Hi!
I need help finding the best compostable toilet for my bus and any general info about toilets while living on the road anyone could give me! 
I’m at a complete loss and need a great toilet pretty soon.
Thanks so much!
Get a Natures Head. At least in the US it’s the only way to go. I know there are a few other options in Europe, but not here.
We’ve gone through a home made compostable toilet, 5 gallon bucket, portable toilet and finally the natures head. Hands down it is the most sanitary and convenient of the options. You’ll change it considerably less and they do not smell at all.
Typically with me and the misses, the poo container needs emptied every 1 to 2 months depending on usage. The pee container obviously needs emptied out a lot more often, so you may want to get an extra container for that.
They are pricey, but are 100% worth every penny in my opinion. I have not found anything that holds a candle to it.
Oh okay! Thank you so much! I’ve seen those here and there so I’ll def check it out and does it need to be plugged in in a certain way? Or does it just stand on its own?
Greetings & Welcome!
I have to respectfully disagree about composting toilets…
Not to mention the ridiculous pricetag, emptying it less frequently gives you a larger bulk to dispose of, making it harder.
A bucket toilet can be made cheaply and easily with or without a urine diverter. I’m using a handicap style bedside bucket toilet. Sturdy & stable, and with the lid I get no odors. I don’t have a urine diverter on mine and just use a separate pee jug… I empty it once a week or so. Before emptying, I add my weeks worth of trash to the top of the bag before I tie it off. The entire package is small, and I just carry it in the bucket, to dump the bag into a trash can. If you wish you could add a urine diverter using a dollar store funnel going to an empty milk jug. Having tried just about every option, I like this one the best. I use pine pellets from a feed store, $8 for a 50# bag. Works like kitty litter but much less messy. No power needed either.
Cheers!
"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart
The natures head does need to be plugged in as there is a small computer fan inside of it, so it also has to be vented.
The amount of waste isn’t hard to dispose of at all regardless of how much you put in there. At least we’ve never had any trouble. For medium we use coco coir that you can buy for about $15 a brick at any hydroponics store or on amazon. One brick will last about half a year as it’s really compacted.
It is expensive and you get what you pay for. If you buy a bucket, you get a bucket. No shame in that and we used one for a long time before upgrading. I would never go back though and we don’t have the option of a separate jug. My wife cannot and does not want to attempt to pee into a jug.
It will take up a bit more space than the bucket option. Ours is basically built into a drawer that sits below the bed so it pulls in and out.
Greetings!
Mine is kind of multi functional. With cushions, it’s an extra seat, with a cutting board across the arms, it’s extra kitchen counter.
I totally understand the female problem, but a urine separating bucket toilet is also simple & cheap to make. When I had a female traveling with me for awhile, I created one within a very short time for under $5.00. She later went solo with her own camper, so I gifted it to her. While not opposed to them, I just don’t need one for myself.
Cheers!
"Old school, cheap, simple, reliable, and easily replaceable for the win!" ~ Traveler@Heart
Thank you so much for both of your help! I appreciated both of your opinions! I’ll take them both into account
As a different perspective, I have a Thetford cassette toilet and I love it. I primarily try to reserve it for #1, which isn’t too hard. You’re emptying out your #1 with a composting toilet anyways, and I find the experience of emptying a cassette much less objectionable (as well as less frequent). In the rare circumstances I’ve used it for #2, emptying it still isn’t difficult.
Much nicer than a bucket IMO, but to each their own. Mine is 12V for the flush, but you can get manually operated ones as well if power is an issue. No smell if used properly, and easy to empty at any roadside stop, outhouse, campground, dump station, or even a normal house.
I quite easily make it last 1-2 weeks between dumps. No toilet solution is going to be as nice as a residential toilet, but I’m okay with dealing with 25-30 emptyings per year.
I had initially been eyeing a Laveo Dry-Flush, but it’s expensive to both purchase and use. I didn’t like the idea of being tied to a company and hoping that they didn’t go out of business. That said, that was 5-10 years ago and they’re still around.
I would be all over an incinerating toilet if I could find a diesel-fired one. Very pricy but the only cleanup you have to deal with is a bit of ash a few times per year. If my new electrical system works as planned, I might put in an AC powered one. They do burn a lot of energy though.
@firebat45 - If you don’t #2 in the toilet, where do you do it at? I really would not want to drive to a gas station to use the toilet every morning. I typically refrain from ever going #2 in a public place if I can, public restrooms tend to gross me out.
As far as emptying the cassette out, at least the one I had way back when was a lot more cumbersome and gross to empty than the nature’s head, but to each their own. Our was cheap at the time and only cost about $100. It was basically a glorified bucket.
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That’s fair. I hate public restrooms as well, but there are private washrooms at my work that I tend to use. Not everyone will have that same situation, I realize.
When I say cassette toilet, I think of a permanently installed toilet with a removable cassette. Not a porta-potty. I began with one of those, and the experience is definitely worse. A permanently installed cassette toilet is different, at least in my experience. Still not something I’d call “fun”, but preferable to emptying urine jugs every few days and “compost” every few months, or dealing with emptying a black tank.