For me, it seems insane that we would use water to flush away our human waste and create so much black water that then needs to be processed.  When we lived in the city we would go through 225 gallons of water a day, most of that water was to flush toilets.  Now that we live off grid and compost our human waste, we now use 25 gallons a day and generate only gray water (no human waste).  That is nearly a 90% reduction of water usage.  Imagine if everyone did that!  So how do we do it?

Humanure

We don't have a flush toilet which contributes to the creation of a black water system, sewage field, septic tank and all the problems and complexities of those systems.  Instead I build a wooden box which is tall enough to fit over a five gallon pail.  The box has a seat so that we can sit and a lid to cover it all when not in use.  It was made with 1/2 inch plywood and finished well.  

Our humanure toilet with the lid closed.

Humanure toilet with the lid open.

We haul out the pail once a day and pour it onto the humanure compost pile, which I already talked about in a post a few days ago.  We have two pails that we use for the human waste.  When we dump the pail, we then turn the pail up-side-down and leave it out by the compost pile.  We pick up the other pail that had at least a day to drip dry and air out.  We bring that pail back in and then put the box back on top of the pail.  

The pail beside the toilet has the carbon for covering up when ever somebody leaves a deposit.  We find leaves work the best, but we have also used saw dust, chain saw dust and even mill dust as well.  The point is, if the toilet stinks, then you don't have enough carbon.  So by using leaves and wood products, that provides all the carbon one needs to help control any odors that may come from the toilet.  

By emptying the pail every day, it also controls odors as it will start to cook if you leave the pail in the house for more than a few days. 

Our leaf box, which sits outside behind the shop.

In order to ensure we have enough carbon for a year, we collect a pile of leafs each fall.  There is usually enough just in the yard to fill our leaf bin, which is 4x4x8 in size.  When we fill it half full, that is usually enough carbon for the humanure toilet for a family of four for a whole year.  If we run out, we augment with the saw dust from my table saw and chain saw.  We have also found it handy building relationships with shops in town that make furniture as they usually have dumpsters full of saw dust and they are more than happy to have people take it away for them.  

Obviously we don't put non-biodegradable products in our compost.  My wife made cloth to replace her feminine products.  She washes them on a regular basis and uses this instead of the toxic, unhealthy crap they sell in the store.  It is a bit more work, but her health and well being has improved greatly as a result.  We don't have any of those products to worry about, so the only thing being composted is leaves, our human waste and toilet paper.  It composts well and goes towards feeding the grass in the pasture.  

If all hell broke lose in the world, we would use cloth or even leaves for wiping as well.  It is a last resort, but if we were unable to get paper for what ever reason, we have plans to accommodate that issue.  

Doing this type of work requires that we let go of the icky factor and recognize that everything has a place and purpose.  Our poop is not toxic if we don't life too close to one another, create huge volumes by using water or contaminate it by consuming chemicals, drugs, etc.  To break the disease cycle requires that we be consciously aware of how we compost and distribute the nutrients.  Manure is GOLD when you live this type of life style!

Our methods have worked for well over 10 years and nobody gets sick here.  Our compost piles don't stink up the neighbourhood and the animals tend to leave them alone as well.  All told, we are very happy with the process that we setup.  As a result, the costs are significantly reduce, we don't have complex systems to maintain, they don't freeze up in the winter and does not consume crazy amounts of water.  

We believe water is sacred and it does not make sense to us that we would defecate in something that is sacred.