How To Handle Human Excrement While On The Road?

During the start of Covid, our plumbing broke & we couldn’t get a plumber to come fix it for 3 weeks! So, I used a wooden board over the top of my bathtub & butted it up against the wall, in the middle of the tub. Then I put a small trash can under it, and I strategically placed it to catch the waste. I double-lined the trash can with small grocery bags. I used old, wadded-up, newspapers to absorb the urine. It worked really well. Make sure the wood is wide enough to be comfortable when you sit on it, and thick enough to hold your weight, and that its not going to slide around when your on it. And make sure you don’t have any holes in the bags either! Haha! Thank you C.P.! You are helping us all so much!

Pine pellets for horse stalls works perfectly! Put a cupful in the bottom of the bucket, line the bucket with 2 bags. The bottom one remains and the top one is changed out as needed. Once the bags are in place add another cup of pellets. Each time the toilet is used add a cup of pellets. Never let the bucket get more than half full. Pull out the inner bag and dispose of it. Having two bags keeps the bucket clean and also makes removing the waste bag easier. Put in a new bag, add pellets and you are set. Sanitary disposal is crucial. I use this method when camping to avoid leaving the tent during the night.

For any City Dwellers (I’ve spent a bit of time living in cities…) it would be good to spend a little time camping. I don’t mean hiking ten miles from a parking lot/trail head. You can learn a lot just pitching a tent a few yards from where you parked. Just a few days at a time will be a good start. Carrying your own water and food and sleeping bags; setting up tents, heating water for coffee, cooking simple meals with some sort of camp stove… If nothing else, this will give you a new appreciation for the conveniences of urban life – the easy availability of things we take for granted, like hot water and toilets without critters, and electricity. What the Heck? You might even learn to like camping and getting away from some things about city life that can rub your last raw nerve… Any how, it helped me learn to distinguish between essentials and luxuries.

As a lifetime trucker, I kept the folding campers toilet in the tractor for roadside issues, also a bottle for urine, after arriving I’d take the doubled up trash bag and put in the nearest garbage can along with the jug, sometimes I’d empty the jug and rinse then put some propyl alcohol in it and shake then dump. I carried hand soap and rolls of T.P. in plastic bags. Sometimes the nearest toilet was 20 miles away or it’s snowing/raining/freezing or simply no facilities available. Hope this helps.

The camp toilet kid with a five gallon bucket with a composting system can be used for years with no problems. Minimal smell and has the added benefit of being useable for growing food in a long term survival situation. It does have to compost for at least a year (preferably two) but it does work. A flow through compost would be best to allow the finished compost to be harvested from the bottom while more recent deposits added to the top.

I grew up with no indoor plumbing. Take a bath outside, only running water was runnin git it. We had an outhouse. Never had to clean it out, and it never smelled. Keep a bucket of lime with a cup in the corner of your outhouse. After you do your business sprinkle a little bit of lime over it. The lime neutralizes poop and completely breaks it down. Bonus tip: In cold weather keep the seat inside by your stove/heat source for a toasty and comfortable outhouse visit.

I was in Christchurch for the larger earthquake in February. Considering the city had experienced another months earlier, I was surprised at how unprepared they were. But, from what I understood, the first one weakened a lot of infrastructure, then the one in February did the weakened ones in. For example, my family and I were living in the older portion of the city, I discovered that the water as well as a fair bit of sewage pipes were so old, they were made of clay. Granted hardened clay is pretty tough, but not good enough. We had no water, power or sewage for at least a month, I think power came on about 2 weeks, water was a good 2 months and we discovered the sewage was unfixable. The house was a rental with a good size yard and pear mature pear tree. The city provided chemical/waterless toilets. But after trying it, we determined it was a nightmare and would use it as a backup. I dug a very deep hole in the far back, it was a long drop. I got a seat and every day I put down a layer of lime, and after every use as well. Every couple days I tossed in soil to cover and then lime and began again. We had inspectors out, I didn’t meet them, but they said everything was good. We began using water, which was coming through clean after a bit and sewage. The day before we moved I was checking around the house, checking for aftershock damage and noticed a lot of stuff under the house, under where the bathroom and toilet was. The house was on piles, a foot or so up. This is when I discovered everything we’d been putting down the drain and in the toilet was going under the house.

