This is really just a hole in the ground lined with concrete under the
floor with no actual isolation from the sub floor area. This means fumes move
at will to all reaches of the house.
These incredibly noxious fumes drove me to stop using the pit.
I still use the hole above it as the point of delivery but after I had
the pit emptied a few times, an activity which *increases* the noxiousness
of the smell, I changed to a composting method.
First I had the pit emptied
and thoroughly cleaned, hoseing it out as it was being vacuumed. I made a wooden shelf which I placed across
the pit. Then I bought the biggest bucket I could find that would fit
through the little doorway. About 10 liters. Larger would be handy but
fortunately I don't hold parties often.
Then from not far down the road I arranged a supply of
sawdust from the local timber merchant. The finest sawdust he had so
as to preclude air movement across the fecal matter as well as to prevent
access to flies. A considerable problem for me as this pit was not isolated
from the general atmosphere so I had the potential for contamination
of my kitchen surfaces should the flies choose to visit there.
I liberally poor sawdust down the hole after any business.
Then as the situation demands I remove the bucket and empty into the
compost bins in the garden. See picture on right. These bins are open
at the bottom to allow the liquids to drain away and the worms to come
up for mealtime.
The advice I received from a friend in Australia who is
doing his thesis on composting toilets boiled down to "lots of
dry carbonaceous material - sawdust is perfect."
I place all my food compost in here which has the added
benefit of meaning that my garbage doesn't develop a smell of its own
should I miss garbage day and have the plastic bags sitting around longer
than usual. Nicer for the garbage man too I guess.
I also place my garden clippings in here as well, usually
quite bulky but eventually the moisture seeps out and the mass reduces
considerably. To speed things up I know leave the garden refuse in piles on the concrete. They dry quite well over a few days and then make a more valuable contribution to the compost heap as they help pull moisture from the humanure. This gets you to the end result faster - aerobic composting and odor elimination.
The pictures on this page are from the first bin I started
over a year ago. Note that at that time I hadn't sourced my sawdust
out so there was a real lack of dry carbonaceous material. But as the
pictures show the material as still progressed nicely and there is NO
SMELL in my backyard. Although the toilet room itself has slightly musty
sawdust smell. A mild inconvenience compared to the previous scenario.
I hacked open the cylinder of composted matter and the
only real un composted items where eggshells and some matted grasses
that I'd put in there after a serious weeding.
[Ed. note: we should research a story on why eggshells are a serious
weed problem in Japan]
I separated these out and then spread the 'soil' on my garden beds to
be covered in black plastic for a few weeks to keep the temperature
in and allow some more time for any possible pathogens to be attacked
by various gribblies (technical term) in the ground. Also prevents the
flies from doing their filth smuggling racket.
I think it's a gorgeous colour. Better than the original anyway. To the right you can see some 'normal' soil from my yard thrown in for comparison. I dig a small hole first before placing the bin on top. This gives a bit more storage space and a bit more of a temptation for the worms.
If you have any experiences of a similar nature, keep
them to yourself, no just kidding please tell me all and help spread
the word that farmers love to hear.
Good cheap fertilizer is a shit pit away.
Below is not a picture of my toilet, I wish, but it is
a beautiful example of the kind of simplicity of do-it-yourself compost
toileting. I stole this picture from a site I highly recommend, Joe
Jenkins Humanure Handbook. In fact I think it's *his* toilet .. hope
he doesn't mind <gulp>. Joe's entire book is viewable at that site.
Please take a look for great info on composting human manure (humanure)
and how to build your own privvy and compost facilities.
