Lawrence Lile's 50 gallon drum Compost Toilet
	or, how to save the world one poop at a time.

Ok, why use a compost toilet?	Compost Toilets save lots of water - 1.6 gallons (or 5 gallons if you have an old style flusher) of clean, drinkable  water go down the tubes for each flush.  In a family of four that can add up to 10,000 gallons a year.  Water is energy - each gallon of water requires energy to pump, purify, then treat as wastewater.  Conserve it for the same reason you'd conserve gasoline or coal. Compost toilets produce (a big surprise here..) Compost.  Compost is a great thing to have for gardens, fruits trees and ornamentals.	............
What about the "Ewww! Yuck!" factor?	What yuck factor?  A good  working compost toilet doesn't smell, and when you look inside you see a pile of sawdust.  If you see anything else, you need more sawdust. You were thinking of those stinky chemical toilets at construction sites.  Yes, those things stink bad.  They'd stink a lot less if they used compost toilets. Or maybe you were thinking of ancient outhouses behind grandpa's cabin.  Yes, they stank too. The flies, spiders and cold seats didn't help.  People didn't set them up for composting, they actually dumped in lime to stop the composting process!  Compost toilets are indoors, where they belong, not 40 steps out yonder.
Aren't compost toilets expensive?	Yes there are some expensive commercial compost toilets.  Mine cost about $25 in parts and a pleasant hour or two to build.  I spent as much time chosing which books to put on the bookshelf as making the compost toilet.  You'll spend a lot of time on this toilet.  Choose your books carefully and arrange them tastefully on a handy bookshelf.
Don't you have to remodel your house to install a compost toilet?	A 50 gallon drum compost toilet can fit in any decent sized closet.  You can get as elaborate as you want, but really there isn't any need to provide more than privacy.
Do I need a complex ventilation scheme?	Every toilet needs some ventilation per the building code for good reasons.  You can situate your composter by a window, have a local exhaust fan like many bathrooms, or add a 4" PVC pipe stack and pipe it into the drum.  I find a little ventilation is essential, the toilet doesn't smell much, but you'll begin to notice it subtly after a while.   If you can peek out a window at passing deer and turkeys, that is the best ventilation system in my opinion.
What if I can't get any sawdust?	I find sawdust to be a really ideal organic matter, and that's good because I have a sawmill nearby.  You can use peat moss from the hardware store, hardwood mulch (the finer the grind, the better), dried grass clippings (fresh ones have too much nitrogen)  dried leaves,  hay, heck you could probably use paper that's been through a paper shredder.

How to use a Composting Toilet:

1. The compost toilet is no more than a 50 gallon drum with a toilet seat bolted onto the top of it.
2. The magic part is the organic matter ( sawdust or peat moss, or dried grass clippings, or dried leaves, or any carbon-rich, nitrogen poor dry organic matter)
   
3. Most people have already mastered the art of making a deposit - I will leave that discussion as an excercise for the student.  See the suggested pose at the end of this article for a hint.
   
4. I set a 50 gallon drum of sawdust right next to the compost toilet for handy scooping.
   
5. Adding about a quart of dry sawdust or other organic matter to the compost toilet at each use is the key. Poop or pee, it doesn't matter, a quart of sawdust goes in each time you do your business.  A small coffee can makes an ideal scoop.
   
6. You are trying to balance the carbon-nitrogen ratio in the composter.  Poop naturally has a lot of nitrogen, and if this is out of balance, smelly anaerobic digestion results.  Sawdust natrually has a lot of carbon, but very little nitrogen.  This is why a pile of sawdust may sit for many years without breaking down - it is not balanced in the right ratio for fast composting. 
   
7. But put these two things together, with a little oxygen, and aerobic composting will begin quickly.  Aerobic composting generates heat and kills pathogenic ("bad") bacteria. 
   
8. Starting with an empty drum?  Add a good layer of organic matter to the bottom of the drum to absorb excess moisture.
   
9. Got a fly problem?  Add organic matter. Got a moisture problem?  Add Organic matter. Got a smell problem?  Add organic matter.  Got any other problem?  Add organic matter.  Worst case:  Take the drum outside and slap on the lid.  Change to a new drum. 
   
10. Ever watch a cat?  They are careful to bury their poop.  Humans could learn a lot from cats.  Bury your poop with sawdust each time to save the planet!
    

