Here's the link: http://www.separett.ca/

Thanks...not to get intot too much information..LOL> Which unit did you go with?

I went with the VIlla 9210, which is the unit that operates on 12 vdc to operate the exhaust fan. The urnal didn't come from Separette. It was a cheap plastic thing. The urnal looks absolutely identical to the ones found in those mobile outhouse units you use at fairgrounds. Nothing fancy about it, just something to aim at.

I had a good look at the site. Curious how the waste will be disposed of? In winter composting will not happen so you will be left with containers of solid waste. Also how do you plan on discarding your liquid waste? The system itself looks ok but I wonder if the cost is worth it compared to a 5 gallon pail with a seat and garbage bag and separate urine collection. Ultimately the same thing unless I am missing something.

The way it works for me . I dig (drill) hole appr. 3 ft deep appr. 16 inch dia. put my outhouse over it when it gets almost full move my outhouse to another hole and cover the first hole with at least foot of dirt. You open it up year later and it is composted, or just plant nice tree over it.If you dig hole deep enough it takes long time to fill and it composting year round.
Henry

Thanks Henry. In my case I am trying to devise a method that will work in an urban situation that will allow me to basically bug in for an extended period. In the longer term that would work in an extended SHTF situation.

I had a good look at the site. Curious how the waste will be disposed of? In winter composting will not happen so you will be left with containers of solid waste. Also how do you plan on discarding your liquid waste? The system itself looks ok but I wonder if the cost is worth it compared to a 5 gallon pail with a seat and garbage bag and separate urine collection. Ultimately the same thing unless I am missing something.

Well, like I said, I probably went overboard. However, my wife really wanted something nice to use and these are really nice. Feels and acts like a normal loo. I installed a deep weeping bed outside for the liquid waste. It goes out there via a pipe I drilled out. Solid waste disposal in the winter would be a problem if we had a lot of people using it or needed to use it for a really extended period of time. In either extreme case, we'd probably find an out of way spot to store the bags of waste (those lovely huge green compost bins the city provides look like they could be useful) till the ground thaws. Alternatively, I investigated buying a composting toilet. It seemed to me that all of them can be easily overwhelmed by too much waste volume and fail to compost anyway. Then you're faced with the nasty task of trying to clean them out all the time. After all that cleaning you're back to what I have in the first place, which is a bag of poo to dispose of. No matter what you do, all the experts agree that removing the liquid from the solid is the key to composting. If you can keep them separated right from the start, you might have greater success with worm composting or whatever.

Regarding the separation of urine from solids in effort to facilitate composting: my research indicates that it's not necessary.

The following info is taken from redwormcomposting.com
Notice that he's presuming the toilet contents also contain urine:

Also, the Humanure website indicates that their system works best with urine. I will try to find that specific info for you as well.

Human Waste Vermicomposting
Interesting message from Michelle:

We need to further process the human waste from our composting toilet!
I’ve read that vermicomposting could be the answer. Do you agree? Do
we need to make sure that the worms also get kitchen scraps? Also, we
are approximately in your USDA Hardiness zone (4 – 3ish) and want to
keep the worm bins in the basement but are concerned about the
temperatures they need to stay active.

I am so excited about all that I have learned on your site; thank you
for being so education-minded!

Hi Michelle,

I do indeed agree! Using Red Worms (or other composting worm species) to process wastes in a composting toilet is a great idea, and something a surprising number of people have done successfully. You definitely don’t need to provide them with food waste though – believe it or not, human waste is probably closer to the “ideal” food for these wigglers. That said, there’s no reason you couldn’t still toss the food scraps in the same system!

Your mention of “worm bins” actually leads me to believe you might be thinking about removing the waste from the composting toilet and adding it as “food” to a completely separate system (or multiple systems). In all honesty, this really isn’t necessary – you should actually be able to establish a thriving population of worms IN the composting toilet itself.

There are a couple of very important issues to consider though: 1) ammonia/salts (assuming this is not a urine-diverting toilet) and 2) pathogens. I recommend adding LOTS of bedding types of materials such as shredded cardboard on a regular basis. This will help to soak up excess liquid, keep things oxygenated, and just generally provide the worms with a much more substantial safe habitat zone. As for pathogens, while there has been considerable research demonstrating the effectiveness of vermicomposting as a means of destroying pathogens, I still recommend taking a cautious approach with any material removed from the system. You may want to further process it via hot composting before using it – and you may want to avoid using it as fertilizer for food crops (even with additional measures being taken).

It’s been shown that Red Worms hatching into a new environment are much better adapted for life in that environment than adult worms introduced from elsewhere. As such, you MAY want to start up a “regular” worm bin (assuming you don’t already have one) and then just transfer cocoons from it to your composting toilet. Adding a fair amount of habitat zone material (from your worm bin) – containing worms, cocoons etc – away from the main waste drop-off zone (lol) in your toilet holding tank could also prove to be a good stocking strategy. Whatever you do, don’t just toss in a pound of worms and hope for the best!
(Ever heard the expression “throwing your money down the toilet”?)

