Composting Toilet: Do It Yourself

A composting toilet is a waterless system we use in our horse drawn caravan. A system that converts human manure into an organic compost and usable soil, through the natural breakdown of organic matter into its essential minerals. Aerobic microbes do this in the presence of moisture and air, by oxidizing the carbon in the organic material to carbon dioxide gas, and converting hydrogen atoms to water vapors.

Sounds very complicating but is at simple as that.

Reason why we use such a composting toilet is because we don't want to use chemicals. When you see how much chemicals are use in those caravan toilet you get easily worried about the ecological system! This method is far more environmentally friendly.

We found a drawing with clear description how to build a compost toilet your self. The pictures below show how it is done. About ones a week I clean the toilet and throw the basket empty in an normal recycle bin.

We never have problems with it and for us its a good solution.

We build one ourselves with the help of some books and an instruction found on the Internet we want to share with you.

This kind of toilet is also to use in a camping tent, boathouse, boat, or even on (don’t laugh) the attic.

DIY'systems

Far simpler composting toilet DIY systems can be constructed and maintained cheaply. Odors are controlled by ensuring adequate ventilation, sometimes simply by leaving a small gap between the top of the wall and the roof, or using a low-voltage extractor fan. Odor can also be controlled by separating urine and feces, or by adding sufficient high-carbon content 'soak' material (to absorb excess liquid.

The material should remain aerated to prevent the compost from becoming anaerobic, which causes unpleasant odor. The advantages are that they use no water and may produce fertilizer safe for small scale agricultural use.

More composting toilet solutions

We are not the only one searching for ecological solutions. We really want recommend this to all people interested in a green world!

The first edition of this book was self-published on a meager budget and was expected, by the author, to require a total lifetime print run of about 250 copies. It was assumed that there was little, if any, interest in the topic of composting human manure, but the degree and nature of feedback that resulted from this unlikely book was surprising.

The first edition of Humanure eventually amounted to over 10,000 copies in circulation. Excerpts from a sampling of the letters sent to the author are presented below. Some of the writers offer insight about their own composting experiences, which you, the reader, may find useful or interesting. At the very least, the following testimonials are inspiring, and they indicate that more than a few people care about our planet, and how we live on it.

"Thank you so much for your book. I believe that it is one of the most important books ever written. (I also enjoyed your web site very much.) I finished reading your book less than a month ago and have already participated in building two compost bins and am currently in the process of building the toilets to go with them." S.U. in ME

"The potential of the ideas in Humanure is so great in problems such as hollow food, landfill capacities, population densities . . . that I feel rather evangelical about the book and hope that others will also." R.S. in OH

End of Composting Toilet, back to Carriage Antique

End of Composting Toilet, back to Homepage

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