For the last year (at least), we were trying to decide what kind of toilet to put in The Albatross.  Choosing a toilet is not an easy decision for many people.  It’s kind of like choosing a car… you have to sit on it many times a day, and you need it to just work, without any problems because if it does have problems they are usually the very. worst. kind.

I also hated the idea of a regular RV blackwater tank. The way those work is that all of your toilet waste plus water for flushing makes its way to a tank underneath where it swirls around until you pump it out.  They are prone to problems… like ‘clumping’.  Any problem related to toilets described by that word sounds bad to me.

But, there’s also… this:

We talked to many full time RV people who have a composting toilet, and I talked to several composting toilet companies and it really came down to only one: the Separett.  Now I’m not saying this because they became a sponsor of The Organic Farm Tour - we were really happy that they decided to support us because we really, really wanted one.  

When choosing a composting toilet there are two major designs:  the flushable, mixed up kind which uses a heating element to evaporate the liquids, and the waterless kind which separates the liquids from the solids so you don’t have to evaporate them.  This second design makes way more sense to me.  During the composting process the more wet and cold your ‘matter’ is, the more difficult it is to really compost. One of the major complaints of the kind that keeps everything together, is that the toilets can’t actively compost it quickly enough for even a couple of people using it.  When you would go to empty them, you would find a very stinky mess, often buzzing with flies.  

Not only this, but composting toilets tend to be very pricey.  We needed to service 2 or 3 adults and 3 kids all the time, probably some car-sick puking as well.  All the liquid-included toilets require a extra-capacity tank or holding area, and for our family it would have be the size of a small car and cost more than what we paid for our bus.

The Separett is different.  It has unlimited capacity, no holding tank, uses very little electricity for a small venting fan, and does exactly what it says it can do.  It also looks pretty:

This is because you just don’t compost your treasure in the toilet itself.  You have a holding container with a compostable bag which you easily remove and compost outside, just like your regular compost.  They have some very nice composting containers for it.  There is a tube for liquids which you can divert outside, or as in the case of our bus, to a holding tank for distribution later.  A family of 3 or 4 fills up this container in 3-6 weeks, or for our family about a month.  In about 6 months, your bag of solids is ready for the regular compost heap.  

The Separett has a 5 year warranty, costs less than most composting units, has the highest capacity (unlimited), and makes the most sense.  It even comes with a child seat.  

Stay tuned and we’ll post a video of us installing it and using it.  Wait, not using it… we’ll show you how it works. :)