How to Use a Humanure Toilet (Composting Toilet)
Humanure Composting Toilet - scoop and pour some sawdust on your excrement
Sprinkle some sawdust to help eliminate the turdy odor
A humanure toilet is used in the same way as a regular toilet – all human waste and toilet paper is collected in the bucket. However, instead of flushing when you finish, a scoop of sawdust is thrown in to cover the waste. It’s a simple habit to get into, and odorless if you use a correct amount of sawdust.
The sawdust has two functions. It covers the waste, blocking odors, and it brings to the mix a high carbon component. Feces and especially urine are ‘nitrogenous’ material, which, in composting terms means that it provides bacteria with nitrogen for building proteins and reproducing. ‘Carbonaceous’ materials, such as sawdust, provide bacteria with energy. A good mix of the two is a recipe for rapid hot composting.
When a bucket is almost full, the lid of the humanure toilet is lifted, the lid of the bucket is secured, and the bucket is replaced with an empty one. Full buckets can be stored for weeks before composting with no problems. If you decide to stick with just the 4 buckets in your system, I recommend emptying them 2 at a time. If you’ve got a large family I recommend additional buckets and emptying 4 at a time.