Composing Toilets are no longer a dirty word. The advancements in Compost systems are now one of the premier systems recommended for your Off Grid home and will save you a considerable amount of money when it comes to doing a traditional system with septic.
There are so many misconceptions about building and living in your Off Grid Home that from word of mouth there are people who just won't look at some options...We are here to let everyone know that COMPOSTING YOUR S#IT may be the way to go with all the advancement in luxury that these systems provide today...this is not your grandparents outhouse anymore!
So...WHAT IS A COMPOSTING TOILET SYSTEM?
A composting Toilet is no longer some outhouse behind the main house where you just crap in a hole and visions of the most fowl smells come to mind! That is NOT what today's Composting Toilets provide. A composting system in your Off Grid Home is literally the perfect system if you desire to go completely green and save yourself time and money.
A composting toilet is a toilet that treats Human waste with its biological process call composting. The process decomposes the organic waste and turns it into compost that can be used to make your farm or garden fertile. Bacteria and fungi break down the matter under these controlled aerobic conditions. These Toilets for the most part use no water and no flushing and are removable when full to put in a compost pile to continue the break down cycle. The way the Composting Toilets work is that the design allows you to easily add CEDAR, SAWDUST, COCONUT COIR or PEAT MOSS right before and after each use.
This practice creates air pockets in the human waste which promote aerobic decomposition. SHOCKINGLY this HIGHLY IMPROVES the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and reduces the Odor if such a system to almost NOTHING! In this system...your S#IT DON'T STINK!
The great thing about composting cycle is the longer retention time in the composting chamber facilitates pathogen die-off. The end product can also be moved to a secondary system to allow more time for composting to further reduce pathogens and odor.
Composting toilets, together with the secondary composting step, produces this end product that can be used to enrich soil, gardens and small farms as we have mentioned. Some composting toilets have separate systems for liquid urine or a diversion system in the single toilet bowl to collect the urine to control excess moisture as we don't want to PISS & S#IT in the same location because that would facilitate odor and smell.
The old concepts and ideas of what a Composting Toilet is has been literally FLUSHED down the Toilet...those days are gone! These toilets are a part of your home like any bathroom system and if creative enough, can be more luxurious and have far less upkeep than a regular water feed toilet and septic system!
We need to get out of the old way mentality and realize that these new Composting systems are better for us, better for the environment and cost us VERY LITTLE to maintain and will give us plenty of compost in the end to use as we please.
Building your Off Grid Home isn't just about being energy independent...it's about being independent and on every level of your life and being a part of the great outdoors. This is the lowest way to maintain your waste system and the #1 way to go green. Although more homes should be using Compost systems for their waste there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for you if build an Off Grid home and don't put in a Composting Toilet system.
Interesting in learning more about Living a Sustainable lifestyle off Grid? Consider downloading our eBook...LIVING OFF GRID IN HAWAII and start taking back control of your life and future!