With minimal investigation, most of us can quickly and easily determine the process by which our waste is delivered to our local processing facility. Depending greatly upon distance, gravity alone is seldom employed. More often than not, waste will pass through a series of elevator pumps before reaching its destination. With that in mind, try to envision how many single family dwellings are making use of each line. Not to mention hotels, hospitals, and apartment buildings that may be as well. If those pumps go down, those lines will quickly back up. Do not underestimate people’s ability to procure “flush water” even after the municipal supply has been interrupted. Now this is where we have a problem. There are no check valves that allow for “one way” travel of waste water between your home and the sewer system. Good time to live on the top floor or on a hill. Low lying homes could find themselves flooded with a foot of waste water and waterborne waste overnight. In that regard, it is not only your waste you may have to contend with. Again, quickly and easily leaving your home unlivable by any standard or metric. Depending upon your particular location, this could take hours or weeks…..or never happen at all….but it is very possible. Not that it is officially recommended as it could contribute to a blockage under normal use, I have installed a 4″ ball valve on my main sewer line as it leaves my suburban home. As well as additional clean-outs for its maintenance. That valve will keep the city out of my home.

First of all, do NOT ever use “Hefty” trash bags. Even the ones labeled “super strong” LEAK. You MUST purchase 2-3 ml THICKNESS trash bags that you can buy at Smart & Final. Three millimeters thick is the best type. Then, DOUBLE-LINE a strong plastic pail bucket or else a 4-gallon strong oval bucket at The Container Store. Many people have to flee or evacuate in the car seconds in an emergency, so keep this stocked bucket/supply in your car. You MUST double-bag also in any case of bleeding. If you are simply voiding, you can use this system several times. Keep it simple. Don’t add more weight with dirt, etc. Toss out waste regularly. Bacteria love moist environments so keep yourself as dry as possible. If you have to go #2, then tie the double-bag in a tight knot and dispose of it. Then start anew. Wear Nitrile gloves & clean the bucket clean with Soil-U-Love which has ammonia in it. This system works extremely well. Keep rubbing alcohol near the toilet area to disinfect your hands. This works especially well in triple-digit heat. A female is going to go through tons more toilet paper than a male. So buy Scott’s toilet paper which lasts tons longer. If you have a fever or if your skin is sweating, dirty or itches (because there’s a lack of water & you couldn’t readily shower or bathe), use Rubbing Alcohol to take a bird bath. It also lowers a fever. Put dry shampoo spray in your kit. Keep Wet Ones in your kit & Bounty paper towels. Keep Hydrogen Peroxide in your kit in case you have a cut.

Poop and pee could be managed better if separated by having two potties. Put a little dirt or sawdust over each poop to keep the odor and flies off of it. Pour the pee into whatever jugs you can find. Let it age for a month and mix it with 4 parts water and use it for fertilizer On your plants. Its too valuable to throw away. The poop and dirt can be aged a year and put around trees or spread on fields. John Davis

You can also go to a medical supply and get a hospital beside toilet for about $30. Put a plastic bag in it along with pine shavings that you can buy at bulk from a pet store supply place and remember to keep your urine and poop separate. People who lived of nomadic lifestyle in their vehicles do this all the time with a bucket like you showed and a lid. The upside hospital bedside commode is that it comes with a sealed cover that you can put on the top of it when not in use that helps keep odor down. I was given one when I was in the hospital that my insurance paid for and so when I was discharged I took it home with me. The bucket is removable and the frame is completely collapsible. The reason I decided to keep it instead of letting them throw it away was I was being billed for it anyhow and it would work in a grid down situation.

Good article as always. A few years ago we purchased 5-person (5GAL) SIP station kits (72-hr kits) for all of our 53 field offices and workforce. In the final phase of purchase I added the snap on toilet lid for the 5GAL buckets. My esteemed (non-prepper) colleagues were shocked that I would even think that our workforce would poop or pee in a 5GAL bucket in an office environment.

