When we chose to live off-grid one of the first considerations was what to do about a toilet and getting rid of waste. An outhouse is nice, but not very convenient at night and during the winter. The obvious choice was a composting toilet.
Once you have your composting toilet, you need to decide what medium to use to cover waste and soak up urine. Some options are to purchase pine chips, sawdust, grass, rice hulls, sand, etc. We use hickory wood chips from a local handle factory, but it all depends on what is available. Some mediums compost better than others, for example cedar does not compost at all and I think oak sawdust tends to have an odor when it is wet.
After the bucket is full, then what? I built composting bins. The frame is pressure treated lumber and lined with cedar fence pickets. The least expensive method is to use pallets, but will need to be replaced every two or three years because of dry rot and termites.
The method we use is to dump the bucket of waste in the corner of the bin and smooth it flat toward the center of the bin. It is then covered with just enough hay to keep the flies off and reduce the odor. If you have not used a composting toilet and bin you will be surprised how little odor there is.
I allow the waste to compost for up to a year before the bin is emptied. We are left with good rich compost to fertilize our fruit trees and berry bushes. We do not use it on our vegetable garden because there are better natural fertilizers for the garden. I should mention that the risk of E.coli and any other harmful bacteria is extremely minimal because the composting temperatures inside the bin are high enough kill E.coli.
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