C&RT say don't empty your compost toilet in our bins.

[LadyG]

16 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

A compost heap (or the required three) doesn't really take much space,  construction or maintenance (mine get almost none and work just fine).  Most marinas these days are landscaped and have flower beds.  If they have people living on their boats, it's going to save them money in emptying cesspits, or wear and tear on the pumpouts, if their residents use composting toilets, and the same for passing boaters.   And CRT could make it a condition of the T&Cs that the marinas have to agree to that they add these facilities.

Are you growing magic mushrooms on your compost heap @Arthur Marshall, it's not CRTs problem, it's the Boater's problem, marinas are not going to get stuck in to composting, they are there to run a business, and frankly, I would avoid a marina with such facilties!

I don't think composting toilets can be banned, just the disposal on CRT facilities. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by LadyG

[David Mack]

9 minutes ago, LadyG said:

marinas are not going to get stuck in to composting, they are there to run a business, and frankly, I would avoid a marina with such facilties!

 

If they can make money out of charging for dry toilet emptying, and can use the resultant compost on site, then why not? Most already do it for elsan and pumpout.

Do you avoid marinas that do elsan emptying and pumpouts?

[Momac]

If the compost is inoffensive can it not  spread  at the foot of a convenient hedgerow?

[Arthur Marshall]

1 minute ago, MartynG said:

If the compost is inoffensive can it not  spread  at the foot of a convenient hedgerow?

No, because at that stage it isn't compost, it's compostable. It's still basically dried poo, which is what all the trouble's about!

[ditchcrawler]

Is it possible these week old poos could contain Covid 19, if so would you want to be handling it in a marina or other facility.

[Momac]

5 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

No, because at that stage it isn't compost, it's compostable. It's still basically dried poo, which is what all the trouble's about!

The the boater should keep it until it is composted , or get a more appropriate toilet system.

 

[peterboat]

2 hours ago, IanD said:

You're doing it right, like a minority of others -- good for you.

 

Unfortunately according to the survey three times as many boaters are doing it wrong... ?

What survey? And their lies the problem I didn't know about it never mind do it so the figures will never be right 

[IanD]

6 minutes ago, peterboat said:

What survey? And their lies the problem I didn't know about it never mind do it so the figures will never be right 

A survey on a Facebook group for composting toilet users. Out of 250 boaters, 70 composted it properly. Yes this isn't a comprehensive survey of every boater but it's a decent sized sample, much bigger than you and your three friends who do it properly ?

[nbfiresprite]

 

5 hours ago, IanD said:

 

And solid waste is about 75% water, so if you dry it out in a composting loo this gives 130g of solids per day. Add an equal amount of sawdust/whatever and that mean an adult generates about 2kg of "pre-compost" per week, so a couple will generate the "7kg bagfull" in about a fortnight.

?

 

Not all stools are the same. The moisture content can be between 99% (Diarrhea) and 15% (Constipation)

[peterboat]

5 minutes ago, IanD said:

A survey on a Facebook group for composting toilet users. Out of 250 boaters, 70 composted it properly. Yes this isn't a comprehensive survey of every boater but it's a decent sized sample, much bigger than you and your three friends who do it properly ?

Waste of time and effort wont even be a close guess Poo in fact ?

[IanD]

59 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

A compost heap (or the required three) doesn't really take much space,  construction or maintenance (mine get almost none and work just fine).  Most marinas these days are landscaped and have flower beds.  If they have people living on their boats, it's going to save them money in emptying cesspits, or wear and tear on the pumpouts, if their residents use composting toilets, and the same for passing boaters.   And CRT could make it a condition of the T&Cs that the marinas have to agree to that they add these facilities.

That would be great. But people who want to compost it and have the facilities already do it; the ones who don't and bin it are unlikely to change their behaviour if it's still easier to bin it and this isn't banned, especially if the composting marinas aren't close to where they're moored or cruising when their bucket is full.

 

If you installed a composting toilet because it was cheap and easy to chuck it into a bin at any waste point -- which seems to be one of the main reasons going by blogs and posts -- why would you go the the bother of finding a marina and paying a cost similar to a pumpout to leave your waste there?

