Compost Toilets Pros & Cons | Do You Need A Grey Water Tank Off Grid? 

Thanks for the info.....a couple of observations from many years of using cassettes. In >20 years of remote/off grid/freedom camping, have only needed to bury cassette waste 3 times...by digging deep holes. A second cassette is an excellent investment. Emptying earlier rather than 'stretching' is a good idea. To us, the 2nd cassette means water often becomes the first resupply issue. If you see a dump point in transit...use it. Per dose, the chemical cost are insignificant compared to the other costs we face. On chemicals, the blue formaldehyde types are definitely the most effective in all temperatures for odour control and waste breakdown. The green coloured 'eco' variants are ok but far less as the ambient temps increase. Empty often. We have also used generic 'napisan' type products (sodium perborate should be the only ingredient). Very cheap to use and reasonably effective though tend to need a second dose if storing longer in warm temps. After prolonged use, there was some minor colour change to the cassette plastic, but no other issues. In order to minimise flush water usage, a small water spray bottle is very effective in moving things along. Also effective, is a bowl wipeover with a polish like Mr. Sheen..the one containing silicones provides a very non stick surface. On the need for grey water storage, many (most?) Hip Camp hosts require grey water retention. Also on grey water, even for a quick cuppa break at busy road side rest areas, dropping waste water is not a good look imo. On dumping waste water for our soon to be delivered new van, I am intending to fit a remote controlled motor driven solenoid valve that will allow the grey water to be dropped over a longer distance. I find dumping a 100 litres of, sometimes, whiffy water in one spot can also be problematic where no dump point is available. We continue to enjoy your content....all the best. Grahame.

Thank you as your segment on composting toilets verses cassette type was very informative and now we have made up our minds to go for a composting toilet - We have been "On the Road" now for seven years and currenly have a cassette toilet ...... Travel safely ......

Thanks for sharing 🥰

Great vid guys, very helpful 🤙🏼

Great vid and to the point

Great info as always

Thanks for the vid team. Looking forward to your 76 build but happy to watch wee and poo videos in the meantime.

Great video, good to see how to deal with day to day waste on all fronts,

Thanks so much for the voucher 😊 we are so excited to spend it on some new camping gear. Keep up the good work.

This has been a great series. What seems obvious to some could be revolutionary to others. Good on ya guys 😊

So happy for you heading to pick up the new vehicle. Clever use of containers and waste disposal. The compostable toilet is such a bonus for you!

Keep up the great videos guys! Gray water bypass is a great idea. Just got a new van with a gray water tank. I will be installing a bypass. Thanks!

I love Sundays, look forward to watching your stores every week two so down to earth Guy’s keep it up

Awesome video guys!!! Great info for fellow travelers. Thanks heaps for the shout out too. 😁🤙🏼

Great advise and insight. I have learnt a lot from your off-grid series. You have probably saved me a lot of future grief and money, when I have my van and travel around Australia. As you know I love all your work, just as so many others do. Thank you guys.

A great summary on the ways to deal with waste disposal whilst on the road. Enjoy your fabulous lifestyle. BTW I have already subscribed to your RU-vid posts & today I subscribed to the Everything Camping and Caravanning Newsletter. PS Simon I must side with you in regard to the tidiness of cupboards/fridge/freezer!👍

Hi Simon and Liz, thank you for another informative episode, the topics covered were grey water, rubbish and composting toilets. We are subscribed to Everything Caravanning and Camping. Thank you for sharing your tips 💖💖

I was lucky enough to have a look through your van at the Brisbane show. Loved your storage organisation, and love the brown leather 👍 Not to mention your 12v system and rear bar🏆🏆 Another fantastic episode team

Another great vid with lots of information. We hit the road full-time early next year and have heard stories about needing grey water storage, glad to know it may not be as frequent as the stories. Already signed up and subscribed

Hey, guys love all that you do I always look forward to seeing your content always informative. I love the tips to get rid of the packaging I'm really inspired now, might have to head to howards ;).

What a marvelously helpful video this is. As we are now in the planning stage, your experience and insight into these day to day matters is so educational. Thank you.

Thanks for all your content. I love seeing your new and different ideas. Just binged your whole series from vid 1 and finally now up to date. Please enter me in your comp. Really need to get some things before we start the big lap in January starting with Tassie.

Love all the work you guys do👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 just signed up to ECC

Great info again. Learning heaps from your channel and 2024 is our time to hit the road. Just waiting on the cowfish review to see how we go with internet.

Just subscribed and signed up 🎉 We're excited to get our first ever caravan soon and it will be built with a composting toilet. I didn't even consider a cassette toilet, on top of the other pros you've mentioned, I'm looking forward to not having to use chemicals 🙌 Thanks for another great video! Becca

Subscribed already and subscribed to caravan and camping. Great video. We have just started our lap starting from Central Coast nsw.

Absolutely is all that needs to be said after another great episode. PS. Drive safely over the next couple of weeks with all the km's you will be doing.

