Composting Toilets: What Are They and How Do They Work?
If you’re reading this you may be an RV enthusiast, a tiny home devotee, or just looking to reduce your impact on the earth. You may be an avid gardener, and already use the techniques that make composting toilets work. Composting toilets have made big inroads with recreational and outdoor-minded consumers.
They are also growing in use in indoor environments, such as homes and office buildings. Society's current concept of eliminating human waste may not always be sustainable. Vast amounts of water carrying treated waste to rivers and oceans is an expensive system, which can sometimes have unintended consequences in our environment.
So Just What Are Composting Toilets?
Composting toilets handle human waste by composting and dehydrating it on-site. All with little or no outside water, and no environmental impact.
Think of a composting toilet as your own self-contained waste treatment plant, but one that is easy to use and economical. They have minimal utility bills. Some may have electric pumps but many use no outside power. They use time-tested methods to convert human waste into an odor-free byproduct that is safe and easy to dispose of.
How Do Composting Toilets Work?
Composting toilets use the same three elements that all gardeners need for an effective compost bin—moisture, heat, and oxygen. These components create the environment that let's beneficial bacteria and fungi do their miracle work.
Aerobic bacteria use oxygen to break down waste efficiently and odor-free. Composting toilets vary in how they bring oxygen into the system, but all use this element just like your garden's compost pile.
Microbes produce heat while they work, and composting toilets have systems to maintain the proper temperatures. The correct temperature range destroys seeds and helps compost form quickly.
Organisms that break down waste need water to survive, but only at a certain level of moisture. A good composting toilet controls moisture and distributes it evenly throughout the waste material.
The Nature’s Earthly Way Solution
We've only scratched the surface of the mechanics, and benefits, of composting toilets. At Nature's Earthly Way, we specialize in the best toilet on the market today - Nature's Head. Please watch the video below for details on how to operate the Nature's Head composting toilet, then give us a call at 636-541-5860 for the best composting toilet solution for your RV, cabin, or tiny home.