the territory!

[Two_Sheds]

CAT (centre for alternative technology) do courses on sanitation, but they aren't cheap. http://www2.cat.org.uk/shortcourses/...urses_2008.pdf

I stayed at a Wwoofers place in Looe, Cornwall that had composting toilets ... they explained to us how they were built and how they work, so maybe treat yourself to a weekend in Cornwall? Although I'm sure there are Welsh ones on here too: How WWOOF works

[Mikey]

Cheers peeps, you tube is a wonderous thing, I found plenty of composting toilet vids there. I also found a number of councils which had put them onto allotment sites, the waste can be used for compost on non food within 12 months. I think I'll be recommending that our council introduce them, save me peeing in the comfrey bucket, and scaring the neighbours.

[Digger-07]

Dick Strawbridge in his "not easy being green" series build a composting toilet and had a metal plate under the seat at the front to catch the 1's. It ran out to a drum at the outside.

[Mikey]

Why didn't I think about checking his forum, d'oh!!, he's class, although appearances are never very high on the agenda. Take his tush for example!!

[pigletwillie]

We are having one installed at our allotment site and have just been granted planing permission. The system seperates the liquid away from the solids and this drains away via a soakaway, basically a big trench filled with gravel.

[SarzWix]

That's interesting, because I was under the impression from Seymour's book that the liquid was needed for the nitrogen, to assist the actual composting?
*hobbles off to fish out Seymour book...

[di]

I've just had a look at the Seymour one~it's called a Thunderbox,if that's any help with your googling?
My sis's FIL in Turkey just digs little holes around his orange trees,fills them with his waste,covers it over & starts a new one!
Also I remember a programme a couple of years ago where a woman used to go to peoples houses & empty their bins & try to find ways to help them cut their household waste~sure she used & showed how to make a compostable loo also,but said it was only advisable to use if you followed a veggie diet??(sorry,can't remember what the programme was called)

[Mikey]

The waste is not recommended for food, but only because it takes a long time to break down. There is no problem with it being used for flowers or your borders. I think that if all allotment sites had these on them, we could help the councils with fertilising our villages and towns. It would be quite interesting if a village became best kept village thanks to the fertiliser produce from composting toilets.

[pigletwillie]

This is the company our allotment site is using

NATSOL Compost Toilets for allotments and remote sites. Wheelchair accessible.

[3fat-hens]

Wheelie Bin Compost Toilet

We've been looking for a compost toilet for our campsite and came across this one from Free Range Designs that seems like really good value: Bog Standard Composting Toilet
Does anyone have any experience of using a wheelie bin for collecting human waste? Sounds wonderfully simple if it works.

[Nicos]

my daughter lives off grid and has made a wooden toilet and shower with a woodburning water heater for her bath for less than £400.
That site is waaaaaaaay too expensive.

[veggiechicken]

We've been looking for a compost toilet for our campsite and came across this one from Free Range Designs that seems like really good value: Bog Standard Composting Toilet
Does anyone have any experience of using a wheelie bin for collecting human waste? Sounds wonderfully simple if it works.

You could buy hundreds of wheelie bins for the price of that toilet