Indoor Composting Toilet Systems

Hello folks,
I am new to the forum. My husband and I are permaculture designers and have built composting toilet outhouses before, but now that we are designing our strawbale home, we are seeking some advice about our indoor composting toilet system.

Our home will have a partial second story with the upstairs bathroom stacked above the downstairs bathroom. Our plan was to have a barrel in the basement (or several on a lazy susan) that collects the deposits from the upstairs and main floor bathrooms. We also planned to have a urine diverter as well as a fan and "exhaust" pipe to send odors outside. I would love to hear from people who have an indoor system and how they like it after having lived with it for years? Also, I would love to see photographs or sketches of other people's systems.

Thank you so much for any advice and information.

Sincerely,
Katie

Hey Katie,

Ours is indoors but we just use the bucket system. We've got 14 buckets and when they all fill up we take them out to the IBC tote composting bin for dumping and cleaning. We love the setup and this keeps it very simple with less moving parts and all.

The best setup I have seen is the one below and we plan to make one like it soon. With the roll off trash bins you never have to clean another bucket again. Just roll the bin out into the sun and let it sit for a year. Obviously you'd need quite a few of these bins but I think it's a great system. Here's the link:

http://milkwood.net/2010/11/23/the-most-lovable-loo-in-the-west/

Katie, I just posted about my favorite system that doesn't involve hauling any buckets or having to empty for years. Here in this thread: https://permies.com/t/120/571/composting-toilet/Composting-Toilets#262452
Jerry

Jhanine Buiza wrote:Would a portable toilet like this be a good alternative to a composting system, or is it better to stick with composting for long-term use?

That's an expensive portable toilet, though it says it can be installed permanently. Is it an alternative to a composting toilet? I don't see any information as to what is included. Is the toilet included? I don't see a vault. Is it a composting toilet?

You can build a composting toilet for much less, or buy one, still for less. If you need a septic field or a connection to a municipal sewer system, that will cost yet more although it avoids the cost and hassle of pumping to remove the contents (which most portable toilets require).

A composting toilet is part of an integrated system that reduces waste, keeps rivers cleaner, fertilizes/builds soil, lowers costs, and reduces your dependency on businesses or government.  I hope that you find a strong solution. The composting system that requires the least work uses a vault below the toilet somewhere (gravity fed), or an indoor bucket toilet and outdoor closed bins such as wheelie bins (trash cans).