5 DIY Composting Toilet Ideas And Details To Consider

Most of us were raised on flush toilets. You go in the bathroom, do what you’ve got to do, and then the press of a shiny lever flushes all your unpleasantries into oblivion, never to be thought of again. But that modern luxury — and it is a luxury — is something that many of us see as not worth the damage it wreaks on our environment and water supply, or the fertility it steals from our land.

Many people are deciding to shirk the wasteful ways of the water closet and reclaim responsibility for their own waste … enter the composting toilet.

This ancient and modern method of handling waste makes it anything but waste. Rather than flushing it away to become some chemicalized water quality nightmare, composting toilets recycle the nutrients in human waste, and turn it into safe and incredibly useful soil fertility.

Related Post: How To Make Compost Tea

And since they are off-grid, they are ideal for the RV, barn, tiny home, homestead, and any household that is wise enough to punt their water-wasting flush toilet to the curb (or turn it into a hillbilly-style planter to horrify your neighbors) and embrace a new way of living.

5 DIY Composting Toilet Plans

You could buy a composting toilet system, of course, but these will run you a lot of money. Like a staggering amount. Many of the manufactured composting toilets that I’ve seen online are well over $1,000. Considering you can accomplish the same goal of closing the nutrient cycle with a $3 bucket, let’s forget the 4-figure waterless thrones, and do our dooty duty DIY-style!

Idea #1: The Bucket Basic Is Ugly, But Quick And Cheap!

If you’re not worried about winning any style points and just want to get your system started, you can have a composting toilet ready in the span of a single afternoon. Every bucket-based composting toilet design is based on the following materials but clothed differently for different tastes.

5-Gallon Buckets: Infinitely useful on the homestead. Wren Everett / Insteading

Materials Needed:

You’ll want four buckets because you always need to have standbys for switching out. Plan on having at least four buckets for every toilet you use. As for the frame, it’s optional, but it provides stability and can easily be built out of scrap wood.

Just snap the lid on a bucket, throw in the first layer of bulk material, and DONE. You are ready to (literally) go.

Idea #2: Fancier Bucket-In-A-Box

Most people who DIY their own composting toilet go for a variation of this design. Even if you’re not confident in your carpentry skills, you can manage to create the simple plywood box that is the basis of this design.

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