Lime is the best! It uses hydrated or slaked lime (calcium hydroxide: Ca(OH)2) as an additive to create a highly alkaline environment and thereby stabilise sludge from human waste. It thereby significantly reduces the risk of latrine sludge causing negative impacts on human health and the environment.

There is a major danger in sealing up the garbage bag. Because there will be a methane build up; the bag will need to have a few holes punched into it otherwise the methane will explode into a fire. It’s only simple physics. Also, I lived in an area that had no sewage for many years. My grandparents dug a 4 or 6 foot hole in the ground and built an outhouse with a clean toilet seat to fit the hole and a screened in ventilation by the side of the roof. Yes it stunk, but a slop pot was used in the middle of the night and emptied in the morning. The well was not near a run-off so we were safe. My grandmother boiled the water just to be safe and stored with a lid in a cellar under the house.

THANK you for remembering the sanitary napkins for those in your household who menstruate! That’s something so many preppers completely neglect! (If any guy wants to complain, just shut it. For one, they might make outstanding bandages for large injuries, but mostly you’re not being an ignoramus when you have them on hand. In fact, you’re being a hero. Menstruation happens, & it won’t go away no matter how hard you stick your fingers in your ears and shout “LALALALALAAA” so deal with it.)

I’m an avid hiker and hikers know how to dig catholes and where to dig them…Despite that, on my last section hike on the AT I found way too much toilet paper and wipes just laying on the ground, close to shelters, close to watering holes. Very sad. Even the experts don’t like to follow the rules. Don’t be so nasty. Dig a hole and bury it, toilet paper/wipes included. Very simple to do and cheap too.

My biggest question that never seems to get answered in all my research seems to be what to do with liquid waste. As a general rule of thumb, I’ve been told mixing solid and liquid excrement not only expedites the spread of preventable diseases, but is the main form of contagion. Number one no no with urine is adding bleach as that’s a good way to make mustard gas on the cheap. I’ve read about vinegar being used for the removal of urine stains in carpet after 24 hours when the acid denatures into the air, but what if any tips do people have for the storage and disposal of liquid waste as most compost toilets or “luggable loos” focus primarily on the solid aspect of excrement management? Love the website and thank you for covering this topic!

I recommend obtaining what’s called a bedside commode from a drug store or medical supply house. Range is from $30 to $150. More comfy and NECESSARY if you have an elderly person or a very heavy person. I would dig a very deep but narrow hole in my yard an place the chair over it without the bucket it comes with. Dirt and lye or lime can be thrown over the waste; then place a sheet of plastic and a ¾ inch board cover the hole. For privacy, put some stakes in and some tarps secured surrounding the hole. The chair should be wiped out frequently so flies don’t come. Might also be best to schedule family members bathroom breaks together for security.

I live in an apartment and got a Camco toilet bucket set with seat on Amazon and a few extra boxes of the toilet waste bags enough to last about 10 days. If you are also an apartment dweller there are the Lunderg toilet bowl liners that you can use with a conventional toilet. A small cost but one that could get you by if power and sewage is out for a few weeks.

I’ve used the 5 gallon bucket trick before, I use chlorine bleach and water 50/50 in the bucket 1st, about 2 inches high, before putting in the trash bag, it helps kill the oder, Your idea of the cushion around the rim is a very good as sitting on the rim for 10 minutes or longer IS painful!!!, Great article nice tutorial Thanks William Orange county, California

Do your best not to empty the toilet too much it has a P trap system to where the water in the u shaped pipe or toilet water path isolates you from the sewer system. If the water evaporates from the P trap you will be exposed to the whole system. One should use fire ashes from ones fireplace and or outdoor cook/heat fire. It helps neutralize the bioissues and it turns the poop into some real good compost.

