What a composting toilet isn't (and why it matters)

Terminology

'Composting toilets' are becoming increasingly common among the RV, Boating and Tiny Home communities. We wanted to be clear to our customers on what we mean when we say 'Composting Toilet' The technical term for what Compo Closet sells is Urine Diverting Dry Toilet or UDDTs. Catchy, right? While we, and the everyone else call them 'Composting Toilets' they don't produce 'finished' compost. Instead our products, like the other popular composting toilets take advantage of the dry, aerobic (with oxygen) composting process to help reduce the odour and volume of poop and reduce time spent emptying,

What's so good about UDDT's then?

Check out the resource page on why compost for more detail. Suffice to say that in situations without abundant water or sanitation services they are a means to conserve precious drinking water they don't smell bad and can be emptied less regularly than a chemical toilet. Compo Closet was founded to produce more compact, and portable models for the RV, Boat and Tinyhome communities, where fresh water is scarce and plumbing isn't available.

So... What comes out the other end?

When you empty the solids of a 'composting toilet' - you don't always get 'finished' compost, hummus or humanure. In the case of the smaller, more compact, 'self contained' or 'self compositing' models produced by (List of competitors coming up...) Compo Closet, Nature's Head, Airhead toilet, Separett, Sun-Mar, Kildwick, Strumpet and Trollop or DIY versions. Pretty much anything you'd put in a Van, Boat and most TinyHomes. If you're after safe, sanitised hummus, you're either going to have to wait a long time or put in some energy, probably both - which requires more space. Head over and buy the humanure handbook. This is by far the most comprehensive resource on dealing with your sh*t. (Book review coming soon!). If you're after a one-stop poop composting shop check out Sun-Mar's Centrex range.

What to do with your poop

If you are on the road and don't have a humanure compost pile, the most common way to dispose of your partially-composted poop is to put it in a compostable bag and bin it. Please be considerate which bin you choose. As more people adopt composting toilets due to their advantages, new challenges arise. The first will likely be bin-capacity at popular locations. If you have a fixed location and the space - stay tuned for a review of the best solutions for dealing with your poop - the best being to finish the composting process naturally! We are looking for people to work with to help solve issues arising from the increased use of composting toilets. Please contact us if you want to share a particular problem situation or have a suggestion. Get creative - what about a poop incinerator that charges your phone?!