One of our first challenges upon moving to Tabletop Homestead was handling waste disposal without running water. Our first thought was an outhouse, but we discovered that we could only dig about 32" before running into sandstone, and 32" just isn't really deep enough for a functional outhouse. After reading The Humanure Handbook, we became interested in the simple sawdust composting toilet. We initially worked with the idea in an outhouse situation. We built what looked like an outhouse, but instead of a hole in the ground, we used a bucket and covered with wood chips. The bucket was accessed from the back of the outhouse and emptied into a composting area. We found that this worked quite satisfactorily, then got brave and decided to try the principle in the house. Thus, the sawdust toilet pictured on this page.
Using a sawdust toilet
The sawdust toilet works on the principle of aerobic (with air) decomposition, as opposed to sewer, septic or lagoon systems that use anaerobic (absence of air) decomposition. Aerobic decomposition is what makes compost, leaf litter, etc. and results in an earthy smell. Aerobic decomposition smells like, well, sewage. The sawdust toilet consists of a 5-gallon bucket housed in an attractive cedar box. It's "flushed" by covering with dry, organic material. We found that sawdust works better than wood chips and provides as much odor control as a conventional flush toilet. Historically dry toilets sometimes even used dry dirt, and were called "earth closets." When the bucket is full, it's covered and taken out to the composting area and dumped. The fresh contents are covered with some of the older compost. The bucket is washed out, sprayed with a bit of bleach water and returned to the box. In the year that we've used it, we've noticed no flies, no worms, no evidence of animal activity and no odor from the composting area. After about 9 months we started a new pile, and now the original pile is decomposing nicely and has shrunk to less than 1/2 it's initial size. The whole project has worked so well that we've decided that in our situation it just doesn't make sense to mix good water with poop.
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 "Sawdust Potty Jr" using a coffee can |
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