If you are left with any questions after watching this presentation, we may have already answered them in one of the following question answering videos! "Jack answers questions about the composting toilet!" th-cam.com/video/S8hQU0JwOhU/w-d-xo.html "Composting and the Composting Toilet - Questions for the Homestead #1" th-cam.com/video/e6RTFHQFsRk/w-d-xo.html If your question was not addressed in one of those presentations, please feel free to ask us here or by email! jack@abundaculture.org
Dear Bill, I do not know where the fiction started that urine and feces must be separated. For twenty years we simply dumped our bucket onto the compost pile. We had no odor problems. After a year we had wonderful, clean compost in which we grew our garden. Our yields are fantastic and we have never had a hint of sickness. Don’t make this more difficult that it needs to be. God does all the work and He does it perfectly!
Hi can you pls tell me the title and author of the song that plays at the wnd of the video. Anything that talks about my master Jesus interest me. God bless
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I now have something tangible that I can show my husband to let him know other people do this! I’m not alone in my vision for our sustainable living!!
We used a sawdust bucket toilet in our motorhome for a little over a year. The bucket was under an old antique chair. We didn't have a fan for it but we never had odor problems. It wasn't in a dedicated room either, just behind a curtain. For sawdust, I'd get bags of pellets for a pellet stove, fill a bucket about 1/3 full of pellets and spray water over them. In a couple of hours, we'd have a bucket full of "pellet powder" that smelled good and covered very well! Bucket and sawdust toilets are the way to go. We just bought a school bus and are now converting it into a mobile tiny home and I'll be building the same style toilet for it! Gotta save water when you're out and about! 😊
Dear Stephen, All that I can tell you is that I’ve been using the sawdust composting toilet for twenty-five years and I’ve never separated the urine from the feces...and I have NEVER had an odor problem. I think the main difference is that the people who manufacture composting toilets are always attempting to do the composting inside the living space. We are emptying the the bucket in our outside bins as needed, for two of us, about every 4 or 5 days. For what it’s worth, several people have given me their manufactured compost toilets because they stunk. They switched to my method and are now happy. Also for your consideration, I don’t make a penny selling composting toilets or information, I have no reason to misinform.
I love it when he says "make your deposit" haha... because no one actually "takes a crap", they literally leave it, or "deposit" it! Nice video, keep up the good work guys!
Dear Drew, Thanks for your input. Let me explain why we manage the composting toilet as we do. In short, for twenty five years we used the toilet and found out what works for us. We used some basic criteria: simplicity and low cost. There was no need to use expensive, “eco-toilet paper. Good, soft, inexpensive toilet paper turned into excellent compost very quickly. We used pine shavings because my wife likes them best. They smelled nice and were very inexpensive. Again, the main goal of making excellent compost for the garden was enhanced with the pine shavings. Thanks for your ideas. Each person has the opportunity to do it their way. That’s one of the great things about homesteading.
Hello sir, how about the tofu cat litter? It is advertised as a biodegradable litter. May I know if it will work with the composting toilet? Thank you!
Dear Roger, You are correct, the sawdust absorbs the urine and eliminates odor. The urine is very important to the composting process. It adds moisture and helps create nitrogen for plants.
When just my wife and I were using the toilet I would empty it about every tree or four days. One of the advantages of the sawdust toilet is that you can respond to more people using the toilet, like when you have visitors, simply by emptying it more often. I always keep three or four clean buckets ready for use.
I want to say this just one more time, there is no reason to separate urine and feces. Urine is needed in the compost pile as it is full of nutrients for plants. It will not cause odor problems because the sawdust diminishes odor and because the bucket is emptied on the outside compost pile on a regular basis.
I’m sorry that you had to learn this expensive lesson the hard way. We’ve used our simple bucket and sawdust for more than two decades with no problems. I pray that all will be well for you. Your servant in Christ, Jack
Thanks so much for this! I live in Brooklyn, NY and have never lived outside of New York (I’m a born and raised Long Islander). I am looking to leave the state and get myself a little piece of land for me and my animals. I’m learning so much about going off the grid and being more self sufficient and these videos really help me out!
When I say that God with His grace can heal through nature and act through infinite number of things, even believers in God often knock on the head and telk me that I am mentally ill or something. And I've just been in bad condition but it keeps getting all the way better. Certainly there are many graces of God in action for matters which are missing in the world and about which people think that they are not working but work wonderfully. I hope that it will gradually change and people will be able to take advantage of the good that is contained in this matter and also be able to discover many other wonders so far hidden for humanity or old and forgotten or considered not working but works great. Cordial greetings and blessing for You everyone ❤
Good information!, I'm on a mission to becoming less reliant on public utilities and becoming more environmentally responsible. I found this video to be very helpful. I live in the city right now, but plan to later have a school bus conversion . Thanks so much for your contribution!
The way you built that compost toilet with the side compartments, overall lid and the beautiful look through your painting makes this THE BEST one I've seen so far. Really great work! Suggestive tip you could experiment with to eliminate odor: use composted/broken down wood shavings instead, this will (appear dense and dark) eliminate odors because it will lack the airy nature of dry shavings and the natural composting will be kickstarted a whole lot faster from inside the bucket before ultimately reaching the compost pile outside. Another way is by making your own batch of effective micro-organisms (EM), plenty of ways online, this will function as a very strong deodorizer. Keep a spray bottle of this by the toilet, use it on each deposit and you should be set for an odor-free experience.
