warning TMI !!
I live with my parents and I am trying to not use their resources and turn my bedroom into a studio apartment (so I annoy them less, but also to practice and prepare for if I have my own tiny home/live off grid, etc). I have the kitchen/food storage part down mostly but the waste situation needs work. In the past I peed into a medium sized glass jar and then poured that into juice jugs to be poured on my large outdoor, hot compost pile or watered down to pour on fruit trees. I would then put the jugs in the recycle bin for the city to pick up (not 100% sustainable). I used compostable napkins to wipe or a rags made from cut t shirts that I would throw with my towels in the wash (romans used to wash their clothes in pee.lol). Yes I'd re use the rags a few times...
Now my slightly improved set up is I pee into a 5 gallon bucket. I use a hot water bottle/enema to spray myself clean then use the rag to wipe (this gets more use out of the rag, less odor from the rag, utilizing clean water that would have been used to water down the pee for the garden and I feel cleaner) I like the bucket vs the jar because I don't have to worry about accuracy... but I miss being able to squat (since it is just pee I can cope. for going #2 I use my parent's regular toilet and I often stand on there to squat, I have tried humanure with saw dust in a 5 gallon bucket. I was too scared to add it to my compost because of the smell and my neighbors or family might smell it... so i kept it sealed in the bucket... after checking it nearly a year later it was moldy, the worst smell in my life.. and was not broken down... I decided to ditch the humanure idea until I have my own farm that I can just throw it in my hot compost pile ( I dream of that day... i hate flushing away my valuable "wastes", especially as I am investing in and improving my diet to organic, vegan, etc. ) Maybe I can set up a worm humanure composting system in the future where I currently live. but for now I want to focus on utilizing urine.
I don't like 5 gallon buckets because they are prone to cracking/short lifespan and that just isn't sustainable
I am on the hunt for a heavy duty bucket with a strong handle and some type of odor sealing top
Plastics hold on to odors, I would prefer another material. Porcelain coated metal.. hm what did they use in the old days? I would like to use hot water and may rinse with oxygenated bleach(safer.. garden safe?) I was trying to research something I could put into the bucket to get rid of the urine smell while it is full (I dump it every day but sometimes forget) It seemed when I peed into orange jugs the left over orange juice would combine with and mask the urine scent.. if I could add something to mask it or neutralize it that wouldn't harm or even be beneficial to my garden that would be great. Any ideas to improve my set up? Thanks!
Also I searched on ebay and they have vintage pee buckets with spatter guards (idk if that's what they're called), to mask sounds, my neighbors or family hearing me is a concern.. I was thinking of add a fountain feature to my room since it was recommend when I was researching feng shui, it would be relaxing and mask sounds.
Part 2: which I never touched on is how to use this waste in the garden... I need to research nitrogen loving plants, I think I need more loam/sand for better filtration, currently I have clay soil with a half a foot more or less or composted topsoil. I avoid dumping the bucket when people /neighbors are up, I try to do it in the early morning. I wish i could dump it at any time and not worry about smells.... I think I need some really fragrant plants!
