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Old 11-03-2011, 01:30 PM   #1
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composting and recycling

So I am a homesteader who is into composting and recycling and by doing so I reduce my garbage by 80%. By keeping food waste separate from trash and recyclable packaging my garbage does not stink and can be stored for long periods of time. Anyways I am struggling with my garbage when away from home in the boler. I hate to mix everything up in one trash bag and just toss it. Yet room inside the trailer is limited so that recycling is a challenge and composting is not an option in urban areas. Anyone else struggle with reducing their environmental impact?
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Old 11-03-2011, 02:01 PM   #2
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Environmental Impact

Recycling is not something I'm overly conscious about however I do recognize that RVers by their mere activity use less than if they were living at home.

When traveling our energy usage (gas, electricity, ...) our food intake, our water usage and even our trash is dramatically less than when in our traditional home. As a result just performing the activity, results in lowering one's impact on the use of resources and the need to dispose of waste. Afterall on average most of us live in homes that are about 20 times the volume of our fiberglass trailers.

Virtually every park I go to has some sort of recycling, though usually not as extensive as what is done in our community though I will say the provincial park in PEI was a near match. Aluminum cans recycling is almost everywhere in NA.

Simply do the best you can, recognize that your RVing activity is not demanding on nature or the natural and that in the longer term everything recycles, and most things including foam cups disintigrate in Sunlight in short order.

Safe travels.
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Old 11-03-2011, 04:54 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by Rene View Post
So I am a homesteader who is into composting and recycling and by doing so I reduce my garbage by 80%. By keeping food waste separate from trash and recyclable packaging my garbage does not stink and can be stored for long periods of time. Anyways I am struggling with my garbage when away from home in the boler. I hate to mix everything up in one trash bag and just toss it. Yet room inside the trailer is limited so that recycling is a challenge and composting is not an option in urban areas. Anyone else struggle with reducing their environmental impact?
Even when we are home, a week's worth of non-recycle garbage seldom amounts to a kitchen sized bag.Take what you can home with you.

Could you make a small compost box out of a 5 gal. plastic bucket then take it home with you when your done camping?

Is there any objection to adding combustables or small amounts of food waste to your campfire,(if you have one)?
If you are staying for a longer periods, ASK around...there may be facilities or like-minded individuals available in the town that you are visiting.

What, besides human waste, can be responsibly put into a pit toilet?
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Old 11-03-2011, 05:24 PM   #4
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Cool Recycling is second nature to us

We do extensive recycling and composting at home.
We don't save compost material while on the road, it goes in the campground garbage. We do save Beverage cans and bottles as well as food cans, milk jugs, and all paper packaging and newsprint for recycling when we get home. We separate paper labels from tin and aluminum cans before use, and flatten everything. It all goes in the Trunk Cargo Storage Net in the back of the Odyssey. Our 2 week Oregon vacation had a total volume about the size of a king bed pillow to add to the recycling once we got home.
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Old 11-03-2011, 10:34 PM   #5
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Even when we are home, a week's worth of non-recycle garbage seldom amounts to a kitchen sized bag.Take what you can home with you.

Could you make a small compost box out of a 5 gal. plastic bucket then take it home with you when your done camping?

Is there any objection to adding combustables or small amounts of food waste to your campfire,(if you have one)?
If you are staying for a longer periods, ASK around...there may be facilities or like-minded individuals available in the town that you are visiting.

What, besides human waste, can be responsibly put into a pit toilet?
Good suggestions. Yes the campfire can be used to dispose of paper and certain food leftovers, less to attract bears that way. I never thought of the pit toilet but I don't see why you could not throw small amounts of food waste in one. It can't smell any worse. What you do not want in a pit toilet is bottles, cans, plastic etc.
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Old 11-03-2011, 10:48 PM   #6
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We do extensive recycling and composting at home.
We don't save compost material while on the road, it goes in the campground garbage. We do save Beverage cans and bottles as well as food cans, milk jugs, and all paper packaging and newsprint for recycling when we get home. We separate paper labels from tin and aluminum cans before use, and flatten everything. It all goes in the Trunk Cargo Storage Net in the back of the Odyssey. Our 2 week Oregon vacation had a total volume about the size of a king bed pillow to add to the recycling once we got home.
That's great. Maybe I could use a two bin system-garbage in one, recyclables in another.
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Old 11-06-2011, 07:43 AM   #7
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Lee Valley Tools sell several sizes of compost pails with air filters. One is a small counter top version.
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Old 11-06-2011, 09:26 AM   #8
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I know exactly what you mean and feel your frustration.
At home we compost and recycle everything. Up until this summer we tent camped and didn't have a spare inch of space in our vehicle to bring items home. We really enjoyed some of the Oregon state parks and their recycling program but lots of places it only seemed to be cans.
If we are going to be somewhere for more than a few days I often check online where their recycling facility is and drop stuff off there. I can't believe how much recyclable stuff people put in the dumpsters even when they could recycle it right at the campground!
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Old 11-06-2011, 10:15 AM   #9
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I know exactly what you mean and feel your frustration.
At home we compost and recycle everything. Up until this summer we tent camped and didn't have a spare inch of space in our vehicle to bring items home. We really enjoyed some of the Oregon state parks and their recycling program but lots of places it only seemed to be cans.
If we are going to be somewhere for more than a few days I often check online where their recycling facility is and drop stuff off there. I can't believe how much recyclable stuff people put in the dumpsters even when they could recycle it right at the campground!
Which restaurant chains compost? No, really...If there is one, or are some, they might be good places to dispose of compostables. Can't hurt to ask?
I suspect I have been in at least one which serves compost!
I think they call it Humus...Or is that Hummus? OH well, same difference!
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Old 01-02-2012, 05:51 PM   #10
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We had a composting toilet, a Sun-Mar Compact, in our Scamp for several years. It worked just fine after I made some changes to seal the drawer, lift the air intake, etc. However, it was huge, definitely not sized for a Scamp.