Dear Bee, thanks for the compliment and the great ideas. We’ve never had any odor problems with the toilet, but your suggestions may be helpful to our readers.
Excellent video and the questions answered here are extremely helpful. I'm wanting to utilize the compost method and yet the "urine diverters" are so tricky to use and messy. This straight-in-the-bucket method is fabulous, and makes good sense. Many thanks!!
Simple, inexpensive, and just what I’m looking for. Thank you for such a great video of composting toilets I’m designing a little outhouse now and this gives me a lot of confidence and is something I can wrap my head around. Cheers!
I truly love your autonomous style of living. To me it is the most freedom people can have, I hope one day I can build the knowledge to live like you. Thank you for the tips.
Dear Yeh, Thanks for your sharing about using shredded leaves as a covering in your composting toilets. May I add that leaves help add powerful micronutrients to your compost that are often missing in tired, heavily used soils. Thanks for sharing!
Great and useful information here. My question is that since most people use prescription drugs. Won't they be in the compost and would it be safe for gardens?
I just love to see more and more people discovering how simplicity and a 'green' mindset, fits in perfectly with the Creator's plan. Great video and thank you for sharing!
Dear Heidi, thanks for your note. Your understanding of the sawdust toilet is correct. Concerning your question about the toilet/shower combination in the Tiny House: when I shower, everything in the room gets wet. For that reason, and to keep the toilet from smelling, I keep a lid on the bucket when it’s not in use. Can sit on the toilet platform when showering if I wish. After I shower I take the opportunity to wipe down the shower enclosure, keeping everything very clean. The Tiny House toilet/shower is my favorite sawdust toilet because it’s so easy to build, takes up very little space, and is so easy to keep clean.
The take away from this video is "Keep it simple stupid". Thanks for sharing your solution. I bought a biogas digester and use it for the free cooking gas I get from my system. Take care sir and may all your days be fruitful.
Thanks for sharing your design. My wife and I are starting our journey toward off-grid living and we plan on using composting toilets as well. Appreciate seeing your toilet design as we are currently working on building an outhouse.
Dear Ones, Thanks for your note. See p. 172 in the Abundaculture training manual for an odor-free outhouse that will also be your compost pile. You might like this plan!
Just happened to come across you and want to stay thank you so much for this Video. You explained everything so very well and in such a beautiful friendly manner. It was a pleasure learning from you. Greetings from Germany :-)
THANK YOU, we just bought a house with 2 acres.. and we're renting out stalls for horses, I was looking around for options for the owners of the horses we take care of,, but I really didn't want to invest in a Portapotty because of the smell and the extra money it would take to get it cleaned out.. So this is a good option for us 😀
Thank God I found your channel. I am about to move from a rented house to my own piece of lot where I am about to build our tiny home. We don't have public sewer so I need to build a septic tank and it would take me time and extra cost. Your video on composting toilet and composting will definitely help us. Sir can you suggest me a size of composting bin to hold our toilet load for a year? I have a family of 5, the eldest is 10 years old and the youngest is 4 years old. Thank you and more power. God bless.
Very, nice! I'm going to build this! Currently, i have this big hole under the house (1920 house), whitch wasn't cleaned for 20 years (thanks to my parents).. now the whole hole is full of soil! :D and i dont want to dig it all up again.. and the toilet is used only for 3 months a year.. this is great solution for me now.. tnx! :)
Dear Lee, You need to use enough sawdust to cover the waste completely and to absorb any moisture. There should never be visible pools of liquid, although the contents of the bucket will always be damp.
Dear Susan, thanks for a good question. When you add a new bucket, you start with a few inches of sawdust. You add just enough sawdust to cover your deposit each time you use the toilet. If there is any liquid noticeable in the bucket, you add enough sawdust to absorb and cover that liquid. Remember this: the compost you are creating, with God doing most of the work, will be a tremendous asset to food production and the growth of trees. Whatever you have to pay for sawdust or whatever covering you use, will be an excellent investment.
Fred, this is a good question. Unless you are on chemo, the minute amounts of drugs that would pass through the body should not be a problem. You could always add more carbon mass to the compost pile to dilute chemicals that end up in the compost pile. Using a decentralized sanitation system like composting on the homestead actually is the antidote to centralized systems that concentrate all the drugs that get flushed into a system used by hundreds or thousands of people.
ancient Indian culture did this and also used the squat potty style...both good for health and environment...then times changed, rulers ruled and everything changed.... we are moving far away from what Mother Nature intended us to do in the name of comfort and modern... these are good ways you showed in the video....doing our part to keep our surrounding clean and natural...:)
The sawdust toilet is made with a five gallon bucket. It’s dumped when it’s full. For my wife and I that was every three days or so. The reason every composting toilet except the sawdust toilet stinks, is that the waste is held for long periods of time. People have given me fancy composting toilets that had cost them thousands of dollars because they switched to the simple, sawdust toilet.
