How to Use & Clean a Compost Toilet for a Tiny House on Wheels

I love this toilet. But, it’s a toilet made for a boat to be used for a few nights rather than on a daily basis, so I find that it’s a bit small. It isn’t too bad because we empty it frequently, so it never smells. We actually clean our toilet top to bottom, scrubbing the whole thing down every five days. 

Let me show you inside the toilet, a few features, and the process of how we empty it and keep it clean.

1. We don’t use toilet paper, we use cloths and a wet bag

First, it’s important to know that our composting toilet is clean and tidy because it doesn't have any toilet paper in it. We don’t use toilet paper and honestly, I don’t know how it would be using toilet paper in a composting toilet—it may be a hassle. Instead, we use cloth toilet paper and we use a wet bag to put our dirty toilet paper in, and then we just wash what’s in it. 

2. We use a urine diverter

Let me show you the inside of the toilet. Another important feature is our urine diverter. It’s really a cleanable plastic funnel. We plumbed it so that our urine goes right into our gray water system. Urine is gray water so it works and it also means that we don't have to empty a jug.

It's a very simple design. There’s a pipe that hooks right into our gray water system. When you put down the toilet seat, the funnel sits on top of the pipe. 

We want to build our own toilet and design the diverter so it sits further down. You can see that it’s very high up so sometimes we feel it when we sit on the toilet. We are going to eventually build a bigger composting toilet with a porcelain urine inverter.

3. Here’s the compartment where you poo

The larger compartment behind the diverter towards the back of the toilet is a bucket where you go number two. It’s where we put the sawdust and peat moss mixture. 

4. We remove the bucket for cleaning

The bucket is filled about three-quarters with sawdust and about a quarter of peat moss. You can't see anything in there because it's dirt and it doesn't look or smell like poo. It smells like pine or cedar.  

5. We empty and rinse the bucket outside 

We empty the bucket into a compost bin where we put our kitchen scraps.

We keep this plastic laundry sink outside where we spray the bucket clean with a hose. This sink makes it so much easier to wash it out.

6. We clean the inside of the toilet

While the bucket is being cleaned outside, I’ll usually clean the toilet inside. I give everything a wipe down and I clean it all out. 

7. I mix the peat moss and sawdust

Now we'll take our bucket outside and fill it with some more peat moss and sawdust. We have a giant bag of peat moss housed in one of our outdoor storage boxes. The bag lasts at least six months. 

Right now we use sawdust that we house in this big barrel but sometimes we use hardwood chips. This usually lasts about six months, too. 

I mix the sawdust and the peat moss in a Tupperware container. I mix about three-quarters sawdust to one-quarter inch peat moss. 

8. We put the clean bucket back in the toilet

All clean!

9. Add peat moss and sawdust mixture

We add some mixture into the box of the toilet. It’s the storage box that we use when we need to scoop the mixture out after we poo. 

Then we add it to the toilet bowl area. I fill it up to the bar so we can mix it with the crank on the side of the toilet.

10. Here’s how we use the toilet

After I pee, I take my toilet spray (which is just vinegar, lemon, and some essential oils) and I give the urine diverter a spray. 

Then I fill up a little cup with water and pour it into the bowl. This is a way to flush the toilet.

After you poo, you put a scoop of peat moss and sawdust mixture into the toilet to cover the poo.

Then you give the crank a whirl to cover it up. That's what keeps the smell down.

Compost toilet for a tiny house

That’s it! I hope this helped you understand how we use and clean our composting toilet. I have zero complaints about our composting toilet. We love using it. Our baby isn't old enough yet, but it's going to be really interesting to teach a baby how to use a composting toilet during potty training!

Let us know in the comments if you have a composting toilet or are interested in getting one and why.