Great video as usual. One NP that requires holding Grey Water is Wilson's Prom / Tidal River

Hey Simon and Liz, hope you guys are well. We found the 9lt Brunnings Peat bricks were plentiful at Cheap as Chips, at one point they were the cheapest going. Great vid.

I'm new to your to your site thanks for the info it really has helped me on making a decision on which way to go.😊😊😊😊

Love the idea of the composting toilet. We're stuck with the cassette style due to the shower/toilet combo and even with two we usually have to empty every 3 -4 days.

Great episode. Love your promotion of picking up Rubbish, yours and others! If we all leave a clean site then the “others”may think twice about leaving a mess! Not only on the road, also in your own neighbourhood for those not travelling. 🤞On the subscriptions. 😅

Hi great segment. We have a new camper and have purchased a Compo’ portable compost toilet. Have only used the liquid waster so far but definitely sure it will suit us. Fits easily in our camper compartment same size as the portal loo they gave us. Fairly new to the Aus market.

Hey legends, we’ve been subscribed since Kingfish and Muscat plus we’re already signed up to the newsletter! 🤙🏽 I think your video has convinced the ol wifey to get one now so fingers crossed you’ve got her over the line!🤞🏽 As for water usage on our cassette, it depends on how long the kids hold the button down! 😂

Hey Simon and Liz. I’ve signed up to the newsletter and (long time ago previously) subscribed to your channel. Further to your point of most places not requiring withholding your grey water, I strongly recommend installation of a (PVC/ball valve) diverter valve BEFORE the grey water storage tank. This will allow the water to drain on the ground without all the gunk and muck entering and settling in your tank despite the flow through of having the drain valve open. Works a treat as far as minimising the inevitable smell 🤘

I have subscribed and will sign up for the newsletter. Re the composting toilets i have had the natures head for several years now and think they are great. I am a lone traveller so the solid part last for ages before having to be emptied and yes i separate the paper which i burn or bin. The solids can go into any bin as is no worse than dumping a baby nappy. For the liquid side i find if i add a small amount of bleach after you empty it stops the stain and takes a lot of the smell away when you empty it.

Hi folks, good session, pretty sure youve covered a lot of things that we all have questions about.cheers Cheryl 😂

Thank you for such great information. I am about to start full time in the next two months, and although I have a fixed grey water tank, I'd read a lot of conflicting info on releasing it ... and the bacterial growth if holding for more than 72 hours. I imagine it's a matter of asking or reading up on each site and being considerate of the environment around you.

Hi, We have had a chemical toilet since 2009. We are now working on changing over to the Ogo composting toilet. Re grey water, the only place that we have had to hold grey water was at Ocean Beach near Strahan in Tassie. Love your work.

Compost, we think, is the way to go. 😊😊 Btw signed-up

Thanks for all your efforts, you're among a must watch of a number of RU-vidrs we follow. Diverting grey water should be standard and must look into if we can modify in our van. Certainly are pros and cons to the toilets and I feel the composting suits those who go remote for long periods, especially with a family. I would like to know if you accidentally get urine in the wrong area do you need to empty sooner. We find cassette with SOG quick and simple.

Great vid guys. We have had cassette for 7 years and now have compost. They are a game changer. So much better. We only camp off-grid though. We have Separett Tiny toilet. Emptying is extremely simple. Waste goes straight into a composting bag so just pull it out, and put in bin or bury it. 😃

Thanks for the info- always very interesting! Am signed up for u and caravan and camping! We are so close to converting to a compost toilet- now the next hard part….natures head or OGO!😂

Like you I've been searching out comparisons between Cassette/Compost ... I want to do off-grid as much as possible. Composting was a no-brainer for this style of travelling. Also, I really don't want to empty the Cassette! I look forward to your future videos!! You mentioned some great stuff, sadly no links to any of them... Storage containers "meemy?", Canvas bag rubbish "pam canvas bag?", grey water "diversion?".

We are getting a composting toilet in our new van 🎉

Another very informative presentation. Ironic that I had to pause the video to go to the toilet 😂 We use a cassette. Two adults, about 2/3 days. No major off grid plans. The compost units look great, but we cannot justify the expense of changing now. Best wishes for continued safe travels!

We’ve had a composter for several years and for the first time ever had the experience of it not breaking down as well as usual, you just gave me the answer 😅 it was freezing in Taz! Thanks for sharing what you know. We have watched ADU video and it is extremely comprehensive 😂😅 though slightly more hands on than us 😊 we couldn’t or rather wouldn’t ever go back to a cassette.

Great video as usual guys and very informative 👌. On the toilet debate I’ve owned both and the composting toilet wins hands down. I’ve actually installed something a bit different in my new van called a Separett Tiny. Without going into to much detail it’s basically a bagged toilet that separates solids & liquids and so much easier to empty then the standard composters. If you want to waste half an hour of your time I’ve done a video on it on my page. Keep up the great content and safe travels.

Bit of a late comment guys - camping at Mungo Brush in NP in NSW and ranger came around to check booking - advised us all NP in NSW need to contain grey water - $500 fine applies apparently?