In Canada, Canadian Tire sells a 5 gallon bucket with toilet seat, called a Lug-A-Loo. That is great. Putting it into a box is more stable though. They sell liners too but I use 2 glad kitchen bags (25-45L) to line it before adding sawdust to start. If just using a 5 gallon bucket a pool noodle makes a great rim to hold the bags inside. So comfy to sit on. Yes no smell if you always cover your doo including toilet paper, with sawdust, or ripped paper or?. Tie the bags when full, take the whole pail+ bag to safe spot. Leave the bag, take the pail and rince, and re-use. I like to leave the bags for a whole year before dumping in a raised fower bed or compost pile. No chance of horrible smell then when dumping. Composting toilets spell FREEDOM, and the Humanure handbook explains the safety of them.
I got to say that's not only humanure for me Since I started doing it, my physical, mental and spiritual health inproved a lot. I recovered from a very hard and difficult to cure disease. Because of this, I could start doing in my life and invent many new things that I could not before due to poor health and poor general condition. Beacause of this, I was able to start working a lot physically and intellectually. I also feel better spritually- happier and freer to do good and generally as me and I can also give this happiness to others. The very sad thing is that people do not want to see that the changes that have taken place are the results of working towards humanure.
Dear Green Bubble, thanks for a great question. For the last year a family of five has been living and learning on our homestead. The kids are about the ages of your kids. I called them to ask your question. Assuming that each bin is about 3x3x3, you will need 8 bins. An easy way to make the bins would be to use pallets. Make a chain of three sided bins, open in the front. Cut a pallet in half for the front of the bin. Put half the panel at ground level in front to start filling the bin. When the bin is half full, put the other half of the pallet in front and finish filling the bin to the top. When the bin is full, make a marker that has the date one year from the day you finished filling the bin. That is the day you can safely use your compost for your garden. YOU CANNOT SAFELY USE YOUR COMPOST UNLESS IT HAS HAD A WHOLE YEAR TO CURE. NO EXCEPTIONS! I plant all my veggies in 100% compost. My garden yields are incredible. Let us know how things work for you!
@@theendalarm243 the great thing about compost is that you don’t have to add anything in most cases. If you have sunlight and you keep the compost from getting too wet, it takes care of itself. There is an interesting caveat to my statement: You can manage the composting process by adding different things to the compost. Look at the interesting work done by Jack Todd, starting back in the 1960s. Todd was able to take soils that were contaminated with toxic substances and use the composting process to purify the soil. However, for the average gardener, nothing could be easier than using compost to turn yard waste and food scraps and even human feces into safe, useful compost that will greatly increase food production.
Dear Jose, I don’t know who came up with the separation idea. We have used the sawdust toilet for twenty years with no separation. In fact, we need the urine to create better compost. If you follow our instructions carefully, you don’t need to separate.
Dear TG, No, peat moss is not a good covering. It is basically sterile, which is exactly what you don’t want. Pine shavings are my favorite because they have a sweet smell. As they disintegrate, they encourage the growth of microbes that create healthy, rich compost that will enhance plant growth. If wood shavings are not available, you can use any high-carbon material that has the consistency of confetti: old ground hay, shredded leaves, very dry grass, rice hulls, peanut shells, etc.
Dear JaDeB, We purchase pine shavings at an agricultural supply store. The come in bales that cost less than $10. A bale will last my wife and I more than a month. It’s a good investment because we’re building the soil on our property and we’re not fouling precious water. You can also use other covering materials like rice hulls, ground peanut shells, shredded leaves, etc. it should be a high carbon material with the consistency of confetti.
I also use a composting toilet, I find coconut husk not only quickly dehydrates #2 but also takes the odor away quickly. Afterwards I use wood chips for aesthetic purposes. In my tiny house I use a grey water system for the rest of water drainage. I find guest dont enjoy the idea but I've gotten used to it.
I live in the beautiful Green Valley of eastern CT. I started cycling on local bike tracks this year with my wife. The tracks are in sections along the Quinnebaug river. I quickly caught on to the fact that the tracks and park areas were on devalued land from several sewage treatment plants along the river. The sewage is treated and separated and dumped into the river. I always wondered why our river didn't look healthy like the ones I often visit in lesser populated areas in NH and ME. After a lot of research there are major concerns over treated waste water dilution. The same old money owns the wastewater plants, the energy companies, and A LOT of rental real estate in this area.
Thanks for the report, erNomic. Yes, the existing infrastructure will be hard to change. One method of change would be to create alternatives like the composting toilet while you have a more traditional flush toilet on the same property. I have found that it is easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
Dear Arthur, using cat litter in your composting toilet would be a bad idea. Cat litter does not decompose and will not provide any nutrients for the lawn or garden. One of the purposes of the composting toilet is to use what would be waste as a precious resource. On my homestead, I have learned how valuable compost is, especially human compost. Our soil just gets richer and richer. Our garden yields get better and better. A good composting system is one of the keys to an abundant future.
Dear Katherine, if a compost pile is managed properly, you will not have a fly problem. I have a home in the city and use a 55 gallon plastic barrel with 1” holes drilled all around. I also have a place in the country with a large composting operation. Even in cow country, flies have never been a problem. May I suggest that you view our presentation on composting on our Abundaculture TH-cam channel. Also, please download our free Abundaculture training manual and read the section on composting carefully. You don’t need any probiotics or anything else. I would imagine that you have done two things incorrectly: 1) you have allowed the pile to become too wet. 2) You need to add more dry carbon materials - straw, wood shavings, ground, dry leaves etc. always cover the pile with carbon materials when you add poop to the pile. If you do these things, you’ll have good success with no odors.