Regarding your temperature question – if your basement temps dip down below 50 F (10 C) you’ll likely see a pretty substantial slow down in waste processing speed. I would think that the composting toilet tank would stay warmer than the surrounding environment however – these tend to be fairly large, and the combination of nitrogen-rich wastes mixed with lots of c-rich bedding materials should result in lots of microbial activity (results in heat release).

Hope this helps a bit!

Written by Bentley on October 5th, 2011 with 7 comments.
Read more articles on Home Vermicomposting.

by martha » Sat Dec 08, 2012 4:05 pm

"Regarding the separation of urine from solids in effort to facilitate composting: my research indicates that it's not necessary."

It is true that while the presenter of the article is assuming that worms can live in an environment containing the urine as well as the feces he goes on to state that he recommends adding .. "LOTS of additional bedding materials such as shredded cardboard". To me the object of this is to reduce the amount of waste and to convert it to something that can be safely discarded. This sounds like you are INCREASING the amount of waste you will have. Something to keep in mind even with composting or worms.... you will STILL have waste to discard be it feces, or compost. All any system does is convert it to something else.

JAB

Here's a link to humanure instructions where the author explicitly says urine is to be included in the system. I do recall reading somewhere in his writings that urine is not only included, but even essential to achieve the best composting conditions (along with other carbon rich materials like straw/hay) http://humanurehandbook.com/manual.html

I guess what I'm trying to do here is keep things simpler & easier and less weird for outsiders. If I don't have to haul jugs of pee separate from the doo-d00 bucket, well one less thing to do and one less thing to creep people out...

Now, I do remember Farmgal mentioning that she deals with urine separately, if I understood correctly, it was to conserve more cover material. In other words I'm guessing that urine in the bucket would make for a more sloppy mixture, and thereby necessitate more cover material to be added. (THis is all theoretical to me because I haven't tried it) Anyways, if your cover material is hard to come by and peeing in the same system causes one to go through more of it, it makes sense to go the extra step and try diverting urine. But, I'd really truly hope not to have to do that, please Santa!

JAB, I appreciate this exchange because I, like you, am seeking sustainable solutions for dealing with this in an urban setting.

My thought, which is based on my preference and not yet on trial & error, is that it is easier for me to leave the urine in with the other. My thinking at this point is that I would rather supply the worms with extra bedding, I believe they are pretty good at breaking it down into something of small volume. That way I would be disposing of something composted and hopefully not stinky & gross...

I found out by chance that much of the bagged compost we buy from Wal Mart is humanure obtained from city sanitation systems which have begun processing it for fertilizer. Now that disgusts me and I won't buy anymore bags of "compost" from them. But nevertheless, the product seems just like rich soil. Well, my point is that, if I have need to get rid of poo in one form (raw) or the other (composted with a bit of extra volume because of added cardboard), it seems way less problematic to get rid of the stuff that already looks like dirt. By that time you have some hope that the potential pathogens have been at least partially diminished. That's my thoughts at the moment

Was watching on TV disaster experts talking about major disasters and people reactions.After two days without water people stop thinking rationally and would do anything to protect or get water for them self or for close ones.only than hunger kicks in and multiply chaos and lawlessness. Than "hygiene" will start having effect and there is really no solution to the problem because it is a problem for thousands of people. you are thinking of composting inside your apartment? most of the stuff will be just thrown out by the curb.If you dare to go out to put it there.That is the real urban scenario.(MAJOR DISASTER) That is not my opinion but it is real to my beliefs.
Henry

If there is access to wood and a steel barrel I can see incineration. It would smell something awful but I thing it would be done.

Hey, good idea! Might keep the mosquitos & zombies at bay... Bonus!

Or the smoke might attract them to you.....

Ok, I tried this one year with dog poo, laugh if you must but dog poo is one of those that you can indeed compost but it can't be used in the gardens and I had this thought of I need to burn bush pile, so lets throw this springs clean up of doggy doo on it and burn it, instead of hauling it to compost in no man's land area on the farm..

It does burn but it really surprised me at how long it took and how much wood it took, i've composted it since then, so maybe with tweeking it would work for you, but given that most of the time when I burn wood, I want the ash for the garden, I only burn the wood, and the rest of the wood I would have burned now gets used in the hugelculture beds..

If anyone else has real world knowledge on this one, speak up, did you find it took along time and alot of wood to do so? my dad took me to take a 55 gallon drum cut hole in the bottom for the tourch and air holes, set it down on cement, set a grate inside so high, dump the poo on it and then put a blow torch under it and ash it that way but I never built or tried it.. but who would want to waste propane in the after and it sure would not work in a apartment LOL