1 minute ago, peterboat said:

Waste of time and effort wont even be a close guess Poo in fact ?

Do you have better or bigger survey results? You and three mates doesn't count... ?

8 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

 

 

Not all stools are the same. The moisture content can be between 99% (Diarrhea) and 15% (Constipation)

Duh. 25% is the average, obviously ?

[nbfiresprite]

24 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Is it possible these week old poos could contain Covid 19, if so would you want to be handling it in a marina or other facility.

Human excreta have been implicated in the transmission of many infectious diseases including cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, cryptosporidiosis, ascariasis, and schistosomiasis. So it is possable, which is why Human excreta is classed as biohazard waste.

[ditchcrawler]

35 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

Human excreta have been implicated in the transmission of many infectious diseases including cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, cryptosporidiosis, ascariasis, and schistosomiasis. So it is possable, which is why Human excreta is classed as biohazard waste.

The chap who use to owned Sovereign boats at Banbury wouldn't even do a pump out if you didn't use blue in your tank

 

 

 

[MartinW]

I have spoken with a small manufacturer of dry-solid toilets who supplies a specifically designed, marked and coloured bag for disposal. She also sells toilets to that larger world across the towpath who have camper-vans and other similar activities. I wonder if our smart forum-contributors might think outside the barge and look at  more national system which would make the economics more approachable. I don't actually think most buyers actually think that they have to compost themselves, but that it magically happens inside the device, despite most suppliers specifically saying how it works in reality. and that is key to  making a system work rather tan banning it out of existence. I remember when they banned turbos in Group .................

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, MartinW said:

I have spoken with a small manufacturer of dry-solid toilets who supplies a specifically designed, marked and coloured bag for disposal. She also sells toilets to that larger world across the towpath who have camper-vans and other similar activities. I wonder if our smart forum-contributors might think outside the barge and look at  more national system which would make the economics more approachable. I don't actually think most buyers actually think that they have to compost themselves, but that it magically happens inside the device, despite most suppliers specifically saying how it works in reality. and that is key to  making a system work rather tan banning it out of existence. I remember when they banned turbos in Group .................

 

There is no way on gods green earth I would have a composting loo in our caravan. What we have, Thetford c260 works brilliantly, wherever we stay there is always somewhere to empty it.

 

The sewer system was created for a reason, human waste needs to be out and gone as quickly as poss.

[Ianws]

Not wishing to "stir things up" and apologies if this has been mentioned in the previous 21 pages. I'm sure most people commenting here with cassette toilets have access to and use proper Elsan points. I've no idea about %s so won't try and guess except to say that people who can't or won't access Elsan facilities may well use inappropriate facilities to empty their cassettes, including facilities used by members of the public. Happy Nomad said there is always somewhere to empty the Thetford, wherever they stay in the caravan. Not saying Happy Nomad does this but some campervan users acknowledge using toilets in supermarkets/ public toilets, or burying their waste, or even disposing of it in the ground a good distance away. Some say they carry wipes for any splashes in public toilets. What do continuous moorers with no access to Elsan points do, something similar? What's worse, bagged "compost" toilet waste in a controlled waste disposal environment or emptying cassette waste in a facility used by the public in an uncontrolled manner? 

[nbfiresprite]

42 minutes ago, Ianws said:

Not wishing to "stir things up" and apologies if this has been mentioned in the previous 21 pages. I'm sure most people commenting here with cassette toilets have access to and use proper Elsan points. I've no idea about %s so won't try and guess except to say that people who can't or won't access Elsan facilities may well use inappropriate facilities to empty their cassettes, including facilities used by members of the public. Happy Nomad said there is always somewhere to empty the Thetford, wherever they stay in the caravan. Not saying Happy Nomad does this but some campervan users acknowledge using toilets in supermarkets/ public toilets, or burying their waste, or even disposing of it in the ground a good distance away. Some say they carry wipes for any splashes in public toilets. What do continuous moorers with no access to Elsan points do, something similar? What's worse, bagged "compost" toilet waste in a controlled waste disposal environment or emptying cassette waste in a facility used by the public in an uncontrolled manner? 