Dear Joeni, The toilet paper is placed in the bucket and covered with sawdust. It quickly decomposes. Many people ask if they can use a bidet for cleaning themselves. The answer is probably no, because the contents of the bucket would become too wet, requiring a great deal of sawdust to absorb the extra moisture. I choose to use wet toilet paper to wash myself. This works well and does not cause moisture problems.
After watching a ton of videos and researching $$ composting toilets, this seems like the best way to go. I read most of the questions listed. Common sense does not prevail . These are obviously city people with no experience--"milk comes in a nice clean white jug from the nice clean grocery store". Ugghhhh. POOP STINKS IF YOU LEAVE IT TOO LONG! My question is: you showed a shower head, but did not explain how you deal with the toilet area so it doesn't get get soaked while showering. Please explain. Thx!
Dear Five, we made a video called How to Make Compost. Also, we answer all your questions about compost in our free Abundaculture Training Manual on pp. 177-183. Just go to Abundaculture.org to get your manual.
I see a lot of comments about the use of toilet paper and tossing it in the bucket. There is many brands found pretty much at any grocery that is 100% biodegradable. Its not the softest, but will disintegrate quickly. Also there is a cat little that is very much like pine shavings, no clay. Smells good too and works well for odors. I do like how someone mentioned about wood ash dried crushed leaves. I also heard coffee grounds Work Well too.
Im cluecless on this lifestyle. Question, what do you mean compost the bucket for at least a year? Does that mean you leave it outside in the bucket for a year and then you can use it for mulch? Or what is the purpose of a compost pile and how does that work?
But if you urinate in it or deposit on the sides of bucket, that waste bucket would have to be hosed down/ out when dumped on compost heap. Nicest idea and video. Ideal for off- grid living. Excellent for the garden
Dear Trevor, We always wash out our buckets with soapy water, no Clorox or harsh chemicals. It takes just a few minutes. Then we put the washed bucket in a shady place to air out. We’ve used the same four buckets for more than twenty years.
On average how much saw dust or pine pellets do you but on the poop 💩 after each use? Also on average how often do you dump bucket into compost pile for a family of four?
I leave mine for 2 years, but when the pile is 1/2 of the size I want, I only deposit food waste, grass and weeds, cow manure and cardboard on top of it, so the bottom layer of human stuff is composting for a full 2 years.
If you are left with any questions after watching this presentation, we may have already answered them in one of the following question answering videos!
"Jack answers questions about the composting toilet!"
th-cam.com/video/S8hQU0JwOhU/w-d-xo.html
"Composting and the Composting Toilet - Questions for the Homestead #1"
th-cam.com/video/e6RTFHQFsRk/w-d-xo.html
If your question was not addressed in one of those presentations, please feel free to ask us here or by email!
jack@abundaculture.org
Q
Who sings the song at the end of the video
Why not add charcoal or biochar with sawdust ? Just suggestion.
I am sending you these
Dear Bill,
I do not know where the fiction started that urine and feces must be separated. For twenty years we simply dumped our bucket onto the compost pile. We had no odor problems. After a year we had wonderful, clean compost in which we grew our garden. Our yields are fantastic and we have never had a hint of sickness. Don’t make this more difficult that it needs to be. God does all the work and He does it perfectly!
Hi can you pls tell me the title and author of the song that plays at the wnd of the video. Anything that talks about my master Jesus interest me. God bless
Mr. Jack did.. He wrote it and performed it
How often do you dump the bucket
@@autumnauston at my house, (I'm single), I empty mine in about 2-3weeks.
I also find it funny how it's ok to use animal watse ie manure to grow plants with but not human watse ;).
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I now have something tangible that I can show my husband to let him know other people do this! I’m not alone in my vision for our sustainable living!!
We used a sawdust bucket toilet in our motorhome for a little over a year. The bucket was under an old antique chair. We didn't have a fan for it but we never had odor problems. It wasn't in a dedicated room either, just behind a curtain. For sawdust, I'd get bags of pellets for a pellet stove, fill a bucket about 1/3 full of pellets and spray water over them. In a couple of hours, we'd have a bucket full of "pellet powder" that smelled good and covered very well! Bucket and sawdust toilets are the way to go. We just bought a school bus and are now converting it into a mobile tiny home and I'll be building the same style toilet for it! Gotta save water when you're out and about! 😊
Dear Stephen,
All that I can tell you is that I’ve been using the sawdust composting toilet for twenty-five years and I’ve never separated the urine from the feces...and I have NEVER had an odor problem. I think the main difference is that the people who manufacture composting toilets are always attempting to do the composting inside the living space. We are emptying the the bucket in our outside bins as needed, for two of us, about every 4 or 5 days.
For what it’s worth, several people have given me their manufactured compost toilets because they stunk. They switched to my method and are now happy. Also for your consideration, I don’t make a penny selling composting toilets or information, I have no reason to misinform.
I love it when he says "make your deposit" haha... because no one actually "takes a crap", they literally leave it, or "deposit" it! Nice video, keep up the good work guys!