I have the double doodie potty from reliance – however, the bags (with chemicals) are rather expensive – 6 bags for $15.00 so I get my potty chemicals from the local RV store and just use contractor bags for the potty itself – it is a good idea to have separate facilities for liquid and solid waste – and you can later burn the solids

Urine: An upside down plastic paint pouring gadget anchored under the toilet seat will separate the urine so can be routed into an empty laundry detergent bottle (discreet, thick walled bottle with a tight fitting lid and lingering pleasant smell) Using gloves, pour from laundry detergent bottle to a filtering flask for distillation (requires heat) and/or electrolysis (requires electricity and electrodes) Both methods neutralize pathogens. Distillation produces a small amount of pure water and minerals beneficial to healthy soil. You may not want to drink this water but you could water pets or plants with it. Electrolysis produces a combustible gas. This could be beneficial if you know what you’re doing, otherwise it could be dangerous. Ventilation is advised, possibly a flash-back arrestor depending on your set up. Feces: Collect in a biodegradable ‘doggie bag’ lined/layered with saw dust/peat moss. Tie off and place in an empty, clean quart paint can (buy at Lowes.) Nick the lid with a sharp knife to create a small vent, then char on a camp stove on balcony/deck/backyard or in your fireplace for 10-15 minutes. This chars the poo with an intense anaerobic heat. The charred poo can then be used as compost or as a fire-starter. This must be done daily. A pile of charred poo is much safer and easier to deal with that a week’s worth of festering feces. Keep paper towels and peroxide with a small amount of dish detergent on hand to clean up vomit/diarrhea/blood. These can be placed in a ‘doggie bag’ and charred too.

Growing up my grandparents had a outhouse for as long as I can remember back. When the hole filled up you drug a new pit about four feet deep and moved the house over it. Filled the old hole up with regular dirt. Also build your outhouse far as possible from ur water source and downhill from it or a stream. Get a slop jar for cold nights. People also kept their coat, hat, umbrella and a flashlight close by for those treks in the rain or freezing weather.

I’ve lived without a working bathroom for 15 years. Use a large bucket strong enough to support your weight. Empty 3 times a week in a hole and cover the waste with dirt. To use your toilet uses too much water – water will be like gold then so do not waste a drop ! To prevent odor I use a spray bottle with water and mint mouth wash. This prevents flies as well. I also do not cover it as that invites flies. Never put toilet tissue in the bucket – have a garbage bag to put all paper product in. You should not be throwing it into your commode anyway. ===

Don’t forget flies. The way that domestic flies eat is by regurgitating digestive fluids from their stomach onto their “food”, waiting a bit for it to act and then slurp it back up. Flies will vomit excrement on your food, and they’ll literally carry tiny pieces of shit stuck to their legs. Domestic flies are just as unsanitary as cockroaches, in any place that has food. This is why you should never trust a restaurant that has un-screened open windows, or that constantly keeps its door open.

I used a similar set up with a real toilet seat and a wood surround only using wood chips and then composted it. I did this for several months indoors with no smell or bother. Pee and poo in the same bucket. Humanure book is great for ideas. I wouldn’t use all those chemicals when there is a much more earth friendly way of doing it. Of course cleaners for rinsing out the bucket are useful. Again, i just used soap and it worked fine. The compost must be a real working compost done the right way. And yes to an outhouse in the summer!

Just seen the bit re taking the water out and is a very good point. The other thing is if you live in a multistorey building the water could start backing up with floaters so the lower appartments get flooded. However you try to seal it there is a potential height of water and poop that would conspire to catch you with your pants down. I’ve only had this in a kitchen sink when the grey water (outside) pipe was frozen solid and got all the blue laundry water, rice, noodles, nice smelling bath salts and all sorts coming up through the kitchen sink 24 hours a day for over a week. Neighbours didn’t give two hoots here and plumbers were busy. The only way to unblock it was to procure 10 metres of hose pipe from a friend. I wrapped the hose around the down pipe from the bottom up then layered with bubble wrap. Then connected the hose to the hot water tap to defrost the pipe. That took about 14 hours to defrost.

Out side of earth quakes, most non septic city or regional sewage systems tend to use gravity as a major part of there transportation system, and where there is a need for pumps, they tend to have back ups. So outside of earth quake, and war, the systems will remove waste. Note from the resent unpleasantness in Texas, while there was an issue with drinking water, flushing waste was not a problem, nor was there any reports of issues at treatment plants.

