Composting toilet

[terracore]

What plants are best for me to go #1 on?

Any plant that needs nitrogen.  As already mentioned in dry conditions is should be diluted.  That's why dog piss can kill grass when it's dry or create a dark green healthy patch of lawn when it's wet.

It's also rumored that human piss deters pigs, but I don't have experience with that.

[punikahakaiferret]

I am right there with "eigoya"...I need info more specific to making/using a composting/dry/waterless toilet here in Puna, and where to readily and inexpensively get material to use in one.  I read and searched and looked and am not finding that sort of specific, *local* info.

Obviously just because we are surrounded by coconuts doesn't mean that clean usable coir (no bugs, eggs, mold, etc.) can just be picked up off the ground, and I don't want to spend massive $$$ buying some overpriced processed stuff on Amazon or from Home Depot that has been shipped here from somewhere else.

Is anyone on here able to offer a good, clean, inexpensive, reliable, local (a lot to ask, I know) source for material to use in an indoor composting toilet? Please?  

Mahalo! 

[MarkP]

See my comment #7. Mow down weeds with bagging lawnmower. If possible let them dry like hay. Use humanure bucket toilet system. Works great.

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I also have used bagged peat moss from home depot.

[punikahakaiferret]

See my comment #7.  Mow down weeds with bagging lawnmower.  If possible let them dry like hay.  Use humanure bucket toilet system.  Works great.

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I also have used bagged peat moss from home depot.

Mahalo, Mark!

I don't have a bagging lawn mower but will take that under consideration for in the future...of course, that whole "letting it dry out like hay"...in *Puna*? 

 

How much do you start with at the bottom of the bucket? And then just a standard light layer to cover after using? And do clippings work best if #1 is separated from #2? (Separation will be my preference but sometimes is, well...unavoidable).

I do drink coffee faithfully and so will be using others' advice to use coffee grounds as well, incidentally.

Mahalo!

[MarkP]

I'm in Eden Roc, I can usually let it dry for an afternoon. Many times I have stumbled outside to collect my drying grass clippings as the rain is starting though....

A couple of inches to start with in the bucket, a couple more on top of #2. No need to cover #1 as it doesn't sit on top.

Geez, who started this idea that you must separate urine, someone with a fetish? Everything goes in the bucket, everything stays in the bucket until dumped into the compost pile. Get a nice warm compost pile going. When it is time to empty the bucket, make a depression in the middle of the pile for the humanure. Put clean clippings on top. In this way the humanure is completely surrounded by active compost and no humanure is exposed on the outside.

[punikahakaiferret]

Thanks for that info, Mark!

Got a laugh out of your "fetish" comment!

I've read per Joseph Jenkins that there is no need to separate #1 & #2, but I am going off of all the many other articles and websites I have seen that the best way to mitigate odor is to separate the liquids from the solids; that it's the #1 that causes the bigger odor problem when combined.

Considering I am putting this composting toilet into a very small house, it seems like separating would be the smartest route to take to avoid odor. I may start with a single bucket, and just see how that, ahem, 'goes'.

Again, mahalo so much for all your information!

[MarkP]

I live in a shipping container. There is effectively only one long room. As long as there is a few inches of mulchy stuff above the liquid level it does not smell. If you feel strongly about it, empty the bucket daily. I usually go about a week.

Build the box described in the humanure book with a 5 gallon bucket inside. You can get a seat that snaps into a 5 gallon bucket but it is hard to use and makes the already small hole even smaller. I have one wood box with one active bucket inside it. I keep 2 or 3 buckets with dry cover materials along the wall. I have a 72" x 72" piece of fiberglass window screen that I lay out on the driveway in the sun to dry the grass clippings on. One full bag from my lawnmower pretty much covers this when spread out a couple of inches thick and in turn this fills the 2 or 3 buckets previously mentioned. You need to keep mowing the lawn though because it is desirable to have a decent sized compost pile to bury the humanure in.

Always use relatively new buckets. Retire any that might have seen too much sun.

Beware if you have fire ants....

[punikahakaiferret]

Thanks again for so much great info! 

I do indeed have fire ants tho I try to keep them in check (ha!); that was something I meant to mention in regards to using grass clippings, so I am hesitant to use them, between fire ants and all the other what-nasties that abound here (I am in Lower Puna, fyi.)

At this point I am going to get several buckets/purchased substrate and probably on a snap-on seat/lid to start before I build a formal box with standard seat, and see how it goes. 

This is essentially an experiment for me...I currently have all utilities but am going to be transitioning to another place from scratch and going off-grid and so am hoping to avoid some of the major pitfalls ahead of time, tho I know that is highly unlikely! Yeeeeeaaaahhhh....

Maybe there should be an entire thread on Punaweb dedicated to such things? I don't think there already is one...

Again, your detailed info and experience is greatly appreciated! 

~Sher

[MarkP]

Ease of use influences whether you consider the experiment a success. With the snap-on seat you are relying on the stability of the bucket alone and after tipping over in the middle of the night you may erroneously conclude that the system doesn't work so take that into account.

[punikahakaiferret]

Understood, and a very good point, along with all your other info...much mahalos again for your help!

I hope anyone else following this particular conversation has also found it useful.

I've found more help on Punaweb in general than most all of my other web-searches and such because of the specificity and particular issues in this "special" place we call home.