Toilets… Just finished 3 months on the road in a small “bed on wheels” van. We have a chemical toilet. The original toilet we had was the smaller cassette version (Thetford). 2 issues - after a day or 2, #2’s would not clear the hatch without some encouragement (not fun!) and we are not as young as we use to be so getting on and off was difficult. For this trip we bought same brand but bigger cassette (taller). Solved both issues. So we did not buy it for increased capacity, just to resolve the above 2 issues. Emptied as frequently as smaller one as it just gets very heavy otherwise. Worked excellently. Flushing volume - not sure of the measurement but I probably put 15l total into the flush tank over the period. The volume used is proportional to how many times you press the plunger. Once is usually ok - maybe twice. Flush before a #2 means less flushing after. Chemicals - $36 for the holding tank chemical in Kununurra. Used 1.5 bottles on the trip. 2 adults and yes, using the provided toilets at the sites or during the day trips makes a huge difference! Great video. I am subscribed and have signed up to newsletter some time ago.

We had a compost toilet in a sailboat and thought that was the best upgrade we ever done Ones we find the right caravan compost going in that The only people who don’t like CT are people who never owned one Enjoy your travels 😉

Hi Simon and Liz this vid was so informative thanks! Question off topic your awesome coffee machine was in the background surely it doesn’t live there when your moving??? Cheers Richard

Hi Simon and Liz. I am interested to know if you have to let the composting toilet rest ie not use it for solids before you get a good enough breakdown so your not putting raw sewage in the bin. I noted your comment about getting better composting if not used for a couple of days so is that what you need to do. Also if you had to empty soon after use is it a bit smelly. Love your videos keep them coming

Good information, did you consider another option for toilets, the urine diverter style, that doesn't necessarily rely on compositing? Eg similar to the units you mention but no moving parts. Hence potentially easier to empty and clean. DIY options and you can even source ceramic bowl units.

Top content yet again we love yr vids! Do you mind sharing the reasons you’d choose one particular model of compost toilet/CT over another (are they significantly different to use?) Also, does the toilet paper have to be separated from the CT? 😂

We bought a portable wasted water tank to stay at Habitatnoosa, have not use it since.

I think it was a sunlands caravan build that had a hatch behind the loo so you could open the hatch from outside and grab the loo out. Could one be retrofitted so you don't have to carry out the toilet through the van.

I have seen the ADU vid which answered a lot of composting toilet questions. 😊 One thing that came up and I hope you don't mind the question. Do you dispose of your paper in the toilet or separately? And if separate- how do the kids go with it? I have disturbing visions of how that would go for us....😅🤔🙈

Regards grey water. I wish you had mentioned not to drain the grey water under the caravan where your camped. It creates a big mess for the next camper. Also it's illegal to drain your grey water while driving along the road.

Our toilet is a cassette one, van is 2nd hand. It's just the 2 of us. If we both use it for all loo visits, we get Max 3 days usage. Ladies if you're open to a bush wee without the long grass tickle. The Shewee is great. Also gets you more time with your toilet cassette. Average 100ml water per flush with our loo. With seperate water holding tank of roughly 6ltrs. Simon and Liz, loving your vids guys ❤

Prior to having our caravan, we had a fifth wheeler with a black tank. It was awesome, we could stay out of civilisation for about 3 weeks and then empty the tank at a dump point. So simple, miss the convenience of that. We now have a cassette and carry a spare as well. Lasts a week at the most. 😢

I’ve seen multiple sites around the country that require grey water. It’s been a year since I did a lap so can’t remember. We didn’t have one.

😄

Noosa north shore is with in the national park and require you to hold your grey water.

Do you put the paper in the composting toilet? What type of tp do you use?

CMCA park Bundaberg…

I was gonna ask how long can the composting process be run for. I have a composting toilet in my van and is only quater full after 3months

I have a question - can a composting toilet be used with a camper trailer or tent camping? I.e. is it portable so you can move it from storage to the shower tent and back easily?

One other consideration, that we use, is the waterless ‘Separette Tiny’. It looks like a regular toilet, has a 9 litre wee container and a separate poo container, that is easily removable. This has a bag liner, plus an absorbent towel, from Bunnings, made from biodegradable stuff. No need for coconut coir and when ready to empty, just put in a bin, as you would dog poop. A 12v fan vented to the outside, extracts any odour, but we have not had any issues with this. Around $1600.

Who was that guy with Liz doing the outtro? 😅

We have the thedford cassette toilet. With the proper thedford ventilation system installed. Not the sog system. This means absolutely no smell when using it so we don't use the chemicals in it. This means we don't need a dump point to empty it just need a good shovel.

I haven't seen anyone answer how seperating/compost toilets go with little kids. Says 3-7 years olds

The liquids bottle of the composting toilet can also be poured into any public toilet, as it's just wee!

My wife tells eveyone I love her because I empty the toilet for her.Might be because I need to use it again.