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AccessoriesHow do I handle liquid waste? #
This depends a fair bit on your toilet model and how much liquid waste you’re producing. For a typical household of five people or fewer, output is often somewhere in the range of a quarter gallon to two and a half gallons a day — it varies a lot with climate (warmer vs. colder) and how much compost is already in the bin, since a fuller bin gives the liquid more material to absorb into and evaporate from. As a rough working number, many households produce somewhere around half a gallon to a gallon a day, which is easy to collect in something like a 5-gallon liquid canister.
What to do with it #
Check your local regulations before you do, but our recommendation is to dilute it with water and spread it widely on trees and shrubs — never anything people eat, so no vegetable gardens, root vegetables, or berry patches. Spreading it out, rather than pouring it in one spot, matters too, since liquid waste is extremely nutrient-rich.
Keep it away from water #
That nutrient richness is exactly why it should never go into any body of water or stream — it causes eutrophication, the same problem that’s seriously damaged water bodies in places like Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where leaching septic systems have overloaded local waterways with nutrients. Keep disposal at least roughly 150–300 feet from the nearest water body. In some states, counties, and properties, an underground drain line running to the roots of a thirsty, nutrient-hungry tree or shrub works well for small volumes.
Regulations on exactly how you’re allowed to dispose of it vary a lot by state and county, so it’s always worth checking with your local authorities on the correct method for your area.
Urine-diverting models #
If your toilet separates urine before it touches any solid waste, what you’re collecting is sterile, clean urine. Because none of it gets absorbed or evaporated by compost the way it would in a standard non-diverting system, you’ll generally have more liquid to deal with, and your collection canister will fill — and need emptying — faster. That changes considerably if local rules let you route the sterile urine straight into a grey water system or, where permitted, directly to the ground: either way, that takes collection and handling off your plate entirely. Otherwise, treat it the same as described above — collected and disposed of properly, or diluted and used on trees and shrubs. The same caution applies here too: it’s extremely nutrient-rich, so it should never go directly into a body of water.
Public or commercial use #
If you’re dealing with 50 users or more — a busy campground or similar setting — a small canister isn’t realistic; it could fill within an hour. Pouring that much liquid directly onto trees or plants usually isn’t permitted at that volume either, since the nutrient load is higher. A potential practical solution is a large buried liquid tank — think 500 to 1,000 gallons or more — pumped out periodically by a vacuum truck, anywhere from once a year to once every several years depending on scale. Worth keeping in mind: a standard flush toilet uses roughly a gallon of water with every flush, dramatically more than what a fully waterless toilet ever produces as liquid waste — by some estimates, up to 30 times more. A buried tank serving waterless toilets typically needs far less frequent emptying than an equivalent septic system would for the same number of flush toilets. Exact numbers vary enormously with usage, so this is a case where it’s worth working through the sizing with us directly.
