Simple composting toilet

This is my composting toilet. I use it, throw the paper in it, and cover with sawdust. When it is full, I dump in under a big pine tree and rake pine needles over it.  Next, I rinse out the bucket with my saved gray water and throw the water on the pile.  There isn’t any smell.

I’m thinking about building a small addition on to my cabin, so it could be kept in it its own room. It’s a very simple system that I learned from reading the book The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure.  Now Free and downloadable at: http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html

You don’t have to use sawdust. You can use what ever you have: bark, duff, whatever. For material to cover it outside, the idea is to have something fluffy that allows a lot of air to get to it so  it can heat up, kill any bad stuff, and compost fast. In the book, he recommends straw. I use pine needles because that’s what I have, but you could use leaves, weeds, or what ever. My bucket is called a Luggable Loo.  It’s a five gallon bucket with a toilet seat lid. In the book he builds a nicer looking system. You could just use a 5 gallon bucket with a regular lid.