The seal on my toilet broke and I could not afford a plumber right away so I put a bowl in the toilet with a plastic bag on it and added Kitty litter. If you buy the good Kitty litter it doesn’t smell as bad. Scoop it out as needed and change as needed. Can spray it down with disinfectant. It may be crude but it works. No water needed. Then pick up the bag inside out and dispose of.

We used a compost toilet in our cabin for well over a decade. We had electricity so we bought an electric composting toilet. $2000.excellent product. One can get a manual composting toilet today … a good one… for between $500- and $900. You will need a small motorcycle battery to run a cheap electric fan For stink exhaust. (The better toilets will have a fan should you want to use it.) You’ll need a hose to vent out a window Prepare this stuff in advance and store it together. Lastly, don’t pee onto or into the poop. A good toilet will have two resovioirs. However, it’s very difficult to not pee when you’re pooping, so make a device so you and her can pee without contaminating the poop. Composting toilets are fantastic!

Heavy duty trash bags good. I would be careful about using harsh chemicals… want to be certain (a) they don’t eat through the plastic, and (b) if the bags rupture from catching on some un-noticed projecting wire or such, caustic chemicals can certainly complicate sanitation problems by the open wounds they might cause. If you want the poop totally sterile, the options are all a little daunting, but to reduce odor, sodium bicarbonate should do a lot, without presenting actual danger. There are Enzyme-based powders that will make all the poop and urine into a GEL, which makes them a little more manageable, if not totally safe and free of dangerous microbes. Stock up on hand cleanser and learn first aid. I highly recommend local Red Cross Chapters, and an excellent course for SHTF would be Wilderness Emergency Response. That’s one of the classes I had the good luck to find. It’s based on the idea that you might be days or even weeks away from regular hospital/medical personnel, which is a very likely scenario in any Mag7+ quake, for instance. I recommend a mix of Freeze-dried Long term storage and just decent familiar canned foods that your family knows and likes. Maybe save your condiments and plastic tableware from fast food places. If you’re a Coffee drinker, you can buy for a little more than $100 a box of 1,000 mylar tube-packets of instant coffee, decent brand name. Even if you like your coffee very strong, that’s enough to last a little while! >;0)

This article was really done well. Thank you for sharing your research with us. I would recommend putting the plastic garbage bag over the pool noodle. This will keep the foam clean. It is porous and therefore next to impossible to disinfect. If you have ever been a hiker or a damper . . . you know how to avoid trench foot. We don’t want a trench fluffy butter butt. lol.

I have lived in the bush, with an outhouse, most of my life. Most people do not know how to use an outhouse, as you will have noticed in every commercial campsite. Missing ingredient is covering the poo with dirt afterward, or hog fuel, many use peat. a deep enough hole with correct cover and a bag of peat for a handful after each poo-use.. is the way to use an outhouse. Washing Hands with sanitizer is not always an option and it is not difficult to supply the outhouse with a clean bucket of water, soap, and a rinse bucket for used water and several hand towels…change waters and towels daily. keep the toilet paper in the cleanest place possible, hanging by a rope is how we managed… I had colloidal silver to follow that procedure. We never had a sickness, let alone one from poor sanitation. If I was in an apartment and “stuck there” I would get 3 – 3gallon buckets with lids.. one for pee, one for poo and one for peat or dirt.. I would curtain an area on the porch and set up a perfect little outhouse the same way I always have. Then I would find and contact and converse with the nearest sani-dump station and concur together… a way to transport over there correctly and safely dispose…

If done right a composting toilet would work for several months. You need to cover the solids with organic matter or soil each time you use the toilet. If you have a pressurized water source you can use a hand held bidet sprayer instead of toilet paper. Just spray over a different bucket. Buy a couple dozen wash clothes to dry off with.

Human sewage quickly decomposes when it is buried in the dirt, plus, it is an excellent fertilizer for plants of all kinds–( grass, flower bushes, trees, etc. esp. if you can get it close to the roots of the plant). You do not need to wrap it or dilute it with anything, just dump it and cover it up—-problem solved.

When you mentioned not to use your toilet, you did not say whether we should keep the water in it or not. I heard that if there’s no water in the toilet than any downhill pressure especially in an apartment complex could push sewage into your toilet and into your home. I’m confused. Should we be plugging the hole?

