Compostable Garbage Bags for Bucket Toilet

[Canine]

I don't travel a lot, so I am able to compost my waste. I use a 5 gallon bucket with sawdust using the instructions provided in the Humanure Handbook which means I poo and pee in a bucket layered with sawdust. It takes me about 8 days to fill it up, but I also use the bathrooms at work and elsewhere sometimes. I was using a bucket with no bag and cleaning the inside with a brush and dish soap. It worked well, but if I could get away from cleaning it (and using all that water to clean it), that would be even better.

A garbage bag would work, but it needed to break down so I could just throw the whole thing in my plastic 55 gallon drum. Biodegradable bags break down, but remain plastic- microscopic pieces of plastic. That's my understanding, anyway. The compostable ones actually break down into nutrients and become part of the soil. What I was concerned about was if the bags were weak, if they tore easily, and if they leaked. Asking a compostable bag to not compost for a week in urine-soaked pine sawdust seemed like a lot to ask.

It works well. It is not a heavy duty bag, but suitable for non sharp stuff. I can easily pick up the bag without it tearing. The first time I did it, it did have moisture between the bag and the bucket. I wasn't sure if it was pee or not, so next time I put in a thin layer of sawdust and that did the trick. No moisture and the sawdust falls right out. No smell, no muss, no fuss. If you go through a bag every 5 days, this will cost you $36.14 per year.

The 13 gallon size fits surprisingly well in a 5 gallon bucket. It is really nice to have a little extra to hang onto to avoid accidental contact. The 13 gallons really aren't oversized, either. I don't consider them too big or wasteful. Am going to get a 6 gallon bucket and see if that works a little better. I could save bags and the height may be more comfy.

The bags are Stout EcoSafe-6400 Compostable Bags, 13 Gallons, 0.85 milliliters, 24 x 30, Green, 45/Carton. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Stout-EcoSafe...a_nav_t_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=19F5HPDQA2XXYJPD77AS

It's an option for those that need to conserve water or are just lazy like me. 

 

[GotSmart]

$1.50 a bag?

 

[Almost There]

$1.50 a bag?

$22.25 per case of 45 =  $0.4944 each.
I'd pay 50 cents a bag for compostable bags if I had someplace to dispose of the bag. I expect I'll have to be replacing the whole 5 gallon bucket and paying for the sealable lids that one can buy!

 

[GotSmart]

At 50 cents a bag, that would be worth it. Being able to dig a cat hole and burying it would save a lot of trips into town.

 

[Ella1]

another possibility: I came across this several years ago:
"On the road when my kids were little they had to go when they had to
go... I came up with this idea which worked beautifully.
I took an old Colander...there are different sizes but I used one that
would fit in the john... the 35 foot Trailer I had was not self contained like today's Travel Trailers, it had to be connected to trailer park sewer systems or what ever went in it went straight down to the ground.
..If I needed it when we were on the road and there was no place in
sight to stop like a gas station...usually the only place...
I'd find a spot to pull off the road that had grass & weeds...and I put
that colander in the bucket/toilet with a sheet of newspaper
lining it and a couple sheets wadded up and stuffed inside it..."I never
tore up any strips.   This allowed the liquid to go thru' to the ground outside but collected the solids in the paper which I then deposited in a bigger paper grocery bag..."no plastic bags in the 50's" and that I closed and put in a wastebasket under the bathroom counter until I could find a place for trash and get rid of it...It was the cleanest idea I could come up with and it worked."

It does! I can't always get to a rest room, so must be prepared. I put two extra partial rolls of TP in my bucket, then  line it with 3 plastic bags, for just in case one tears. The sieve I got just fits the bucket, but if for whatever reason it tips or slides further down, the rolls of paper will hold it off the bottom, where the fluid waste can collect if needed. Otherwise I use a wide mouth jar, which has a  home in the lined bucket until the lined bucket has fluid in the liner. I use my rubber gloves to gather the newspaper from the sieve and place it in a paper bag then take it to the dumpster. That way, I do have plastic for necessity, but also have the inexpensive/recycled paper bag that, being paper will decompose.

From another thread
" What is the problem with 'people poop'? How can my waste be any different than any other animal's waste? "
People, and most of our pets, eat foods grown in land that is heavily fertilized with chemical fertilizers and pesticided, and prepared with a lot of chemicals including preservatives. Wild animals generally eat naturally unless grazing on fertilized land and crops. Then of course they get those chemicals into their bodies.  The poo from wild animals Including wild canines (coyotes, wolves) decomposes quickly whereas the poo from our pet dogs will last forever it seems. (unless they are fed raw food only. ) My dog's doo did not disintegrate though she often got some raw food as part her meals. When I was able to give her raw food several days in a row, it did within a few days.
Our poo is vastly different from that of wild animal waste, as is the standard fare of our pets. I don't know about human doo, I've not taken or let any sit on the ground to watch it.

 

[iambucket]

Thanks. I was just finishing up building a separating toilet and was curious which bags I should get for it. Since you have to commit to something for a while when you buy in bulk, it was helpful to find somebody have a positive experience with the same thing I'm looking for: biodegradable and fits a 5 gallon bucket.

 

[DuneElliot]

At 50 cents a bag, that would be worth it.  Being able to dig a cat hole and burying it would save a lot of trips into town.

Even bio bags are not LNT ethical. Shouldn't be burying anything but poop, and MAYBE some TP...no plastic, no wet wipes, nothing. They take longer than you think to break down and then the waste still has to biodegrade so the whole system takes that much longer to decompose into soil.