Our composting toilet is low cost, reliable, and works like a charm. We have followed the Humanure Handbook in how we manage our compost system. Our toilet is inside the bathroom in our home. It looks like a regular toilet, but it doesn't have a tank in the back because it is a water free system. There is a toilet lid and seat. When you remove the cover there is a 5 gallon bucket inside with sawdust lining the bottom of the bucket. You use the toilet by sitting on the seat. Everything goes in- all human waste including urine. Once you're finished you cover the waste with sawdust. We keep a bucket of sawdust next to the toilet. We collect sawdust from a local mill once a month for free. It's a waste product that is then turned into compost. After covering the waste with sawdust we light a match if there is any lingering odor and drop the burned match into the toilet. Then wash your hands as you normally would. We put food and animal waste into the toilet as well and cover with sawdust each time we add material. Once the bucket is full, you remove it from the toilet, put a lid on it, and place a new bucket into the toilet. We fill a 5 gallon bucket in about 3 days. We keep 6 buckets, so we have enough to last us 2 weeks. Once all the buckets are full, we bring them outside to our compost bin.
We have two compost bins outside- one that is active, and one that is inactive. They are built with wooden pallets and the lower gaps are filled with hay to prevent compost from falling out onto the ground. We feed new material into the active bin for one year while the inactive bin cures for a year.
When we have filled all our composting buckets, we bring them outside to the active compost bin. We also bring any gray water, a 5 gallon bucket of fresh water (filled halfway), our shower pump (we switch the shower head with a nozzle sprayer), biodegradeable soap, white vinegar, and toilet scrub brushes for cleaning. We have a long outdoor thermometer that we use to monitor the temperature of the compost. We remove the thermometer and set it aside. We use a pitchfork that is only used for our compost and open the center of the pile. We use the pitchfork to move the hay to the sides of the compost. Then we open the pile by moving the material from the center out to the sides. Next, we dump each compost bucket into the well we have opened up in the center of the compost pile. Then we close the pile back up by using the pitchfork to bring the older compost back in and over the new material.
The next stage is cleaning out the buckets. We do this by using any gray water we have for the initial rinse of each bucket. All dirty water is poured over the top of the compost from the buckets. This removes the majority of the sawdust and material inside each bucket. Next, we clean each bucket with fresh water and soap. This is done by dropping the shower pump into a bucket of clean water and using the nozzle sprayer to rinse the sides and bottom of each bucket. A small amount of soap is squirted into the bottom of the bucket and we scrub the inside of the bucket out with a designated toilet brush. This soapy water is dumped on top of the compost pile. A small amount of vinegar is poured into the bucket and sprayed down with fresh water and dumped onto the compost for the final rinse. We do this with each bucket. Then we pour sawdust into the bottom of each bucket (about 2-3 inches thick). We rinse each bucket lid by spraying them with the spray nozzle over the compost so that all of the dirty water and material go into the compost. We cover the compost with fresh hay and place the thermometer back into the center of the compost.
If the temperature is low and not decomposing material very quickly, we add all purpose flour (about 4lb) into the compost as we add material from the buckets. The temperature should range between 90-120 degrees F. In the winter the compost is colder than in the summer, but it shouldn't drop below 60 degrees F. If it does, spike the temperature by adding flour the next time you add more compost material. We keep the compost protected from snow in the winter by placing sheet metal on top of the bin. Your compost should not be too dry or too wet. It should be damp like a rung out sponge, but not a dripping sponge.
We have always changed from one compost bin to the other during the month of May each year. This works out perfectly for prepping your gardens at the beginning of the growing season in Vermont. We do this by removing the front side of the finished compost pile that has been curing for a year. Then we shovel out all of the finished compost (it has a dark golden color and everything will have decomposed at this point) and place in a pile. We leave about 6-8" of material at the bottom of the compost bin and screw the front of the bin back into place. Now it's ready to start receiving new compost material for a year.