How can we improve our temporary toilet system?
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projectkamp
| Started over 1 year ago
Last update 5 months ago
Construction

How can we improve our temporary toilet system?

With the increasing number of people on our land every passing season, we are encountering challenges in effectively managing human waste (poop and pee). Our current system is not sustainable and we're in need of solutions that are low-cost, easy to maintain, and simple to implement. We want to put these solutions to the test this season and see how they work. That's why we're reaching out to our community for feedback and ideas on how we can improve our current system for the short term. As we set up our infrastructure from scratch the topic of poop and pee management is frequently brought up. With the ongoing development of infrastructure, the number of people coming and living on the land will continue to increase. However, due to various constraints such as limited space and not having enough people to take care of a permanent toilet system, we are seeking temporary solutions to bridge this gap. In this upcoming post, we will explore how to improve it step by step.
NaturalBuilding

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30 following
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34 comments
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11 steps

1

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The beginnings. Shovel and holes.

created over 1 year ago
When we first came into the land we were few and we didn’t have or need any infrastructure. So, whenever we needed to go to the bathroom, we just went into the bushes with a shovel and some toilet paper. We dug a hole, did our thing, and covered it up. It was a simple and easy way to take care of business.

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Building the first toilet.

created over 1 year ago
For a while our system worked fine, but as more people started visiting Base Kamp, it became uncomfortable and risky to have so many poopholes and pee surrounding the area. In the hot and dry weather, the unpleasant smell added to the issue. Although we knew we eventually needed to build a toilet, we had other priorities during the first months. It wasn't until we were expecting 15 friends for the summer that we asked our community if they wanted to come build an outhouse, and Ian said yes and came to help.

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How our current system works.

created over 1 year ago
Our toilet setup is pretty simple. We use a big 40x40cm bucket to hold our poop, along with some toilet paper and sawdust that we pick up at the local lumberyard. Everyday, we empty the bucket into a big hole we’ve dug nearby and cover it with some dirt. Then when it’s full we properly cover and flatten it and dig a new hole close by. Currently we ask everyone to pee around Base Kamp between the trees and bushes but we also allow them to do it in the bucket if they prefer.

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Challenges with the system.

created over 1 year ago
The toilet we built in the summer of 2021 is the only one we have, and we're still using the same system. But as the group gets bigger and bigger, we've started running into some issues. The main challenges are: Poop holes: -We're filling them fast. -It's getting harder to find good spots to dig new ones because the area is too rocky. -Digging them is too labor intensive. Pee and smell: -The poopholes are so close to the tent area that sometimes the smells get carried by the wind. -We are running low on bushes to pee privately and can also add to the smell issue. Extra improvements: -We feel like it's wasteful to just bury our poop, and we'd like to find a way to use it as organic matter instead. -We have limited dry space to store the sawdust, forcing us to go more frequently to the sawmill.

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Which improvements can we make?

created over 1 year ago
Now that we’ve shared our background with the poop and pee and explained our main challenges, we are eager to explore and research potential solutions and improvements. We are starting to design a new outhouse and we would love to hear your ideas and feedback, especially about separating pee or not. Our goal is to find a temporary (next couple of years), low-cost, easy-to-build and maintain solution that we can implement this season and put to the test. We welcome any suggestions or feedback in the comments.

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Starting toilet v.2!

created over 1 year ago
We are now starting to work on the design of the new toilet. We know that we want a simple design with an easy daily maintenance. We have been doing some research and have seen different ways of building outdoor dry toilets. After this research, we have listed some of the key points we think are important to take into consideration. - Seat height. The current height is not ergonomic for many people in the group, as it is too high. So we would like to find a better option suitable for all. Different options are squating, using a standard height measure (around 38cm) or something in between. - Ventilation Our poop bucket is emptied daily, which means that the poop doesn’t remain in the bucket for long and that we are not composting the waste within the toilet. That is why we are wondering if it is necessary to have a ventilation system connected to the underside of the seat board if no compost is being done. - Natural light Our current toilet does not have daylight, which is something we would like to work on. However, we don't know if adding more natural light would come with having higher temperatures inside the outhouse, as it can get really hot in here. And, would this affect on the smell? Would we have flies? Right now we don't have any and we would love to keep it that way :) So, it would be really interesting to hear some suggestions and feedback from you guys. Let us know what you think

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Design ready

created over 1 year agoedited over 1 year ago
After some days of thinking, and after reading the comments on the research, we have finally decided how our new toilet will work and how it will look like. Based on the capacities and necessities of the project at this point. We have our design ready and we would like to share it with you. - We are building the toilet next to the current one - We are going to continue using the plastic buckets for collecting the poop, pee and sawdust. For the new poop system. But that can be explained in another post ;) - We are adding a window to have natural light - We are creating a sink area so we have water access closer to the toilets - We are designing a sawdust storage box to store more sawdust than we currently do, and that will be connected to the inside of the toilet - We are building the toilet on top of stones so that the wood is not in contact with the ground - We are integrating the sawdust storage, period bucket and toilet paper in the same box

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New Composting System (Part 1)

created over 1 year ago
Hey everyone! We've made some exciting changes to our system based on your feedback and our research. We're now using a system inspired by the humanure handbook, with a few tweaks to suit our needs. But before we got started, we had some preparations to take care of. First, we cleared the area to create space for our bins, buckets, and hay. We made 12 compost bins using old pallets we got for free from nearby businesses. To save on pallets, we used 32 of them in a simple design. Since the pallets were different sizes and shapes, we used the bigger ones in the middle row and the smaller ones in the front, with the mid-sized ones in between. We also gathered hay bales from our land, thanks to our neighbor's help, and bought the necessary buckets. Lastly, we made sure to cover up the final poophole properly. We went for this approach because it solves many of the challenges we were facing, mainly saving us from digging holes but it will also help with the smell and flies issue.

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Final result + drawings

created over 1 year ago
We finished building the toilet! The video is out there. And also the drawings are available to download. Let us know if you have any suggestions on documentation, we are always up for improving :) 💪 Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/nhP8-rhU7ns 📁 Download the files: https://cutt.ly/FwfyQtA8

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Toilet System Experience in Season 3

created 6 months ago
The second toilet and the poop palace that we built in season 3 have served us well, lasting about 6 months with 25 people living in Kamp. Things that worked well - - The second toilet as compared to the first one feels more spacious, has natural light, storage space for toilet paper and sawdust, and a wash basin to maintain hygiene. - The poop palace structure is sturdy and it held up well throughout the different seasons, even surviving the heavy rains. - The sawdust and hay cover up the smell well - you don’t smell anything even when close to the compost bins. - There are zero to very few flies around the poop palace. Things that need improvements - - The bins are filling up fast and we need to see if an addition of the same structure will be sufficient for accommodating 35 people in season 4. - We don’t have a system to store the hay needed and this can become a problem in the rainy season as the hay becomes moldy. - Cleaning the poop buckets is quite difficult and disgusting.

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Expanding the Poop Palace

created 5 months agoedited 5 months ago
With all the 12 bins of the poop palace being filled and the compost not ready to be used yet, we could not empty any bins and have built a replica of the structure to create more space for all the human manure in season 4. -To build the structure, we've used Heat Treated (HT) Pallets that are free from any chemical treatment -We've built in a way that it's easy to open up in the future to take out the compost Challenges we anticipate in the future - -Finding out how much we need to wait for the compost to be ready and the bins to be emptied -How we are going to use the compost -We don't know if the two structures will be sufficient for the next few years or if further expansion will be needed soon
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