Dumping Waste, Bags or Composting Waste

[jacqueg]

Thanks, that helps me assess the situation. As it is, I think I'll be using a bucket and bags (along with a pee jug) when I first start. So I'll have a chance to see if that is an acceptable way to do my business, so to speak, for awhile before deciding on the Composting Toilet option. (or not) Do the doodie bags fit around the rim of a bucket?

Yes.

 

[GoingMobile]

I know a lot of people poopoo porta potties but that is what I use, in my kurbmaster, it is in a box under the drivers seat that swivels forward to access. I use that blue chemical but only half of recommended amount I have had it sit for three weeks in summer with no issues with odours. I don’t pee in it, I use a laundry jug for that and can use the jug while sitting on pottie. I empty it in any toilet I come across or bury it in a cat hole when appropriate. I find the bag thing a bit weird to dispose of and carry around. I did build a compartment on my rear bumper for the purpose of bag storage originally, installed the porta pottie in case any nosey bodies ever inquired decided to give it a try one day and once you get used to emptying without splashing, i find it to be the cats meow it works as it is intended to. Unless  you are sitting in the boondocks for a long period of time finding a toilet is pretty easy so you don’t use it as much as you would think.

Thanks, how large is the holding tank on the one you use? I watched one video where the person had a smaller one, maybe 2 gallons, which seemed to make it easier to be discreet carrying it into indoor restrooms.

 

[Frood]

It's not compost until it's been hot composting for around a year. Which, as you note, requires a pile somewhere. Which is why I questioned the poster.

Yes, you can mix your poop with composting materials. I do it myself. But that does not make my Luggable Loo a composting toilet, nor does it  make the resulting detritus compost.

Composting is a specific process. Poop mixed with composting materials is in the process of becoming compost. But it isn't there yet. You might think this is nitpicking, but the fact is that poop that has been mixed with compost materials for less than a year is not yet safe to strew around the environment. While the purpose of composting is to make a safe, clean material that can be used in the environment. It matters what we call it, because there are a lot of folks out there who seem to think that if you mix poop with wood shavings, it's OK to call it compost and use it as such. It isn't.

If you are ultimately just going to bag it and throw it away, what's the functional difference from a plain old DoodyBag?

EVERYONE who is interested in this subject should read The Humanure Handbook. https://humanurehandbook.com

Human waste is recommended to compost for at least two years in a one-cubic meter compost heap minimum size. Composting toilets just create compost-ready blocks that can be added to compost heaps.

 

[WanderingRose]

And how does a portable potty become a composting toilet?

What goes in that provides the composting element?

Lots of people use kitty litter, then dispose of the plastic bag with the litter and human waste.

Is this actually composting, or something else?

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Thanks, how large is the holding tank on the one you use? I watched one video where the person had a smaller one, maybe 2 gallons, which seemed to make it easier to be discreet carrying it into indoor restrooms.

I am not sure, but it is the smaller one, maybe 2 gallons. It has a handle, clips off easily. What I see people complaining about and what pissses them off about using them is the splash when emptying them, but I find you can overcome this issue by going slow, the washroom will smell for a few minutes after emptying. The biggest issue I find is rinsing them out, after emptying.

 

[Frood]

And how does a portable potty become a composting toilet?

What goes in that provides the composting element?

Lots of people use kitty litter, then dispose of the plastic bag with the litter and human waste.

Is this actually composting, or something else?

Composting toilet means that the effluvia is compost-able and ready to begin the composting process. 

Composting is a long-duration process. The fastest composting methods are moderately labor intensive 
and require attention at a minimum every other day. Compost can be ready in about 30 to 40 days in 
this manner.

Traditional composting takes place over the course of months, typically 8 or 9 months from the time the
compost bin is filled until it is usable.

When composting human waste (or other feces as opposed to manure) the typically recommended compost 
time is 2 years. With hot-composting it is safer to use the finished compost at the end of the first year, but 
since the parasites that may be present in feces from carnivores/omnivores are more compatible with humans
this extra safety margin is recommended.

The take-away from compositing toilets is NOT compost. It's not even CLOSE to being compost. It's a nutrient-
rich block of biological material that is ready to be added to a compost pile where it can be slowly consumed 
and transformed by various bacteria, fungi, insects, etc. into usable material for gardening and/or agriculture.

If you are going to compost your own material from a composting toilet, then I recommend using sawdust, 
coco coir, or peat moss as your drying media. Kitty litter (unscented) made from clay will work, but generally
the material you get after composting is less desirable if it has too much clay or other inorganic material in it.

