Poop pics!

Obviously you aren’t all as fascinated by our new compositing toilet as I am, but a few of you have shown a bit of curiosity. So read on! (It’s not too gross, I promise.)

We bought a new-used camper van that came with a sink, single bed, and 2 big solar panels. We’ve added an air conditioner, microwave, cooler, (it’s amazing what you can power with two big solar panels) and we’ve also added a wider bed and a bunch of other things including a composting toilet. The toilet is fantastic.

Here’s how it works. There is a front container that holds the pee, and the back part, where the poop goes, takes peat moss or similar. I use coconut coir (the shredded outside husks of coconuts), because I read online that it works better than peat moss and doesn’t have the little plant gnats that peat moss sometimes has.

Coconut coir comes in compressed bricks that are too hard to break apart by hand. You have to put them in water to get them loosened up. Then you break it apart, fluff it up, and let it dry again.

The toilet also has a fan and an air vent.

The fan runs continuously (on solar power) but you can hardly hear the fan unless you’ve got your ear right next to it. John vented it out the wheel well, so you can’t even see the vent from the outside.  (He’s clever like that.) 

When you sit on it, there’s two little holes toward the front for the pee, which goes into a container that can be easily removed and dumped.

The pee container holds a lot, so only needs dumped every few days (unless you’re having a camper van party with lots of friends drinking lots of beer).

The first time we used the van this spring, we only used the pee part, and were too chicken-shit to use the poo part. But on these recent two trips, the time came and we went for it. There’s a lever that opens up the back part.

Then when you’re done, you close back up the opening, and you turn this little crank on the side, and a bar inside mixes it all up.

Does it stink? No. We totally couldn’t smell it the whole trip. (Except, obviously, right when someone is using it, hello, there’s nothing you can do about that.) And the pee bucket stinks at the time that you’re dumping it. But the toilet does not stink. It’s amazing.

You may be wondering where the toilet paper goes. You could put it in with the coconut coir. We put it in a separate, sealed container. John and I are experienced backpackers, so we’re used to packing out all our used toilet paper. So it’s not an issue for us. (I hate it when casual hikers just leave paper on the ground, seriously, OMG PACK IT OUT! No one wants to see that! I hate paper-scatterers in the woods. Ugh!)

Ok, sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox and tell you more about the van.

We used the compositing toilet for the week in Idaho to see the eclipse, and then the camping trip in the Gila wilderness over the labor day weekend. Then we decided we ought to clean the poop out (even though it still didn’t stink). I got nominated for the task. Because I love this toilet! And I’m the one who uses it the most.

Here I am, cleaning out the toilet. First I unbolted it and set it outside.

Then (drumroll) I opened it up and peeked inside. (Warning, poo pics!) Here you can see the used coconut coir, and the mixing bar.

Can you believe it still didn’t stink? Now you don’t believe me. Seriously! It just smelled very slightly of potting soil. Like plant dirt, guys!

The coconut coir bricks come in different sizes. I buy little ones and use 2 of them, but it’s just a guessing game. Too much coconut coir and it’s hard to turn the crank that turns the inside bar. Not enough and maybe you wouldn’t have such a pleasant ratio of poop to coir. LOL.

Next I put a bag over it and turned it upside down.

And into the bag it went!

This was a total BREEZE compared to, say, poop scooping the backyard after 3 little dogs. Or kitty litter (eww). Or poopy baby diapers, or doggy puke, or (ok, ok, you get the point). This was nothing! Easy!