I sometimes take the piss ! 😄
Nice presentation! Simple and straightforward without a bunch of unnecessary chatter. Thank you!
Dear Drew,
Thanks for your input. Let me explain why we manage the composting toilet as we do. In short, for twenty five years we used the toilet and found out what works for us. We used some basic criteria: simplicity and low cost. There was no need to use expensive, “eco-toilet paper. Good, soft, inexpensive toilet paper turned into excellent compost very quickly. We used pine shavings because my wife likes them best. They smelled nice and were very inexpensive. Again, the main goal of making excellent compost for the garden was enhanced with the pine shavings. Thanks for your ideas. Each person has the opportunity to do it their way. That’s one of the great things about homesteading.
Hello sir, how about the tofu cat litter? It is advertised as a biodegradable litter. May I know if it will work with the composting toilet? Thank you!
Dear Roger,
You are correct, the sawdust absorbs the urine and eliminates odor. The urine is very important to the composting process. It adds moisture and helps create nitrogen for plants.
Oh man that fan next to the composting toilet is so simple yet brilliant!!
When just my wife and I were using the toilet I would empty it about every tree or four days. One of the advantages of the sawdust toilet is that you can respond to more people using the toilet, like when you have visitors, simply by emptying it more often. I always keep three or four clean buckets ready for use.
I want to say this just one more time, there is no reason to separate urine and feces. Urine is needed in the compost pile as it is full of nutrients for plants. It will not cause odor problems because the sawdust diminishes odor and because the bucket is emptied on the outside compost pile on a regular basis.
it's nitrogen, and it helps moisten the materials
The compost toilet I bought failed. So I now use this bucket method too. It works great!
I’m sorry that you had to learn this expensive lesson the hard way. We’ve used our simple bucket and sawdust for more than two decades with no problems. I pray that all will be well for you. Your servant in Christ, Jack
Thanks so much for this! I live in Brooklyn, NY and have never lived outside of New York (I’m a born and raised Long Islander). I am looking to leave the state and get myself a little piece of land for me and my animals. I’m learning so much about going off the grid and being more self sufficient and these videos really help me out!
@@Chris-b4w8t thanks for your note. I’m glad that you are finding our information useful.
When I say that God with His grace can heal through nature and act through infinite number of things, even believers in God often knock on the head and telk me that I am mentally ill or something. And I've just been in bad condition but it keeps getting all the way better. Certainly there are many graces of God in action for matters which are missing in the world and about which people think that they are not working but work wonderfully. I hope that it will gradually change and people will be able to take advantage of the good that is contained in this matter and also be able to discover many other wonders so far hidden for humanity or old and forgotten or considered not working but works great.
Cordial greetings and blessing for You everyone ❤
Basically, bucket n chuck it!! .....Shweeet. Love the second toilet loads. U da man bruv. Respects from the UK.
What amazing information, simple and straightforward. I live in the third world and will share this idea. Thank you kind gentleman.
Thank you for sharing and showing just how easy it is to have a compost toilet!
Good information!, I'm on a mission to becoming less reliant on public utilities and becoming more environmentally responsible. I found this video to be very helpful. I live in the city right now, but plan to later have a school bus conversion . Thanks so much for your contribution!
The way you built that compost toilet with the side compartments, overall lid and the beautiful look through your painting makes this THE BEST one I've seen so far. Really great work!
Suggestive tip you could experiment with to eliminate odor:
use composted/broken down wood shavings instead, this will (appear dense and dark) eliminate odors because it will lack the airy nature of dry shavings and the natural composting will be kickstarted a whole lot faster from inside the bucket before ultimately reaching the compost pile outside.
Another way is by making your own batch of effective micro-organisms (EM), plenty of ways online, this will function as a very strong deodorizer. Keep a spray bottle of this by the toilet, use it on each deposit and you should be set for an odor-free experience.
Dear Bee, thanks for the compliment and the great ideas. We’ve never had any odor problems with the toilet, but your suggestions may be helpful to our readers.
Excellent video and the questions answered here are extremely helpful. I'm wanting to utilize the compost method and yet the "urine diverters" are so tricky to use and messy. This straight-in-the-bucket method is fabulous, and makes good sense. Many thanks!!
Finally! The answer to my question - do I need to separate? And your answer - clearly not! Very many thanks and may your God go with you x
This is so cool. Thank you. I plan on building a tiny home. This is simple and inexpensive. Love it!
Glad you like it!
Simple, inexpensive, and just what I’m looking for. Thank you for such a great video of composting toilets I’m designing a little outhouse now and this gives me a lot of confidence and is something I can wrap my head around. Cheers!
You need a 2024 fan. 😂 I will have this type of toilet in my house. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge.
Thank you! God led me to your channel I'm sure. Moving my family from city to country with the changes in the USA. Appreciate all you share. 🙏🇺🇸
Thank you man, you seem very sweet and the video was informative
No expensive fancy composting toilets for me !
I truly love your autonomous style of living. To me it is the most freedom people can have, I hope one day I can build the knowledge to live like you. Thank you for the tips.
Dear Yeh,
Thanks for your sharing about using shredded leaves as a covering in your composting toilets. May I add that leaves help add powerful micronutrients to your compost that are often missing in tired, heavily used soils. Thanks for sharing!
