Compost Toilets!

Now that the compost bin is done, I decided we needed a compost toilet. We only have one bathroom here and we've always wanted a second bathroom downstairs but to run the plumbing, and then flush "uphill" was a huge expense.

I started looking at commercial compost toilets because I wanted something that would show others unfamiliar with sustainable living that compost toilets don't have to stink or be off putting, or be inconvenient. Well the cost *was* offputting and inconvenient. Then I read about sawdust toilets! At first I thought that wasn't for me. They didn't look attractive enough, or so I thought. I found a website dedicated to humanure that showed all kinds of home made sawdust toilets, and they were very nice looking.

I was also not convinced that they wouldn't stink. Well, the only way to know was to try it out myself. So for less than $7 I built our very first sawdust toilet. And guess what. There is NO smell.

In order to add stability, I put the 5gal bucket inside a plastic milk crate we had laying around. And to make it look nice, I made a fabric skirt with an elastic band to put it on the bucket. And it *does* look really nice (so nice in fact, that my cat ...a female no less...likes to pee on it). Go figure!

When the bucket gets full, I take it out to the compost bin and dump it. And I must say, since it doens't get full that often, by the time I get it out to the compost bin, its partially composted already with the sawdust. So it doesn't stink even when I empty it!

I'd like to also put a sawdust toilet upstairs and replace the flush toilet, but I know that not everyone in my family is ready for that. To my surprise, my youngest daughter is into it. She and her friends think its "cool" to use the sawdust toilet, and use it they do!

So, for the time being, the flusher stays. If the bathroom were large enough, I'd add a sawdust toilet to it and leave the flusher there. But we don't have that much room. Maybe someday :o).