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How to Build a Simple Bucket Compost Toilet

Reasons for building a composting toilet Traditional toilets use up to 5 gallons of water on a single flush whereas composting toilets need very little to no water. Sewage treatment plants require significant infrastructure, operating expenditures, and energy to clean wastewater. Septic tanks are expensive and may not be possible depending on land conditions and environmental regulations. A do-it-yourself composting toilet does not require any plumbing and is inexpensive to build. A composting toilet lets you dispose of your waste in the greenest possible way by turning it into compost that feeds your plants.  A composting toilet is not an outhouse (latrine, privy). When properly built and utilized, it gives off no foul odors since the composting process is carried out by bacteria under aerobic conditions… Read More »How to Build a Simple Bucket Compost Toilet

What’s the Scoop About Composting and Why Compost Now?

What’s the Scoop About Composting? Composting offers an environmentally superior alternative to placing organic material in landfills because composting reduces methane production. Methane is 26 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. In a landfill, decomposing organic material in anaerobic conditions (by microbes in the absence of oxygen) releases methane into the atmosphere. Anaerobic fermentation is common in landfills and open stockpiles such as manure piles. Global emissions from waste have almost doubled since 1970; and according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, landfills contribute 15.1% of methane emissions found in our atmosphere. These emissions are from bokash the organic matter in landfills – waste that could be composted by us instead! Compost… Read More »What’s the Scoop About Composting and Why Compost Now?

You’ve Built Your Composting Toilet – What Do You Do Now?

Operating a composting toilet doesn’t require any special training. When you begin to use your new composting toilet for the first time, it is a good idea to cover the bottom of the composting vault with a few inches of good compost or rich soil. This adds the beneficial organisms that inoculate the system. It also provides a medium for the absorption of liquids How is odor controlled After each use, get into the habit of using a “dry flush” cover material. The best recipe is one part compost or good soil to one part dry carbon material such as straw, wood shavings, bean chaff, peat moss, rice husks, etc. Sometimes a small portion of ash can be added. The dry carbon material acts as a… Read More »You’ve Built Your Composting Toilet – What Do You Do Now?

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