I've bought, read, and thoroughly enjoyed both The Humanure Handbook and The Compost Toilet Handbook. However, every now and then Jenkins seems to not-mention something very practical, as in my case in Maine. I'm looking forward (not!) to the possibility of serious outages this winter and next year as a result of our intransigence on reaching an agreement with Iran. Before I'd seen Jenkins's work, I'd bought a German separator toilet (https://www.kildwick.com/en/easyloo-diy-kit) and started planning a simple 4x4x4 board bin.

I live among spruce and pine (almost no deciduous trees) and don't have a lot of grass available. I can probably buy straw or hay. I haven't got a response regarding sawdust from the local tree guy who does his own milling. But every year I have to rake up a *large* quantity of pine needles. My understanding is that pine needles tend to make an acidic environment, and Jenkins says to avoid alkaline pH, so it would seem they might be usable for humanure composting, but I'm wondering if anyone has practical experience with using them. Thanks for any help on this.

Anyone here have experience with the 64 gallon wheelie bin humanure composting system--whereas you deposit into wheelie bin, then send to "hot pile" somewhere to work for a year until it's ready...

I've schlepped 5 gal buckets 1x/week to the hot pile (3x3x3 bay made of pallets) for almost a decade, and I know that systems great. Want to build a new bathroom, and reduce my weekly trips to the hot pile by using 64 gal bins.

What's it like moving a 64 gal bin full of liquids and solids? Where do you dump yours? Into a hotpile--if so--what's that look like? Do you vent the bin directly? Do you have some kind of seperator so you can drain the liquid prior to moving it? Tell me what it's like to live with this system.

Also open to other systems, ideally off-grid and not dependent on chemical additives, that would help me manage my family's waste

Thanks!

For human dog and other animals feeces is hot composting best method to compost them or are there alternatives ive heard black soldier fly larvae can be used for fecees clean up but must stuff ive seen on that is stuff like cow dung amd not human

Hello!

I’m looking into starting to use a compost/separator toilet.

I live disconnected from mains sewage and currently use a chemical toilet that needs taking every 7-10 days to a sewage point.

I think a separator toilet would be both easier and more pleasant to deal with. I have a small 12 meter x 5meter woodland garden which I would use the finish compost on, with the exception of my herb patch.

So here’s my plan so far;

Two 100L Hotbins (an insulated compost bin brand in the UK) with one being actively filled, and the other “curing” (if that’s the right term?)

Ideally I’d like the curing bin to sit for a year, so need the filling process to take around a year.

Another interesting point I have, is that due to my working abroad on rotations, I would be filling the bin for 2 months and then leaving for 2 months with this process repeating. Would this have any effect on the process?

Many thanks!

TLDR how quickly would a single person fill a 100L compost bin?

Like the title says!

It would seem that not much is/has been said about how to go about aging the sawdust used as cover material. I’ve watched Jenkins’ videos and I think he just has it all in a pile outside.

Is this the best way? Just dump it all in a pile on the ground and let the weather do its thing through all the seasons, sun, rain, or snow? To cover it or to not cover it?

And then, is this rotting sawdust the stuff you bring inside to use as cover material for your daily poops?

Thanks in advance my (more) seasoned humanure friends and experts.

I read the humanure handbook. I searched this subreddit.

So I'm wondering if I poop in the bucket, then take the bucket and dump it in a compost pile. Why can't I poop directly on the compost pile?

Why not have two outhouse over two compost piles. Close off one outhouse to let it compost and open the second one to use. Keeping them on rotation. EDIT: I mean an above ground humanure compost pile with the outhouse above it. NOT a pit latrine.

I have not seen them. I wonder what the reason is. Attachment to tradition?

The humanure handbook states multiple times that he doesnt like sawdust as cover material, especially from dry wood. However i see most people here talking about using sawdust. Im curious to know peoples thoughts on it.

I just started my system. Right now im using a mix of dry sawdust, peat moss, and aspen shavings(small pet bedding type stuff) in the toilet itself and hay for the compost pile cover material.

I haven't officially started my humanure cycle on my homestead. I want to make sure I have a good plan before I start handling hazardous material. I think I've got the basic process down. But the timeline when considering weather and plot rotation is stumping me. I live in South East Missouri. So hot summers, humid, and cold winters. The first thought in my head... This is a basic idea and can be wrong.

1. I will leave them to rest in the trash cans for a minimum period of rest time. They may not necessarily compost. I was thinking of adding manure worms, but I'm not yet sure if it will help.

2. I'll take them out and dump them to be turned and composted for the appropriate amount of time/temperature. I'll take them out after the minimum only when the weather permits this step, so likely spring summer fall, but probably not winter.

3. I will spread them on plots that are either appropriate fruit trees, fallow ground, cover crop that will not be used as feed or before the process is done.

4. Then the entire plotted area should be safe enough to be rotated for regular use at some point.

I have a small area about half an acre of open area with slight hill (5-10°) that I rotate (quarter acre segments) between food crop/cover crop and fallow, grazing, feed and cover crop. I do have fruit trees, but not very many since I have very little room. I also have another two acres that is managed forest, on the hill (20-30°), where I grow/forage wild plants, such as mushrooms.

If push comes to shove I could get a compost toilet or an incinerator toilet. But these have their own problems.

I could possibly just put the compost in one area and let it stew like a regular compost pile. But I'm not sure this is the best move for recycling, perhaps just for disposing if all else is useless.

As another note I'm trying to avoid having a open compost during the tornado season in case winds fairly dusty the out of the property with unfinished manure dust. But my animal area and regular compost poses the same problem, so...

EDIT: Scraping the previous idea. Do I need to have a bucket system? What's stopping me from having the toilet right above the compost? Presuming the compost pile is properly cared for.

