Compost toilets

[SilverSixpence]

We just went camping at a lovely site but have been put off compost toilets somewhat because of the smell! They had flushing loos too so we managed fine. Do compost toilets usually smell because most of the sites I like the look of only have these toilets?

I have only used them at Eweleaze but they didn't smell at all, not even in hot weather. I didn't look down too much though.

Hmm. There is a kind of smell, reminds me of guinea pigs. Generally composting toilets are well ventilated so smell isn't overwhelming. Personally, I find it much less offensive than how a well used traditional toilet block can smell at the end of a busy day!

well the toilets at the campsite reeked, it was terrible! I have used v basic toilets in villages in South East Asia which smelled better. Maybe it was their toilets then, rather than compost toilets in general. The toilet was in a wooden hut so maybe not that well ventilated?

Actually I think hz is right. There was a smell - just not unpleasant. I imagine the important thing is that they are changed regularly - they were at Eweleaze. I think you have just been unlucky.

SilverSixpence, I agree with MummyPig. Don't write off campsites with composting toilets yet, as you say some of the best campsites are only composting toilets! Actually I wrote a post on my blog about this once. Might be of interest.

I think it very much depends upon what kind of composting toilets they are, and the regime they use to use/maintain them. We have 2 different types at our site and really they dont small at all. I THOUGHT they did, but turned out it was some stagnant mud in the field next door.
If you are wondering about a site I would personally ask about what kind they use, as there are several/

1. the 'everything goes in with sawdust/shavings until its full and then we seal it' variety which alot of places use and which I have found small bloody awful. They often seem to have closed chambers which are rotated with use and either removed or in some places emptied by some big industrial hoover thing. I think in many cases they are a nod to composting for green credentials but are not too nice.
2. Tree bogs. These have an above ground enclosure and you go up steps to use them. below the toilet is a chamber which is surrounded by 2 layers of chicken wire and filled with straw - this is to prevent vermin getting in. They often have willow, nettles or comfrey planted around to draw off the nitrogen from the wee. Stuff composts down and they can be a bit smelly, but worms and ground bacteria can come up and really get to work on the composting and speed stuff up.
3. Drop toilets. A toilet with basically a big hole dug in the ground underneath it. Used the same way as the tree bog, but less permanet - often used as a temporary loo as can be filled over with earth and a new one dug once things start filling up. Dont tend to be quite as smelly as the 2 above for some reason.
4. Separating units. This is where stuff gets a bit more pleasant. The smell tends to come from mixing urine and faeces. By seperating at source using a specially designed unit in the toilet bowl (men have to sit down) you really make a huge difference to the whole composting experience. Wee either goes into a seperate collection tank or is piped away to be dealt with however it is (at our site it is either poured down a regular toilet, or watered down and used as a nitrogen source for non food crops, saving a fortune in chemical fertiliser and with incredible results!) and poo goes into the main tank, and has a handful of sawdust/carbon based matter sprinkled on top to get stuff composting. Poo dries pretty quickly and then doesnt smell. Thunderbox, who supply many festivals with mobile composting toilets, use this system.
5. There are some well fancy composting systems, many of which dont work in our climate, or which cost a fortune and have multifunctional features. I dont fully understand them all, we settled with a combiunation of type 3 and 4. And got paranoid about loo paper (put it in the waste paper bin)

So there you have it!!

Wow, NettleTea - now there is someone who knows what they are talking about!

NettleTea thanks for the detailed explanation! Only problem is, the toilets WERE thunderbox ones, and believe me they smelled. I will try another campsite and see if they are any better before dismissing compost altogether though

Ooh that's not good. I wonder what they were doing wrong. We built ours according to designs gleaned from thunder box and, believe me, if they reeked I certainly wouldn't be happy doing the maintenance each week. We have had to make sure that people REALLY understood how to use them, we have changed the 'soak' from wood shavings to sawdust, and stopped any loo paper going into the main tank. We also put reed diffusers into the units, so that also knocks some extra fragrance into the air.
I am a bit anal about my toilets though (excuse the pun)