eco friendly camper toilet liquid

Hello Permies,

While waiting for our bathroom/toilet room to get to the top of our priorities list in the renovation, we're using a pee bucket and a camper toilet.

The portable wc is for camping cars, with associated (very) chemical blue liquid.
We did the blue liquid thing for one month last summer, and despite the promises on the flacon, it did get smelly as the contents of the potty sat for longer than fivr-six days.

Since I'm a critters&growies girl I came up with an eco friendly liquid.
I'd like to share our 'porta potty tea'-recipe with you, it's quite simple.
You can play with the proportions of ingredients; more nettles=greener liquid, more ivy=more brown liquid.

1 part nettles  (accelerates composting), stems and leaves
1 part English ivy (soapy, cleaner), stems and leaves
optional; some fragrant stuff from your garden - I use mint.

Put the ingredients in a big pot, cover with water and bring to boil.
Simmer for at least 1/2 an hour.
Let cool in the pot, the point is to extract as much of the composting & soapy stuff from the plants as possible.

The next step is quite important; filter the liquid in order to avoid the pump of the porta potty clogging from the tiny seeds of nettles or other particles.
I use a sieve for filtering out the plant material, and a very fine sieve when pouring the liquid thorugh a funnel and into the porta potty.

Then I dilute the 'tea' with water, about 1:1, it's all very "-ish".

We use the liquid for flushing after every poop session. No smell - except mint! - in the potty.

When it's time to empty the porta potty, it goes into a deep hole in the ground (covered with an old sheet of metal roofing). The contents composts very fast thanks to the nettles component, so it's not even necessary to cover the contents with a layer of soil, just the sheet of roofing.

Wow! I love the idea of the fresh mint scent.

But I love the fact that you've used English Ivy even more. Well done--thanks for posting that!

That is really cool, Nina! There are two conventional plastic outhouses on our property that are used during big events. It would be very cool to replace the blue liquid with an herbal mix next time we get them pumped out.

Thanks! Herbal mix is so very much more eco-friendly than the blue stuff.
When it's someone else using the facility than you guys, it's good to remember that:
more nettles = liquid is greener and composts faster
more English ivy = liquid is more brown (yikes) and soapier
more mint = smells good!

We really have liked how well it works

Good luck!

I love the mint idea! We grow tons of catmint (zero effort, it's almost a weed) because our pollinators are crazy over it, but have little use for it otherwise.

At risk of hijacking the thread, I'm in the process of digging a couple of permanent outhouse pits for occasional use. There will be a deep bed of char, dry grass, wood chips etc. so things compost and don't reek. But I could add dried and finely chopped catmint to ensure a pleasant scent when the outhouse is being used!

Douglas,, wea also have a sort of " bastard mint" here, locally called horse mint and other, vulgar unprintable names

It is competitive,  almost as aggressive as kudzu in places,  and would transform a summer classic Mint Julip...usually peppermint or spearmint used.... into a Socratic hemlock tea.   But like you, we use it for fragrance.  

Rico Loma wrote:Douglas,, wea also have a sort of " bastard mint" here, locally called horse mint and other, vulgar unprintable names

It is competitive,  almost as aggressive as kudzu in places,  and would transform a summer classic Mint Julip...usually peppermint or spearmint used.... into a Socratic hemlock tea.   But like you, we use it for fragrance.  

Excellent post! And yes I get the reference -- I would consider it a tea for topical uses (soaking feet) but it's too pungent to drink. But our native bumblebee species are completely insane over the stuff!

Nina, I love reading all your posts, from stove building to herbs to your choice of guard dog.  Yes, I realize the prophets of old declared "do not covet thy neighbors' homestead" yet I am a bit envious

Biking through France impressed me, it's a beautiful land with many small farms and vineyards.  Be proud that you are bolstering that rural ethic!

Rico Loma wrote:Nina, I love reading all your posts, from stove building to herbs to your choice of guard dog.  Yes, I realize the prophets of old declared "do not covet thy neighbors' homestead" yet I am a bit envious

Biking through France impressed me, it's a beautiful land with many small farms and vineyards.  Be proud that you are bolstering that rural ethic!

Awww Rico, thank you for your kind words!
But let me put my paradise in some more perspective: I was dreaming of this kind of lifestyle since 2012-ish. It's been a long time coming, but the change finally came , in steps, or stages. It hasn't been easy...I'm guessing that behind every shiny 'look at my beautiful place/story/whatever' is a story of becoming.
This is actually exactly the reason I've gladly abandoned (well, almost) the well-known social media platforms and am wallowing in permaculture vibes over here.
There are still some real challenges to overwin, but I'm super grateful for all the blessings in the present moment, and just happily following my curiosity, doing what I love .