Great and useful information here. My question is that since most people use prescription drugs. Won't they be in the compost and would it be safe for gardens?
All I need to know for my camper build . Many thanks !
I was looking for an answer to my problem and watching your video solved my problem. thanks for your help
Glad I could help. Thanks for watching our channel.
Well... if everyone used this... imagine how much drinkable water we would save
...and, above all, a lot of artificial fertilizer...
Drinkable water falls from the sky.
Amen to that❤
@@pastureexpectationsfarm6412 true I forget about that some times
I just love to see more and more people discovering how simplicity and a 'green' mindset, fits in perfectly with the Creator's plan. Great video and thank you for sharing!
Dear Heidi, thanks for your note. Your understanding of the sawdust toilet is correct. Concerning your question about the toilet/shower combination in the Tiny House: when I shower, everything in the room gets wet. For that reason, and to keep the toilet from smelling, I keep a lid on the bucket when it’s not in use. Can sit on the toilet platform when showering if I wish. After I shower I take the opportunity to wipe down the shower enclosure, keeping everything very clean. The Tiny House toilet/shower is my favorite sawdust toilet because it’s so easy to build, takes up very little space, and is so easy to keep clean.
Your video is my favorite on composting toilets.
The take away from this video is "Keep it simple stupid". Thanks for sharing your solution. I bought a biogas digester and use it for the free cooking gas I get from my system. Take care sir and may all your days be fruitful.
Thanks for sharing your design. My wife and I are starting our journey toward off-grid living and we plan on using composting toilets as well. Appreciate seeing your toilet design as we are currently working on building an outhouse.
Dear Ones,
Thanks for your note. See p. 172 in the Abundaculture training manual for an odor-free outhouse that will also be your compost pile. You might like this plan!
Just happened to come across you and want to stay thank you so much for this Video. You explained everything so very well and in such a beautiful friendly manner. It was a pleasure learning from you.
Greetings from Germany :-)
You have the best setup I've ever seen ♥
THANK YOU, we just bought a house with 2 acres.. and we're renting out stalls for horses, I was looking around for options for the owners of the horses we take care of,, but I really didn't want to invest in a Portapotty because of the smell and the extra money it would take to get it cleaned out.. So this is a good option for us 😀
I always like to keep a scented candle lit in the bathroom while I go, also a bottle of potpourri is also handy.
I am definitely having this in my new home. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank God I found your channel. I am about to move from a rented house to my own piece of lot where I am about to build our tiny home. We don't have public sewer so I need to build a septic tank and it would take me time and extra cost. Your video on composting toilet and composting will definitely help us. Sir can you suggest me a size of composting bin to hold our toilet load for a year? I have a family of 5, the eldest is 10 years old and the youngest is 4 years old. Thank you and more power. God bless.
Very, nice! I'm going to build this! Currently, i have this big hole under the house (1920 house), whitch wasn't cleaned for 20 years (thanks to my parents).. now the whole hole is full of soil! :D and i dont want to dig it all up again.. and the toilet is used only for 3 months a year.. this is great solution for me now.. tnx! :)
P.s. i'm carpenter.. saw/wood dust is not a problem for me! ;)
Thanks, Edgar’s. I’m glad our toilet will be useful to you. We used it for twenty years and found it to be sanitary and comfortable.
Dear Lee, You need to use enough sawdust to cover the waste completely and to absorb any moisture. There should never be visible pools of liquid, although the contents of the bucket will always be damp.
Dear Susan, thanks for a good question. When you add a new bucket, you start with a few inches of sawdust. You add just enough sawdust to cover your deposit each time you use the toilet. If there is any liquid noticeable in the bucket, you add enough sawdust to absorb and cover that liquid. Remember this: the compost you are creating, with God doing most of the work, will be a tremendous asset to food production and the growth of trees. Whatever you have to pay for sawdust or whatever covering you use, will be an excellent investment.
It is good to hear an alternative opinion and experience.
Fred, this is a good question. Unless you are on chemo, the minute amounts of drugs that would pass through the body should not be a problem. You could always add more carbon mass to the compost pile to dilute chemicals that end up in the compost pile. Using a decentralized sanitation system like composting on the homestead actually is the antidote to centralized systems that concentrate all the drugs that get flushed into a system used by hundreds or thousands of people.
ancient Indian culture did this and also used the squat potty style...both good for health and environment...then times changed, rulers ruled and everything changed....
we are moving far away from what Mother Nature intended us to do in the name of comfort and modern...
these are good ways you showed in the video....doing our part to keep our surrounding clean and natural...:)
The sawdust toilet is made with a five gallon bucket. It’s dumped when it’s full. For my wife and I that was every three days or so. The reason every composting toilet except the sawdust toilet stinks, is that the waste is held for long periods of time. People have given me fancy composting toilets that had cost them thousands of dollars because they switched to the simple, sawdust toilet.
In Canada, Canadian Tire sells a 5 gallon bucket with toilet seat, called a Lug-A-Loo. That is great. Putting it into a box is more stable though. They sell liners too but I use 2 glad kitchen bags (25-45L) to line it before adding sawdust to start. If just using a 5 gallon bucket a pool noodle makes a great rim to hold the bags inside. So comfy to sit on. Yes no smell if you always cover your doo including toilet paper, with sawdust, or ripped paper or?. Tie the bags when full, take the whole pail+ bag to safe spot. Leave the bag, take the pail and rince, and re-use. I like to leave the bags for a whole year before dumping in a raised fower bed or compost pile. No chance of horrible smell then when dumping. Composting toilets spell FREEDOM, and the Humanure handbook explains the safety of them.