 

[VanFan]

Any experience/thoughts about Gamma lids to help contain odor?  I have no experience with these.

We carry  Clean Waste and Double Doody bags, which have been put into actual use only once.  The Clean Waste bag was HUGE and worked well, but they are expensive.  The Double Doody bag seemed smallish, and I was surprised to find the inner bag attached to the outer.

The Clean Waste toilet fits our space better than a bucket since it folds up to a large briefcase size.  It is  sturdy, and can be used as a low seat or table as well.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Any experience/thoughts about Gamma lids to help contain odor?  I have no experience with these.

My bucket resides under my bed with a gamma-seal lid on it - no odor (beagle tested).  I do put pine needles in the bottom to give a pleasant smell when bucket is opened; otherwise, the smell is not offensive as it is with poo and pee mixed together.

I have stored 17 days of sh.it in it (18 day elk hunting camp).

 

[WanderingRose]

Thanks for that info, Frood.

I googled it, but didn’t really see how what I found there related to what folks are reporting here.

And, it doesn’t really seem to.

It’s an important subject, in my opinion.

 

[Frood]

I agree that it's an important subject. So many people just see "Composting Toilet" and think that with what they cost that
it must be a really environmentally friendly solution. They are efficient, and work well, but they are expensive and unless 
you are actively composting your own waste they aren't very environmentally friendly at all. Especially since it seems like so
many just throw their compost-bags into trash cans like they would with doggie-doo. The problem is one of scale... If only 
a few people do this, then the waste disposal system can handle it with minimal impact. If 1/4 of the dumpster is human 
waste from composting toilets, I pity the workers that have to sort the recyclables from the trash (which is done by many 
waste disposal companies in order to recoup the recyclable cost on a lot of products... keeping trash disposal costs lower)
given that a lot of these plastic bags are likely to rupture or break when compacted by the trash-collection truck.

Myself, I'm planning to go with a portable cassette toilet once I build out a vehicle. Currently I'm living in a MH that has a
non-op on it and can see SO many opportunities to re-design it for better usability and efficiency.

 

[Cammalu]

Or you could just put in a ten gallon flat tank with a toilet on top and dump it like the rest of the RVs. Then you would also be legal to camp in many more places.

 

[gizmotron]

Or you could just put in a ten gallon flat tank with a toilet on top and dump it like the rest of the RVs. Then you would also be legal to camp in many more places.

I went with a 31 gallon black tank with the toilette on top. It's all inside the van box too. The trick is a low profile RV toilette. Another important trick is that the toilette should be centered over the center of the tank and not to one side. The sloshing when driving will push the contents from side to side or end to end.  That sloshing might get past the gate valve on the toilette a little if it is mounted to the top edge of the tank. 31 gallons for one person is a luxury even in a class A. But it means you can go at least three weeks if you are careful.


https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=43988&page=4

 

[RoamerRV428]

This really is ALL about your travels.

How are you rolling?

a month boondocking with no one around at all? Ya gonna leave the site ever to hit into town or stay put?

You more on the road every 2 wks into state parks that have maybe just even vault/pit toilets you can use or are you going to be on the road for rest stop areas or real bathrooms.

If one is going all in boondocking in seclusion and not leaving, build a small latrine a bit away from camp. Real latrine style There are eco ways to do this.

But it in the end is all about your location and length of time travel or not travelling and ANY facilities near you in a COE or state park or ?? or any facilities you can use.

But bag it up and pack it out to a dumpster, garbage can etc is what will happen any time you need that to happen.

So there are a ton of IF I TRAVEL this way or that way in 'long term poop' storage issues here ya know.

ok just a friendly chat But the landfill is the place for garbage of all kinds in the end so....don't be afraid to properly dispose of it as you see fit.

 

[BelgianPup]

There is no such thing as a portable composting toilet that fits in a vehicle of any kind or size. PERIOD. It doesn't matter if the company calls it that, or not. If they do, they are LYING.

Nature's Head is not a composting toilet.
SunMar is not a composting toilet.
Biolet is not a composting toilet. PooPod is not a composting toilet.
Earthtech is not a composting toilet.

A composting toilet is LARGE and STATIONARY. Think standard outhouse.

They can be built into a regular or tiny house, but NOT one with wheels.

 

[doublegregg]

I'm not on the road either, yet. All I can think of is basically the plastic bag thing with maybe sawdust, etc. Then disposal is a problem. I can't really think dumping that Inm a dumpster is acceptable..,, do people actually do that? Without getting shot at?

