Cover material for composting toilet while on the road?

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herekittykitty

herekittykitty

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Joined
Oct 26, 2013
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Birch Bay, WA
This is a pretty narrow subject, so I'm hoping those with composting toilets will see this and help answer it:

Supposedly sawdust from raw wood is the best cover material. Which I'm sure I could find a reliable source for if my composting toilet were in a S&B home. But since it's going to be all over the country, I figure I'd better decide what to use from among some readily-available-everywhere choices.

For fun, I went into our large farm supply/hardware/garden store in town to see what was available. Besides sawdust, peat moss is another first choice, but the only peat moss this place carried came from Miracle Grow. Not only do I not want to pay for "enriched" peat moss that I'm only going to use like glorified cat litter; I also don't want anything helping anything else to grow in there! And if this is what's available where I am now...well, I just don't want to be on the road having to try garden store after garden store trying to find plain peat moss.

In the pet section they had white pine bedding. Smaller than chips but bigger than sawdust, and it comes compressed = will save on storage space. That would probably be my first choice, as this kind of bedding is readily available even in many grocery stores, in a pinch.

I also thought of those compressed sawdust logs, which we used in our woodstove. Have no wax or other fillers, just compressed sawdust (those things burn great, BTW; cleanly and completely). Those logs would turn back into sawdust if they became damp. I spent a decent amount of time sweeping up sawdust.

So if you have a composting toilet in your RV, can you tell me what your choices are for cover material while on the road?

Karen
 
I think you will find very few, if any, RV's equipped with composting toilet systems. The main reason is likely the space available for the storage of materials which must be held in the system for a while to allow composting to take place. The holding tanks are not large in most cases and they are just that, a temporary place to hold waste material until a dumping facility can be found. They are not septic systems....

Composting systems are fine for a S & B but probably won't work very well for a vehicle that moves around.
 
We use that cat litter at home, for our cats, and it is wonderful. But too heavy to use for our toilet. And newspaper has specifically been described as really poor cover material (The Humanure Handbook).

I'm not looking for an RV that has a dry toilet. Any RV we get is going to have one because we're going to put it in...similar to what the Wynns have done, though we're not using theirs. Doesn't take up anymore space than the existing marine toilet and I've already done quite a bit of research on the subject, with the exception of where to find cover material on the road. (Should prob ask the Wynns but I doubt they'd have time to respond right now as they're busy swapping out motorhomes at the moment.)

We're actually not composting the material, as you are right--pretty impossible in an RV--but that's what the toilet is called.

I was hoping I could find one or two people on the forums with actual experience finding effective cover material that both works AND is readily available everywhere in the country.
 
We have 2 composting toilets at our S&B at the lake and I find the best mix is regular peat moss and wood shavings like you get from planing wood on a wood planer . White pine bedding and most any other shavings will work other then cedar . Sawdust is a little too fine and mixed with the peat will not let the compost breath properly . Neither will straight peat moss  . If you have room mix a 50-50 bach of shavings and peat and keep in your storage compartment and theb get a small pail with lid to keep near your toilet . You dont need to have a great amount at hand as my toilets ar a 4 person toilet and I put in 1 handful of mix a day . Been using the toilets 5 years like this and works great .

Bill
 
How about contacting local cabinet shops and see if you can get some sawdust from them. They would probably give it to you.
 
Water Dog said:
How about contacting local cabinet shops and see if you can get some sawdust from them. They would probably give it to you.
Click to expand...
Sawmills are the place to get sawdust.  If you are in the Midwest, there s/b be several around.
 
We use a Luggable Loo using Double Doodie bags in our sailboat. 

We add planer shavings from my wood shop,  a cabinet shop should be able to provide all you need.  Our goal is odor mitigation not compost. 

It works for 3-4 days if solids are all that go in the Loo and liquids go elsewhere.

 
[quote author=oldman101]
If you have room mix a 50-50 bach of shavings and peat and keep in your storage compartment and theb get a small pail with lid to keep near your toilet
[/quote]

Thanks for the tip! I know I can find those pine shavings everywhere; any place that has a pet shop, or for that matter, even a WalMart.

Where do you get just plain peat moss? I mean, without the "benefit" of added Miracle Grow  ::)

As for the woodshop, cabinetry shop, and sawmill idea, that might work when we're stopped for several weeks. I guess after we're set up I can look for/ask about one of those near wherever we are.

BTW, this is the enclosure we selected. http://www.thecompostingtoilet.net/storemadeinamerica/ I think they're just beautiful, and way more affordable than the leading two plastic ones.
 
Peat Moss can be found in many sizes at nurseries and greenhouses it is a soil additive and does not come with fertilizer additive as a general rule most nursery men and growers want to control their own fertilizer application.

Miracle Grow is for lazy gardeners who want to just water their plants.
 


BTW, this is the enclosure we selected. http://www.thecompostingtoilet.net/storemadeinamerica/ I think they're just beautiful, and way more affordable than the leading two plastic ones.

I think that if you look a little closer at the unit you are thinking about it is little more than a Luggable Loo with out the Double Doodie bags I referenced above.  No actual composting will take place,  it is just a small dry holding tank system (bucket) and odor mitigation (wood chips).  With a fancy wood outer cover.

A real composting toilets  are  normally vented and has a method to stir the dry components once separated from the wet and have 120 or 12V power too.  They are also quite expensive.

http://www.sun-mar.com/

http://www.natureshead.net/


 
Yes, I understand. As I said in another reply, not interested in actually composting, as that's impossible on the road. Just using the most-used term for what I'm looking for.

A luggable loo is butt-ugly. We were looking for something attractive that, except for those already aware of this way of waste disposal, wouldn't make it obvious that we're...um...crapping inna bucket.

Reportedly (from people using the bucket method) there is no smell when you use a judicious amount of cover material. Many people have said they only smell "earthy" in their RV; as in, it smells like peat moss. For me, a far more attractive smell than toilet chemicals.

I have considered cat litter and may still, as we have to lug it around for the cats anyway. It's just that it's heavy and I don't want the extra weight, but World's Best Cat Litter (the corn-based one Great Horned Owl mentioned) is just excellent. Clumps immediately and we have absolutely no smell in our bathroom (where box is located). Might be because we feed them raw, though.

For now I guess I will try UNTREATED peat moss, mixed with shavings, since I'm sure I can find those anywhere in the country (except the town I live in right now). For longer stays we'll look for places which would be glad to simply hand over their (free) sawdust.
 
aahhmmm just cause I am curious and seeing as your not really composting... So I can not do any research on google.

What are you going to do with the "business" and cover material once it is time to dump it?
 
We have a compost toilet in our RV and love it. When we are done fulltiming - compost toilet is there to stay in whatever home we move in next. We use organic pet ceder or pine bedding - easily found at any pet store or walmart in the country. Smells lovely and super cheap - we keep it in a bucket in the shower most of the time.

We also toss our coffee grounds in there and save our drains!  8)
 
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