So this fall I removed it and have installed an "Air Head" composting toilet that was developed for small yacht installation. If you're interested you can find everything you would like to know with a Google search.

Haven't used it yet. Was planning to be in Texas early December, but some health issues have kept us home. Hope to be on our way in a week or two and try out the new arrangement.
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Old 01-02-2012, 08:01 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Loren G. Hedahl View Post
I removed it and have installed an "Air Head" composting toilet that was developed for small yacht installation. If you're interested you can find everything you would like to know with a Google search.
Or, just click on the link below:
Air Head Dry Toilet: Marine Composting Toilets - Environmentally Friendly Marine Composting Toilet System
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Old 01-05-2012, 01:14 PM   #12
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My brother is working on a home made composting toilet for his fifth wheel. He is using a large aluminum stock pot, with a crank agitator, and very fancy seat. I won't go into the details of the design.

Obviously he has not yet used it, but the rant he gave me has me thinking. Urine separation is apparently the key. Just throw in some peat moss and give it a crank when you are done. It uses no water, and does not need to emptied as often. The black water tank only holds Urine. I remember someone posted about using an egg at burning man, They disposed of urine in evaporation trays.

Putting all your compostables in the toilet would probably require more frequent emptying.
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Old 01-05-2012, 05:57 PM   #13
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I would be leery of putting anything but vegetable or fruit scraps into a pit toilet. And I wouldn't do even that.

If you put meat, dairy, etc. in your garden compost pile it can go rancid and attract all kinds of critters that normally leave a healthy compost pile alone.

I'd hate to sit down on a pit toilet when one of those critters decided he wanted out of there!
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Old 01-07-2012, 07:32 AM   #14
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I am instaling (this spring) 2 containers with screw on lids on the back bumper not big ones just big enough to hold one weeks worth of compost and recyclable's. Now mind you I have to make them removable because I do do a lot of camping in bear territory and I don't need them snooping around my camper. 8^) here is another option on compost toilets.http://www.natureshead.net/
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Old 01-10-2012, 01:31 AM   #15
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My brother is working on a home made composting toilet for his fifth wheel. He is using a large aluminum stock pot, with a crank agitator, and very fancy seat. I won't go into the details of the design.

Obviously he has not yet used it, but the rant he gave me has me thinking. Urine separation is apparently the key. Just throw in some peat moss and give it a crank when you are done. It uses no water, and does not need to emptied as often. The black water tank only holds Urine. I remember someone posted about using an egg at burning man, They disposed of urine in evaporation trays.

Putting all your compostables in the toilet would probably require more frequent emptying.
This is interesting David. I practice some urine diversion when I am at home. I use it as fertilizer mixed with water at 10-20:1. I think it is the key to a well running composting toilet especially one that is a compact size. Less smell and more time between emptying. Adding food waste to such a toilet is begging for an overloading problem. A composting toilet needs air and too much liquid in the compost will lead to a soggy smelly mess. So diverting the urine just makes sense.
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Old 01-21-2012, 11:59 AM   #16
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Boy! They are not giving those toilets away! It does sound like a really good solution to the "where to go" problem. Wish they weren't so darn expensive!
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Old 01-24-2012, 12:15 PM   #17
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Boy! They are not giving those toilets away! It does sound like a really good solution to the "where to go" problem. Wish they weren't so darn expensive!
A big aluminum stock pot, a crank installed in the side, a seat that has a trap door and a drain under it, (for separation). So far, my brother is $500 into it, but he is planning on a fancy seat with ventilation, heat, and an integral squirt bidet. It is the seat that is going to cost him.

Some use a 5 gallon bucket, and a stick to stir it. You can actually get a ventilated 5 gallon bucket holder with a lid and a seat. My in-laws have a porcelain on steel one at the old farm homestead that they vacation at. The vent helps with the smell. The process also requires air. It is the peat moss that really makes it work.
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Old 02-17-2012, 04:05 PM   #18
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How stinky are these composting toilets. The website say oderless. I am skeptical...
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Old 02-25-2012, 09:17 PM   #19
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I don't have a composting toilet (YET) but I do know that smell depends on a number of factors. You have to use one mindful of the operating procedures. Some have power vents and these are easiest to handle smell wise. Without power other factors weigh more heavily. The loading or amount of use related to the number of people using it is critical. Too heavy a use and it will smell. You have to avoid having too much liquid waste. The toilet should be loaded with a bit of high carbon material such as sawdust or peat to help absorb liquids and reduce odours while the composting gets under way.
Air, water (urine) and high carbon buffer ensure composting action. Composting toilets are not for everyone.
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Old 02-29-2012, 06:35 PM   #20
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How stinky are these composting toilets. The website say oderless. I am skeptical...
I wouldn't even consider one without a small fan running continuously. Instead of venting up through the ceiling/roof as is done in most building installations, I vented mine down through the floor. The vent into the toilet needs to be tightly screened.

This not only keeps flies from laying eggs in the composting medium, but the slight airflow evacuates any smell as well as dries the content, preventing moisture/condensate build-up within the toilet.

Another benefit is that the evacuating air has to come from somewhere. One mine, the fit of the door isn't all that good, so I suspect much of it from this source. Mine also has the old style jalousie windows with aluminum frames. Since installing the composting toilet, it is very unusual for any sweat to develop on the frames; or anywhere else, for that matter.

The result is not only a toilet that is odorless, but a entire trailer that is essentially odorless, even after a lot of cooking.
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