Or just dump on the side of the road

 

[Ianws]

We had a situation when camping on a small unattended farm site in Wales. Family decided to use the only toilet onsite to empty their van toilet , with splashing, and use the only drinking water tap to wash things out. We had to sanitise everything before letting the kids go anywhere near it . Good job we were aware of what happened or us or anyone else on the site wouldn't have had a clue and just used the facilities as usual. Makes you wonder if bagging and binning is that bad in comparison. 

[LadyG]

5 hours ago, David Mack said:

 

If they can make money out of charging for dry toilet emptying, and can use the resultant compost on site, then why not? Most already do it for elsan and pumpout.

Do you avoid marinas that do elsan emptying and pumpouts?

But they don't make money on the elsan, unless CRT pay, the cost is part of the running costs of a marina.  There is no way they can charge the boaters each time they empty their compoostalo, and as they already have provided an elsan, why bother with additional costs. 

I can't imagine staff will want extra work shifting human  manure, we are in the realms of fantasy again, like the CRT thinking they can find a workable solution, piloting in London, where it is likely they have the most tricky customers.

 Their current solution is to ask folks to store it on their roof until they find a convenient public compost heap. What nonsense. 

Edited February 19, 2021 by LadyG

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Ianws said:

Not wishing to "stir things up" and apologies if this has been mentioned in the previous 21 pages. I'm sure most people commenting here with cassette toilets have access to and use proper Elsan points. I've no idea about %s so won't try and guess except to say that people who can't or won't access Elsan facilities may well use inappropriate facilities to empty their cassettes, including facilities used by members of the public. Happy Nomad said there is always somewhere to empty the Thetford, wherever they stay in the caravan. Not saying Happy Nomad does this but some campervan users acknowledge using toilets in supermarkets/ public toilets, or burying their waste, or even disposing of it in the ground a good distance away. Some say they carry wipes for any splashes in public toilets. What do continuous moorers with no access to Elsan points do, something similar? What's worse, bagged "compost" toilet waste in a controlled waste disposal environment or emptying cassette waste in a facility used by the public in an uncontrolled manner? 

 

No I dont need to empty the loo in anywhere other than a designated spot. Even the most basic sites we stay on in the UK and Europe have somewhere to empty the loo. Sometimes it involves lifting a manhole cover on the sewer but it never goes anywhere else.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by The Happy Nomad

[Jerra]

1 minute ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

No I dont need to empty the loo in anywhere other than a designated spot. Even the most basic sites we stay on in the UK and Europ have somewhere to empty the loo. Sometimes it involves lifting a manhole cover on the sewer but it never goes anywhere else.

Even the most basic CLs (for those who don't know the term it is basically a small field with a tap and takes 5 vans) always have a way to empty a cassette safely and correctly.  They wouldn't get CL status without the cassette emptying point.

[bigcol]

On 13/02/2021 at 07:39, doratheexplorer said:

So what are the Foxes Afloat going to do now?  As continuous cruisers, they can't compost properly, and they have made a big play of going over to a composting toilet.  Are they gonna rip it out and put in a Thetford?

good point!!

seems to me that your dammed if you do, and dammed if you don’t!!

1)so elsans are bad, ie chemicals bad for environment 

2) compost loos are also bad for the environment 

3) so we left with the mains sewage? 

What ever goes in, has to come out

so if we stop eating, and drinking, we won’t be pooing or peeing.

no farting good for the ozone layer

meaning no need for live stock, nor vegetables, no fruits

 

just a mere remapping of civilisation 

 

so many many things that were on the table, but have been taken off

 

 

[Troyboy]

11 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Is it possible these week old poos could contain Covid 19, if so would you want to be handling it in a marina or other facility.

 

Not sure about Covid 19 but I bet there's some sweetcorn in there . 

[Jerra]

8 minutes ago, bigcol said:

1)so elsans are bad, ie chemicals bad for environment 

I would suggest the above should read "so elsans can be bad for the environment".   More and more elsan users are using environment friendly alternatives and moving away from the blue.

[GUMPY]

We haven't used blue for about 20 years since the invention of bio washing liquid. Whether this is environmentally better could be up for debate, ?