How do you recycle and compost your own feces safely?

in the 90's I sold Sun-Mar composting toilets. They used a drum that you rotated to mix everything up daily. Each use, some form of carbon was added such as sawdust, leaves, ground corn cobs and so on. The carbon and nitrogen combined, composted and heated to kill any bad bacteria we put in through our feces and produced good compost that some people used in their gardens. I have one still and use it in my cabin. I call it my indoor out-house. 90% of our waste is moisture and the toilet evaporates that while composting the solids. I only emptied it about 2 times a year. Go to Sun-mar.com to get more information. They are made in Canada and are not expensive compared to a septic system. The concept is easy to implement without buying one of the products .

lol. You seem pretty concerned about starting this thread. lol. I'm glad you asked. I was wondering the same thing. I saw them using liquid human waste to fertilize crops in Ohio. In a survival situation every little bit counts. Hate to think your crops didn't keep your plates full just because you were scared to do it. Kudos for bringin' it up.

you MUST add other materials to the waste to aid with composting ... typically you would add lye or lime to it which also helps to raise the compost pile temperature which is important, do you plan to only compost, or are you looking to use it for biomass gas?

Can you explain the biomass gas?

ALL decomposition releases methane gas, it is the largest component of natural gas... a quick google search will show you how ... basicly animal manure and feces are put in an airtight container, the resulting anaerobic decomposition releases a gas that is more than half methane which can be burnt directly as fuel... it HAS to be mixed with water for this to happen, which is why I dont understand why cities havent gotten into this with municipal waste. ... but I digress.

Schutzengel said:

you MUST add other materials to the waste to aid with composting ... typically you would add lye or lime to it which also helps to raise the compost pile temperature which is important, do you plan to only compost, or are you looking to use it for biomass gas?

Click to expand...

Some good information and thanks everyone for not laughing.

I was at first thinking about compost, but now about the biomass gas sounds really interesting. I didn't know you could do this!

A little google time on design will help you come up with the right mix... think Mad Max... all of thier electricity cam from methane gas produced by the pig farm... while it sounds crazy it is a good alternative fuel... and the sludge that is left after decomp can be used as fertilizer... so it isnt an either/or situation.

That is fn amazaing. I love it.

there are a few designs on youtube, just look up anaerobic biomass digesters

this is a simple design walk through.

these guys are a little left of center but if it works, I am more than happy to share.