Anyone use a sawdust toilet? - Page 3

[meandk0610]

Originally Posted by sweetpeppers 

You can read it online. It's free. http://www.weblife.org/humanure/ It's so good. It should be required reading for everyone alive. :)
 

shards. i just got it 2 weeks ago from amazon.

[Momsteader]

Um...is this even legal??? You're putting untreated human waste into a plastic bag and tossing them the dump!?  I know technically you're supposed to toss all solids from disposable diapers and people don't either, but that's one of the big negatives for disp diapers.

And pine shavings are far different than cedar shavings. You can get a big bag of pine shavings at a farm and ranch type store. They are compressed 'bales' and from $4-7 here depending on the sale. I get them for my chicken coop. They fluff up quite a bit and work excellent for my coop and brooders and keep the smell down. We do a deep litter method where we stir and it composts in the bottom of the coop. So, I imagine those same pine shavings would work well for a toilet also! I can fit 4 bales into the trunk of my midsize car and this is enough for 6 mos of the year with 30-60 chickens.

Originally Posted by 1stimestar 

Since we live in a dry cabin, we have an outhouse.  In it we use lime to cover with and it doesn't have a strong smell at all.  In the winter we use a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat lid, our 40 below bucket.  I line the bucket with 2 tall kitchen trash bags.  In the mornings I remove the inside bag, tie it up and set it outside in a box to freeze.  It freezes solid in a square and every few days I stack them up and take them to the dump.  Of course now that it is spring, they aren't freezing, so I am emptying them into the outhouse.  I have a garbage can out there, also lined with a lawn and leaf bag that I put the plastic kitchen bag in after emptying it.  

[1stimestar]

Originally Posted by CrunchyClark 

Um...is this even legal??? 

Um, we have a lot different laws then you do in the lower 48.  Keep in mind, living without running water is common here.  Honey buckets, outhouses and private sewage lagoons are common. Besides, we only do that when it is very cold out and the waste freezes solid or I wouldn't want it in my vehicle.  Otherwise we use our outhouse.

Edited to add, this is also a rental or I would compost it out in the woods.  But I doubt that the landlord would appriciate that when I move.

Edited by 1stimestar - 4/12/11 at 2:04pm

[1stimestar]

Oh yea, not to mention the honey bucket dumps on the river ice and sea ice to be cleaned away with spring break up. 

[Momsteader]

I am familiar with running water not being a mainstay in AK. I have a friend who is a SW there and they don't even include electricity/running water in a checklist for a homevisit like they do other places.

But, a few moments on google.....and looks as though sea/marine is much different than landfill and even  here it talks about landfills needing to treat any sewage solids they receive and extensive guidelines for such treatment as well as federal guidelines. So....I'm not sure if it's truly 'legal' or they just don't know and so it happens. Sort of like people who dump their disposable diapers in the landfill full-o-poo when they shouldn't legally.

[1stimestar]

From the link you provided...

 

(e) The owner or operator of a Class III MSWLF may dispose of up to 2,500 gallons of septage per day...

(5) ensures that septage does not overflow the trench or accumulate more than four feet in depth of liquid. 

And from here:  http://www.co.fairbanks.ak.us/SolidWaste/HHWHome.htm

The Fairbanks North Star Borough Solid Waste Division's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility accepts household and CESGQ* hazardous waste every Tuesday through Saturday, 9 am - 4:00 pm.

FNSB Households - FREE / *CESQG's - nominal fee

Maximum amount accepted is 220 lbs. per month (approximately 26 gallons)

 

[Momsteader]

Yes, I understand :) I read it :)  (I am on a Town Council and I love to read the codes of states/towns....I'm sick that way I guess....LOL)  I was mainly talking about putting it in a bag and into general landfill versus actually adding it to somewhere that is holding/treating/etc.   Not trying to argue that it's not the norm, just that it doesn't seem to be 1) very eco-friendly 2) very safe or 3) totally legal.