🙏🏼 bless that we don’t live in a city,town, or village we have a septic and a well. Could always Use a Metal pot with sawdust to potty in and when full burn it like compost. Large stack of Cloth diapers can be used as both for baby and lady’s monthly can be washed and reused. Disconnect your sinks let gray water go into a bucket and you can disinfect it to use it for washing. Over and over again, or use it to water plant food source.

The secret is to separate the poop and the pee. Then it will take awhile, several months actually, for the poop to fill a bucket up, and there will be no smell. Make sure the poop is well aerated by putting a screen under and some side vents. Add a little fresh water and digestive enzymes to truly compost it, even start a worm farm in it, or just throw some sawdust on top and let it dry. Then compost it again in your compost pile if you don’t have room to bury it, and do not use it on root vegetables. The pee is fairly sterile, but should be diluted before dumping around decorative plants.

A Composting Toilet is easy to make..You will need at least two 5 gallon buckets. (one with sawdust). Take the second5 gallon bucket (more comfortable if you can secure a seat to the top). Take a strong kitchen garbage bag to line it…put a small scoop of sawdust in the bottom, then only use this for feces (poop). Never urinate (pee) in the container.. After each bowl movement, take a little more than 1 cup sawdust to cover the poop. Then put the lid over the bucket… When the bucket is getting full, take it outside and start a compost pile (remove the garbage bag). You will never smell this toilet. and it is hygienic.. after a year of composting, it is safe to use in the garden/landscape. This is no different than pooping in the forest.. It eventually becomes compost to nourish the plants..

Seems like cat litter would be easier to store and has deodorizers . Also a possibility is a stack of 5 gallon buckets that can be sealed after it is filled withfeces and litter and then safely moved as a unit without fear of contamination. I would also add bleach for long term and duct tape to seal each bucket for storage and disposal. I don’t think this would work any better -just kicking ideas. This was a great article to get a person thinking.

have two compost toilets. It’s its like cleaning out the cat box except everything is more dirt and there’s no smell, just dirt. It all gets grinded down inside the toilet then is dropped down into a tray at the bottom. Then the tray is added to more dirt outside that we grow corn in to feed the chickens.

Have a big bottle of Orange or Blue liquid, I don’t know the brand name but is in the RV isle for RV toilets. Use a 5 gallon bucket & use a toilet seat that goes on the bucket. Pour just a little of the Orange or Blue in the bucket with a small amount of water. Works great & no awful smell. Never put toilet paper in the bucket. Use a bag for all paper. Burn it. The Orange or Blue helps to break down poop for disposal. A compost toilet works great too. Just study some of this out. Lots of info available. Be prepared & be safe if the grid goes down. Survival will kick in. Fear not & be Wise. Prayers & Blessings. ❤️🕊✝🇺🇸🙏🏻❤️🕊✝🇺🇸🙏🏻❤️🕊✝🇺🇸🙏🏻❤️

This is a much needed information on poop, before the poop hits the fan. What if…? 1, Sewage backs up and spills into your house through your toilet: wets your carpet in hallway and bedroom. If you have wood floors, your floor will buckle. Sewage water may sips under baseboard and wets your sheetrock; will youe home becomes uninhabitable. You could place rags on your commode to stop the back flow, but then, will sewage water come out the bathtub drain/breather or sink drain. Remember, there may be no water available to clean up. 2. Will you flee or stay to clean it up to a situation where it may takes months to remedy. You may want to have some preconceive notion as to what action you will take if that situation ever occurs. This dilemma has been on my mind. I would like for a plumber to install a fool prove system that would prevent back flow from occurring. I do not have the funds for this. I have a cleanout sewage pipe that I could open up and allow the sewage to come out on the front yard instead of inside the house or put an obstruction material that could be removed later with a router rooter, like dirt, sand or expanding foam. As a just in case precaution I have purchase for the commode sewage pipe opening two expanding 3″ seal covers. This would require removing the commode from it’s base. I also purchase 1 1/2 seal pipe covers for three sinks. I need to fine a suitable cover for the washer drain. It’s not fool prove, but its food for the brain. You may want to purchase a box of latex gloves.