 
What to do with a full drum:

1. When a drum gets about 3/4 full, it is time to change it.  Don't let it get any fuller, at some point they start compacting and getting really, really heavy.  One person cannot lift an overfilled 50 gallon drum.  That's another reason 30 gallon drums are better.
   
2. You wisely built your composter with a removable lid. (See instructions below)  Pop off the lid with the seat bolted onto it.  Pop on a regular drum lid.  Wheel it outside with a hand cart.  Let it sit in the sun for at least one summer. 
   
3. Scoop out the finished compost under your favorite fruit tree, ornamental, or bush.  Don't use it on crops like spinach that can get dirt on them. 
   
4. Enjoy the "fruits" of your labor. (Pun intended.)
   

Where do I get 50 gallon drums?

1. 50 gallon drums are everywhere.  Most towns have some kind of surplus outlet that will sell drums.  Most towns have a company that reconstitutes juice, which they recieve in 50 gallon drums. Most towns have industries that might use 50 gallon drums.  Worst case you can just buy a heavy duty trashcan.
   
2. The best drums are plastic, and have been used for food. I have one that smells like vanilla.  Don't use drums that carried solvents or hazardous chemicals. Ask what has been in the durms.  Steel drums are heavy, and will rust out in 5 years, I don't use them anymore.
   
3. Some drums come with removable lids, others have a permanent lids with bungs.  You want the kind with the removable lid.  
   
4. 30 gallon drums (smaller than the standard 50's) are way cool - they are lighter when full, and not so tall and tippy.  I like using 30 gallon drums much more than 50 gallon ones. 
   

OK, HOW DO I BUILD A COMPOST TOILET FROM A 50 GALLON DRUM?

Step 1:  Remove the lid (this comes off with a band clamp) and cut out a hole to match your store-bought toilet seat, using your favorite implement of destruction (Sawzall, jig saw, etc.)  Got no lid?  You'll have to build a platform out of a piece of painted or varnished plywood cut to fit the top.  Bolt it on with carriage bolts so it can be removed.  Life is too short for cheap plastic toilet seats.  Splurge and get an oak seat. You are worth it. Drill two holes where the seat's factory bolts will align, and install the  bolts to clamp the lid in place. Pick out some wood screws that are too short to go through the seat thickness.  (this is important for the health and safety of your customers)  Shoot these screws through the bottom of the drum lid to anchor the bottom of the seat to the lid permanently.  Wrap any part of the seat that shows in saran wrap, and shoot builder's foam under the bottom seat between the wood and the drum lid.   Trim away excess.  You can add a ring of foam gasket material around the upper lid to totally seal the toilet seat assembly.  I always say I am going to do this, and haven't done it in 20 years, but this time I am really going to, I'll get around to it next week for sure.
	Step two:  You are nearly done already!  Re-attach the drum lid to the drum using the band clamp that came with the drum.  Build yourself a step out of any handy material (scrap lumber, a concrete block, whatever).  Make the step height so you can naturally sit comfortably on the seat.  For 50 gallon drum composters, you may need two steps, my 30 gallon composter just needs one step.
Compost toilets can be tippy, they tend to have a bulge in the bottom, and this makes the sitter rather uncomfortable.  In 20 years I've never had one tip over,  but you'll have more customers with a stable installation.  I take a short scrap of 1X6 and shoot three deck screws through the rim edge of the drum (don't shoot them through the bottom,. you'll make a leak.)  Snap off the part of the screw that sticks out on the other side with pliars.
	Now for the most important part:  The reading shelf.  This consists of two sections:  required reading, including Goodbye to the Flush Toilet by Carol Hupping Stoner.  Optional reading is below: No compost toilet is complete without a good reading shelf.
	And of course the optional reading, and the very non-optional toilet paper roll.   I would recommend at least the following:  One or more books about science, one or more about ecology,  one or more about spirituality and one or more of humor.  Such a selection will please most of the pickiest readers your composter is likely to encounter.  Rotate your books often.  On the subject of toilet paper:  It is totally biodegradable, throw it into the compost toilet all you want.  Things to keep out of the composter include:  Feminine hygiene products, plastic, diapers, kitchen waste (too smelly),  chemicals, and anything that isn't poop, pee, toilet paper or organic matter.
You can put  your compost toilet in any handy space, hopefully indoors where it is warm and comfy, and somewhat private.  Make sure it is a place where the drum can be readily wheeled out on a hand truck - avoid basement stairs or attics.  A cleanable floor is a good idea, for hygiene and for the unavoidable sawdust spill.