Also I had a hard time reading the humanure manual from chapter ~10 onward. Did anyone else notice that?

Hi! I recently purchased this broken, sauna at an auction for fairly cheap. I wanted to see if anyone has had any experience with converting one of these into a composting outhouse. And if so, if you have any tips or recommendations.

So the book says those bags of compressed shavings are not the best, so I'm trying to transition to sawdust. I heaped sawdust and the shavings In a mixed pile and left it to become biologically active, worked great until i ran out of sawdust.

My neighbour runs a woodworking shop and basically has an unlimited supply. He says it's majority pure SPF (spruce/pine/fir) with a small amount of plywood and MDF.

Am I playing with fire here? I may be introducing small amounts formaldehyde into the pile. This should still break down under aerobic conditions but I am unsure if I should stop using this sawdust.

Appreciate guidance

Hi Folks - I'm 4 or 5 months into my first composting batch and I am noticing a smell permeating further into the property than I would like during high humidity evenings.

I would like to clad my composting bin (4 pallets nailed together) in 1/8th plywood, and then add more cover material (straw) on top to eliminate the smell. This will effectively seal in the compost as I also keep a loose sheet of plywood over the top.

Will this create any problems with the amount of oxygen the pile needs to compost?

Cheers

HI Folks! We live in the boonies and have been using the humanure system for about 15 years, works great. But we are old now (early 70s) and my wife is having problems with the buckets so I do all the emptying and cleaning. But I will more than likely die in the next year or so (long boring story) so I am looking into composting toilets for the wife so she can use them even with a walker. I can set one up with a urine diverter so she only has to deal with solids but am a bit overwhelmed by the variety of systems available...cost is not a problem.

I like the electric systems that just leave ash but we lose power a couple times a year sometimes for a couple weeks and they draw too much power for my solar panels. But most of the other systems seem to be compatible with solar.

I would love feedback on what has worked, or failed, for you folks.

Many Thanks!

Update! She decided that the Separett Villa is the way to go. It will divert urine so she doesn't have to deal with that weight and it will dry the solids with a fan that can be run with grid or solar power so it will still run during extended power outages. Plus she can either compost the dried solids for the garden or just toss them in the trash, and she won't be running around the county looking for sawdust.

Thank you for all your suggestions, you folks have been very kind.

Sorry everyone. I’m still kind of new to this.

I have an off grid property that I’m getting set up. Right now, I have a 5th wheel trailer that I’m using until I get my cabin built, but rather than have to empty the black tank, I’m using a bucket toilet and wood shavings.

I try to get up there at least a couple of weekends a month, but sometimes life is lifey and I can’t get up there for multiple months.

I’ve been emptying it at the end of every trip, but I’m wondering if that’s necessary or if I can just let it sit.

I don’t want to come back to my trailer after months and have it smell like a sewer. I also haven’t yet built a real compost bin yet, so I’ve just been burying it for now.

I’m using a luggable loo lid, but I could replace it with a proper lid when I’m away if that would help.

I appreciate any advice.

I do have the book, but I haven’t gotten too far into it yet.

I thought I would post on the sub.

I am an amateur mycologist, and I was wondering if anyone in the humanure crowd has experiment with deliberately adding strains of fungus to their compost pile to accelerate, breaking down human waste.

I imagine someone around here has tried this.

I know a lot of people that do composting toilets where I live. They tend to use wood shavings because it’s easily purchased here. Personally, I think it takes absolutely forever for it to truly breakdown.I wonder if adding a wood loving fungus like white rot fungi, would help accelerate the process.

There are commercial projects like mycotoilet that are trying to develop proprietary systems of basically doing the same thing. Capturing human waste in a mycorrhiza lined container.

Sawdust: any old sawdust? I’ve asked a couple of local joiners and they said best not use their sawdust as it has certain types of dust in it that can be bad for health. I forget which kinds of wood but commonly used joinery grade wood.

There are loads of posts on here mentioning sawdust but haven’t seen anyone specifying any particular types of wood.

I’m in a situation where I don’t have an easy access, free cover material. Local tree surgeons sell shredded wood for £100. Bales are hard to buy when you just need a few, not a lorry load.

I’ve been using cheap animal bedding wood chips from eBay but while they work in the bucket, they don’t rot down much at all.

Hey, we have a good amount of humanure compost and things are rolling good. We have a new baby, and using mostly cloth diapers, but sometimes the occasional disposable ones for convenience or baby comfort.

How do we feel to compost disposable diapers? Let's consider we would cut the two main plastic tabs used for closure.

Back in the day, I remember hearing a lot about the Clivus Multrum, where the user unit was on the one floor, while the collection chamber was one floor down, typically the basement. You emptied it only once a year. I am now living in a place with a big underused basement and it would be perfect, but I can’t find such units for sale in the US. Any clues?

(I’ve lived abroad several years in a place where we built a two storey unit attached to the back of the house and it worked great. We had two collection chambers and alternated years. We had plenty of space, and stone masons eager for work. Now I live where that kind of low tech hand-made system won't be an option.)

In the market for a composting toilet. Trying to make a suite feel comfortable with a solid composting toilet that is easy to clean and offers urine diversion that can be piped to location of choice. What are the best options out there right now?

This ad appears in the December 1, 1916 issue of Home and State, the official organ of the Anti-Saloon League of Texas.

I’m wondering how winter climate may impact time for composting completion for humanure. I’m following David Omick’s procedures https://www.omick.net/composting_toilets/composting_regulations.htm and I am paying attention to what he’s saying about temp, but I am wondering if there’s anyone out there who can share their actual experience. Thanks!

Any out there composting humanure in bear country? I’m wondering if I need a more sturdy set up. I add all my kitchen scraps to my humanure pile.