Materials

18’’ x 18’’ piece of .75’’ plywood
18’’ x 3’’ piece of .75’’ plywood
Two hinges
Two .75’’ x 10’’ x 18’’ boards
Two .75’’ x 10’’ x 19.5’’ boards
Four .75’’ x 3’’ x 12’’ boards
Toilet seat
5-gallon bucket

Instructions

• Cut a hole in one of the larger pieces of plywood so that the 5-gallon bucket fits. Then hinge this piece of plywood to another piece. This will enable you to lift up the top piece of plywood so you can remove the bucket.
• Build a box by screwing the four boards together. This will be the base.
• Attach the four boards so that they go through the top of the plywood. These will be the legs of the toilet.
• Place the toilet seat over the hole and drill it into the top piece of plywood.

This is a simple composting toilet, but if you’re comfortable with carpentry, you can make it more convenient and stylish. Even with a little varnish, you can improve the look of your composting toilet.

Don’t forget to create an area outside where you will be putting your waste from the composting toilet. The compost will need to be monitored, so it’s helpful if you have a compost thermometer to ensure that the environment is suitable for the bacteria to break down.

Environmental Advantages

With traditional toilets, your waste is often sent to a wastewater treatment plant or septic tank. Wastewater treatment plants use chemicals such as chlorine to treat the water, and land needs to be used for dams and reservoirs, which are costly endeavors. Septic tanks have the potential of wearing down over time and cracking. If you don’t catch these leaks, your wastewater can contaminate your well water or nearby water sources.

In either scenario, there is potential for a large effluent to contaminate watercourse and oceans. Polluted water runoff can also affect the quality of soil and groundwater. So why is a composting toilet better than these sewage systems?

Household Benefits

Water conservation is important, and a composting toilet will help your household reduce its water intake by 20 to 50 percent. Unlike a regular toilet, the composting toilet doesn’t need to be flushed regularly. You might think there will be a constant odor in your home, but many composting toilets have a suction air flow system.

In addition to conserving water, you will also be reducing your household maintenance costs. Septic tanks can be costly to repair, and if you need a new one, you’re looking at $5,000 to $10,000. Sewage and water rates are also expensive, but you can save approximately $500 per year by switching to a composting toilet.

Last but not least is the fact that your waste will be recycled. You can use your waste compost to fertilize your trees and ornamental gardens. This will help enrich the soil instead of contaminating it.

So when are you going to switch to a composting toilet?

A composting toilet is a simple way to turn your waste into something useful. It’s common to use cow and horse manure to enrich the soil, so why not use human waste as fertilizer? A human’s manure is full of nitrogen, so it’s just as an effective fertilizer. In comparison to processed and chemical containing fertilizers, it’s more efficient and eco-friendly.

Similar to a compost bin that you would use for food scraps and yard refuse, a composting toilet contains waste (urine and fecal matter). A composting toilet can be made with simple items such as a bucket and toilet seat. If you don’t like the idea of going to the bathroom outside, you can keep the composting toilet in your garage. Once one or two buckets are full, you take it outside and add it to your human manure compost pile. As with any compost bin, it should remain odor free as long as it’s maintained properly. Since it contains human waste, you will have to take some precautions to prevent groundwater contamination and scavenging animals. However, it’s a fairly simple process to get the hang of.

Within a couple years, the compost can be used as fertilizer around your home and even in certain areas of your garden (e.g. blueberry bushes, apple orchards, etc.). A composting toilet has numerous benefits including saving water, reducing your dependency on water treatment plants and eliminating the need for chemical fertilizers. This method of composting will also help you become one step closer to making your home a zero-waste system.