All I've come up with is eventually dumping the contents in a pit toilet, or dumping it in a cat hole in the middle of nowhere, then dumping the empty but foul plastic then in a dumpster.... at least it's not ten pounds of human waste wrapped in plastic....

The compost thing sounds a little intense, too say the least.

Otherwise, though, the best solution seems to be a cat hole. But there just seems to be too many people in quartzite for this to be realistic. Also it's a desert..... id wonder about the organic material being present to busy or down....

Hey, typing this on a tablet reeks, btw.

 

[CosmickGold]

I use a standard 5-gallon bucket with this Luggable Loo toilet seat snapped on the top. Inside this bucket I use a plastic trash can small enough to lift in-and-out through the seat, and I line this smaller can with a small trash bag.

I also have a standard 3-gallon bucket onto which I've snapped a Gamma Seal lid to keep bad smells from escaping. This is where the poop-filled bags are stored until I can properly dispose of them.

The smell of the poop under the Gamma-Seal lid would become terrible if I did not add vinegar to it. I hate the chemical-toilet idea because I hate chemicals! But white vinegar is not a problem and totally breaks down the poop until it has no germs or poop smell at all, and is really something different -- more like just plain mud -- that is easy to dispose of.

I also add some white vinegar to my pee bottle, resulting in no smell of pee at all, nor is there any germ growth in the bottle.

After learning composting toilets don't really make compost (composting taking a full year to complete) I lost all interest in getting one. I plan to stay with my two-bucket / white-vinegar system indefinitely. Certainly works for me, and was cheap too.

 

[GoingMobile]

I use a standard 5-gallon bucket with this Luggable Loo toilet seat snapped on the top. Inside this bucket I use a plastic trash can small enough to lift in-and-out through the seat, and I line this smaller can with a small trash bag.

I also have a standard 3-gallon bucket onto which I've snapped a Gamma Seal lid to keep bad smells from escaping. This is where the poop-filled bags are stored until I can properly dispose of them.

The smell of the poop under the Gamma-Seal lid would become terrible if I did not add vinegar to it. I hate the chemical-toilet idea because I hate chemicals! But white vinegar is not a problem and totally breaks down the poop until it has no germs or poop smell at all, and is really something different -- more like just plain mud -- that is easy to dispose of.

I also add some white vinegar to my pee bottle, resulting in no smell of pee at all, nor is there any germ growth in the bottle.

After learning composting toilets don't really make compost (composting taking a full year to complete) I lost all interest in getting one. I plan to stay with my two-bucket / white-vinegar system indefinitely. Certainly works for me, and was cheap too.

Do you add any organic material to the waste in the bag? or just the vinegar?
Do you separate the #1 in a separate container from the #2?

 

[metaglypto]

I'm not on the road either, yet. All I can think of is basically the plastic bag thing with maybe sawdust, etc. Then disposal is a problem. I can't really think dumping that Inm a dumpster is acceptable..,, do people actually do that? Without getting shot at?

All I've come up with is eventually dumping the contents in a pit toilet, or dumping it in a cat hole in the middle of nowhere, then dumping the empty but foul plastic then in a dumpster.... at least it's not ten pounds of human waste wrapped in plastic....

The compost thing sounds a little intense, too say the least.

Otherwise, though, the best solution seems to be a cat hole. But there just seems to be too many people in quartzite for this to be realistic. Also it's a desert..... id wonder about the organic material being present to busy or down....

Hey, typing this on a tablet reeks, btw.

Nothing wrong with dumping human waste in the garbage, with the possible exception of liquid waste or urine. Wife does it with dog poop all the time.

 

[doublegregg]

Nothing wrong with dumping human waste in the garbage, with the possible exception of liquid waste or urine. Wife does it with dog poop all the time.

i just feel there's a big difference between the two. people dump dog poop bags in my garbage once in a while. i don't mind. if someone dumped a bag of a couple three four five days of human waste in my garbage can ..... with sawdust filler, or urine.......... that would piss (no pun intended) me off. that volume would be an entire kennel of dog poop. i sort of don't even see this as at all in the same ball park.
diapers would be a possible comparison.

 

[CosmickGold]

Do you add any organic material to the waste in the bag? or just the vinegar?
Do you separate the #1 in a separate container from the #2?

I have a pee bottle, so no pee goes into the #2 bag.

I only add the white vinegar and have never tried adding organic material. I think organic material would dilute the benefits of the vinegar when half the vinegar spent its energy on dissolving the added organic material instead of the poop. But since I've never tried the "organic material" approach, I don't know what the effects would be, either separately or in combination with vinegar.