Kitchen and Toilet Composting

Author: Kathy
April 19, 2010

Composting: An easy way to dispose of all organic waste :) We are composting kitchen, yard and garden, as well as toilet waste. I decided to separate the toilet composting from the kitchen and garden compost piles because I want to let the toilet compost age one to two years before we use it. The kitchen compost can be used in three to six months sometimes, and definitely by the time we’ve been here for a year.

Toilet Composting

toilet compost pile
My toilet compost pile will continue having additions made to it for six to twelve months, then it will sit and mature for a minimum of one year before we start using it.

We’re using the sawdust toilet method outlined in The Humanure Handbook and I have to say it’s working well. We’ve only been doing this for just under four weeks so far but we’ve had no problems with the setup. We only have one bathroom bucket at the moment and I empty it several times each week. Our sawdust is actually a mixture of wood shavings and sawdust so the bucket fills up faster that way. It’s still quite absorbent of liquid though and does exactly what it’s supposed to do for neutralizing odors. If all keeps going well I expect this to be a super easy method of dealing with waste over the long term, and having byproduct that can be used to enrich the trees and bushes as we go.

Kitchen Composting

kitchen compost pile
Since we just got the gardens started a few weeks ago, we don’t have much in the way of garden waste to add to the compost. We also have very little food waste, because we’ve learned to cook just enough for the two of us at supper time so we rarely have left overs. We don’t spend too much money right now on fresh fruits and vegetables either, so there isn’t much fresh food waste to add to the compost. This actually makes the composting process a bit more difficult because we have the opposite problem than most with our compost pile: Not quite enough “green” materials in comparison to the browns.

We have plenty of hay and sawdust, plus lots of cardboard and paper to toss into the pile. I’ve started trying to make sure we buy a little more fresh fruits and vegetables lately so we’ll have more green matter to add. Without that the pile won’t start decomposing much.

Everything Organic

Since we live on seven acres of land, I don’t have to worry about smells or attracting critters. So I add stuff to the compost pile that most “experts” warn you not to: Meat products, juices and bones; cooked foods; old milk that didn’t get used and so on. In fact, I add ALL organic matter to the kitchen compost pile. The only organic matter I don’t allow in that pile is human or dog feces. Those go into the toilet compost.

I’ve also found the saying “If it smells, cover it up” applies completely to any type of composting pile. Layering hay overtop takes care of even the worst potential problems, like rotting meat or milk.

It’s Amazingly Easy

I’ve also decided composting is probably one of the easiest things in the world to do. You just start with a bed of hay or straw, and put things on top of it. Food, paper towels, cardboard boxes from supper meals, cake mixes and used butter packages too.

If we spill a can of soup on the stove we just wipe it up with a paper towel, then toss the entire mess into the compost pile. There’s no smelly trash bag to deal with getting out of the house quickly, no horrible dumpster you don’t want to get within 100 feet of, etc. You just toss it on the pile, cover it with hay and you’re done. And it’s not smelly or revolting to get near either, so tossing new stuff on top is not an exercise in bravery or an assault on the senses ;)

I’ve done small scale composting for years with yard and garden waste, fireplace ashes, newspaper and coffee grounds, so I’m already a firm believer in the “no turn” or “no work” approach to composting. It’s just not needed. Nature takes its course in due time and you end up with amazingly rich soil without hardly having lifted a finger. I plan on doing the same with both the toilet and kitchen compost piles here too: Add new stuff and just let it be. I may give them a little extra water now and then because some months here in Arizona are super dry, but that’s all I plan to do. I’m not turning, mixing or otherwise working it though. I’ll let it take as long as it takes, then when it’s ready I’ll put it to good use :)

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