Great insight Judy! Thanks for your comment.
I got to say that's not only humanure for me Since I started doing it, my physical, mental and spiritual health inproved a lot. I recovered from a very hard and difficult to cure disease. Because of this, I could start doing in my life and invent many new things that I could not before due to poor health and poor general condition. Beacause of this, I was able to start working a lot physically and intellectually. I also feel better spritually- happier and freer to do good and generally as me and I can also give this happiness to others. The very sad thing is that people do not want to see that the changes that have taken place are the results of working towards humanure.
Thank you very much for this information! I really enjoyed this video!
Thank you for a wonderful video 😊💖🙏
My pleasure!
Thank you Jack for the information. It's very helpful.
Thanks for this video and info!!
I really wanted to know how to do this.....
May GOD Bless you both!!
I, Jack, wrote and performed all the music on the videos.
This statement has me singing Nightmare before Christmas, "Because, I - Jack - the Pumpkin King..."
great job!
Dear rx7fanrx8,
The song is called Master Plan. It was written and performed by Jack Dody, who also developed the Abundaculture ideas.
Dear Green Bubble, thanks for a great question. For the last year a family of five has been living and learning on our homestead. The kids are about the ages of your kids. I called them to ask your question. Assuming that each bin is about 3x3x3, you will need 8 bins. An easy way to make the bins would be to use pallets. Make a chain of three sided bins, open in the front. Cut a pallet in half for the front of the bin. Put half the panel at ground level in front to start filling the bin. When the bin is half full, put the other half of the pallet in front and finish filling the bin to the top. When the bin is full, make a marker that has the date one year from the day you finished filling the bin. That is the day you can safely use your compost for your garden. YOU CANNOT SAFELY USE YOUR COMPOST UNLESS IT HAS HAD A WHOLE YEAR TO CURE. NO EXCEPTIONS! I plant all my veggies in 100% compost. My garden yields are incredible. Let us know how things work for you!
I would like to ask a question, please. Does compost need chemicals or anything else to process it, or just throw it outside ? Thank you.
@@theendalarm243 the great thing about compost is that you don’t have to add anything in most cases. If you have sunlight and you keep the compost from getting too wet, it takes care of itself. There is an interesting caveat to my statement: You can manage the composting process by adding different things to the compost. Look at the interesting work done by Jack Todd, starting back in the 1960s. Todd was able to take soils that were contaminated with toxic substances and use the composting process to purify the soil. However, for the average gardener, nothing could be easier than using compost to turn yard waste and food scraps and even human feces into safe, useful compost that will greatly increase food production.
This means that the compost is exposed to the air and exposed to sunlight.
Merci from Montreal, Canada.
Dear Jose,
I don’t know who came up with the separation idea. We have used the sawdust toilet for twenty years with no separation. In fact, we need the urine to create better compost. If you follow our instructions carefully, you don’t need to separate.
Dear TG,
No, peat moss is not a good covering. It is basically sterile, which is exactly what you don’t want. Pine shavings are my favorite because they have a sweet smell. As they disintegrate, they encourage the growth of microbes that create healthy, rich compost that will enhance plant growth. If wood shavings are not available, you can use any high-carbon material that has the consistency of confetti: old ground hay, shredded leaves, very dry grass, rice hulls, peanut shells, etc.
Thank you for sharing this.
My pleasure!
Dear JaDeB,
We purchase pine shavings at an agricultural supply store. The come in bales that cost less than $10. A bale will last my wife and I more than a month. It’s a good investment because we’re building the soil on our property and we’re not fouling precious water.
You can also use other covering materials like rice hulls, ground peanut shells, shredded leaves, etc. it should be a high carbon material with the consistency of confetti.
I also use a composting toilet, I find coconut husk not only quickly dehydrates #2 but also takes the odor away quickly. Afterwards I use wood chips for aesthetic purposes. In my tiny house I use a grey water system for the rest of water drainage. I find guest dont enjoy the idea but I've gotten used to it.
Thanks, Shane, for all of your excellent information.
Magnificent sharing. Thanks lot. We are doing kind of the same. God good ideas from you. Bless
I live in the beautiful Green Valley of eastern CT. I started cycling on local bike tracks this year with my wife. The tracks are in sections along the Quinnebaug river. I quickly caught on to the fact that the tracks and park areas were on devalued land from several sewage treatment plants along the river. The sewage is treated and separated and dumped into the river. I always wondered why our river didn't look healthy like the ones I often visit in lesser populated areas in NH and ME. After a lot of research there are major concerns over treated waste water dilution. The same old money owns the wastewater plants, the energy companies, and A LOT of rental real estate in this area.
Thanks for the report, erNomic. Yes, the existing infrastructure will be hard to change. One method of change would be to create alternatives like the composting toilet while you have a more traditional flush toilet on the same property. I have found that it is easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
Dear Arthur, using cat litter in your composting toilet would be a bad idea. Cat litter does not decompose and will not provide any nutrients for the lawn or garden. One of the purposes of the composting toilet is to use what would be waste as a precious resource. On my homestead, I have learned how valuable compost is, especially human compost. Our soil just gets richer and richer. Our garden yields get better and better. A good composting system is one of the keys to an abundant future.
Best & cheapest composting toilet video ive seen, super easy & low vost. Probably no need for a fan as well, saw dust should get rid of odour ?
@@GR-1111 you could live without the fan, but it really helps with odors immediately after using the toilet.
Amazes me how the old fashioned way is usually best
Very good setup 👍
great instructions! thank you!
Happy to help!
Dear Katherine, if a compost pile is managed properly, you will not have a fly problem. I have a home in the city and use a 55 gallon plastic barrel with 1” holes drilled all around. I also have a place in the country with a large composting operation. Even in cow country, flies have never been a problem. May I suggest that you view our presentation on composting on our Abundaculture TH-cam channel. Also, please download our free Abundaculture training manual and read the section on composting carefully. You don’t need any probiotics or anything else. I would imagine that you have done two things incorrectly: 1) you have allowed the pile to become too wet. 2) You need to add more dry carbon materials - straw, wood shavings, ground, dry leaves etc. always cover the pile with carbon materials when you add poop to the pile. If you do these things, you’ll have good success with no odors.
Just found this. You mentioned a 55 gallon barrel with holes. Please be more specific about the set up.
You rock dude. Just the video I needed. Thank you sir.
Dear Joeni,
The toilet paper is placed in the bucket and covered with sawdust. It quickly decomposes. Many people ask if they can use a bidet for cleaning themselves. The answer is probably no, because the contents of the bucket would become too wet, requiring a great deal of sawdust to absorb the extra moisture. I choose to use wet toilet paper to wash myself. This works well and does not cause moisture problems.
Thank you so much. I'm moving to the country and really was arrived about which computing toilet and type to get.
awesome video sir
ALL the info I needed. Thank you
Thank you for this video♡ God bless you♡
G'day mate thanks for sharing your video thats what I'll build on my rural property 👍
My grandma had a tiny home toilet on the front porch and we called it a hunny bucket
Thanks for the info.been wondering how the compost head worked
You are amazing. I'm looking at if living in a homestead would be a viable option with my disabilities.
After watching a ton of videos and researching $$ composting toilets, this seems like the best way to go. I read most of the questions listed. Common sense does not prevail . These are obviously city people with no experience--"milk comes in a nice clean white jug from the nice clean grocery store". Ugghhhh. POOP STINKS IF YOU LEAVE IT TOO LONG!
My question is: you showed a shower head, but did not explain how you deal with the toilet area so it doesn't get get soaked while showering. Please explain. Thx!
A very good design, what's the across measurement? Thanks
Love the video
My pleasure!
Excelent! Very simple and cheap! Great job!
Please make a video on how to make a compost pile & where to locate it?
Dear Five, we made a video called How to Make Compost. Also, we answer all your questions about compost in our free Abundaculture Training Manual on pp. 177-183. Just go to Abundaculture.org to get your manual.
We already have several compost videos. Check them out at Abundaculture TH-cam.
Excellent
I see a lot of comments about the use of toilet paper and tossing it in the bucket. There is many brands found pretty much at any grocery that is 100% biodegradable. Its not the softest, but will disintegrate quickly. Also there is a cat little that is very much like pine shavings, no clay. Smells good too and works well for odors. I do like how someone mentioned about wood ash dried crushed leaves. I also heard coffee grounds Work Well too.
Im cluecless on this lifestyle. Question, what do you mean compost the bucket for at least a year? Does that mean you leave it outside in the bucket for a year and then you can use it for mulch? Or what is the purpose of a compost pile and how does that work?
But if you urinate in it or deposit on the sides of bucket, that waste bucket would have to be hosed down/ out when dumped on compost heap. Nicest idea and video. Ideal for off- grid living. Excellent for the garden
Dear Trevor,
We always wash out our buckets with soapy water, no Clorox or harsh chemicals. It takes just a few minutes. Then we put the washed bucket in a shady place to air out. We’ve used the same four buckets for more than twenty years.
Thank you very much for all your infos and ideas and instructions. Jesus may bless you all!
Dear Stacey,
We use regular, white toilet paper. We avoid the chemicals in colored TP. The TP composts quickly and provides cellulose.
What about if the power goes out and live at an apt. And no compost pile. Canna bag be used and dispose of the used bag in a refuse bin ?
Hello. Great info! Would pine or oak sawdust be ok to use? If not, whatwould be ok? Thank you
Pine or oak sawdust would be fine. I like the smell of the pine. Avoid cedar sawdust as it is usually expensive and very slow to decompose.
Many thanks 🌹🌼
Such a great information
On average how much saw dust or pine pellets do you but on the poop 💩 after each use? Also on average how often do you dump bucket into compost pile for a family of four?
I use about three handfuls on average. The idea is to completely cover solid waste and to absorb urine so that there are never pools of it.
I leave mine for 2 years, but when the pile is 1/2 of the size I want, I only deposit food waste, grass and weeds, cow manure and cardboard on top of it, so the bottom layer of human stuff is composting for a full 2 years.
That sounds very intriguing! Composting is an art.🙂