Our Compost Toilet: Closing The Nutrient Cycle

In this video I show you how our compost toilet system works and how I handle and compost the involved materials!
0:00 Intro
0:23 The toilet building
0:49 The compost toilet system
1:08 The bucket and reedbed
2:00 Emptying the bucket
2:38 Composting
3:05 Spreading the compost
3:19 Trimming the hedge
3:29 Closing the nutrient cycle
4:00 Outro
More Information: www.bunte-permakultur.at/
Donate: www.PayPal.Me/manuelpermaculture
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[@SemiPolymath]

I found this video while searching for ways to avoid flushing valuable nutrients down the drain. This simple but elegant solution was just what I was looking for, and Manuel's philosophy is spot on!

[@armandbourque2468]

We need more of this.

[@tannerfarmstead]

Awesome. Love seeing this. I want to build something similar at some point. Loving your content

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks a lot! :)

[@alison3276]

Thank you for your very helpful videos!

[@Ramiz422]

I just discovered your channel and binge watching all the videos. I really love the content.

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks a lot! :)

[@slaplapdog]

I really love this! I like to nutrient cycle my urine by adding it to my compost. I regret every drop wasted down a flush toilet!

[@branimirs]

Straight to the point.

[@thelotus4462]

Just love the way you utilize everything

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks a lot!

[@josdesouza]

Very clever humanure system. My compliments!

[@dronezinthesky]

Keep the videos coming. I particularly enjoyed the chicken compost video you did. Some really great usable ideas there.

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks! The next video will be about our polytunnel!

[@janicedias_sowgrowanddiy]

Mine too

Smart approach.

[@opennubian]

Brilliant

[@grashupfer5143]

👏👏👏 Super Idee! Man spart enorm Wasser und Energie.

[@clickbaitcharlie2329]

Good system.. i like the reed bed, it looks healthy.

[@meliponarioepitayasnunes2585]

Muito bom parabéns 👏

[@iskarkordt9236]

Wonderful stuff!

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks!

[@Julia-eq1bf]

Great system! Thanks for sharing!

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks!

[@mireillealbert]

Brilliant!

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks!

[@stewartthomas2642]

Love your stuff kick on love it

[@guhanbalaraman4914]

thank you very much.

[@ClaLu]

Ok, I'm building this ❤

[@ClaLu]

It's the best solution I've found so far for my family ❤ I will add a contour to the toilet seat for cleaning easily when "it comes out in a spray like disposition" 😂 Thank you so much for your generosity 🎉😊

[@FoodForestPermaculture]

Fantastic

[@Blue1Sapphire]

For hygiene purposes a hand held water faucet is better then toilet paper. Great ideas u have.

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Yes I heard of that, thank you for the input.

[@nickrich56]

I plan to use a "similar" system in my motorhome. No more need for a holding tank and the headaches of cleaning it, and transporting water is expensive whereas sawdust is lightweight and available everywhere cheap or free. My next project will be a 3 gallon/12 litre heated shower system .... 🚽✅🚿?

[@nikipith5009]

Hello from Greece! We also use composting toilet and this was very very helpful since we are trying to troubleshoot some issues. :) Have you notice a fly problem with yours? We have an insane amount of flies(both in the bucket and in the composting pile) and I was wondering if you have any tips on that!

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Hello there! Yes we had a fly issue at the beginning too. The only thing that helped was to close every gap in the compost toilet building. I put some insect netting onto every gap and made the door close tightly. Since then there is no problem because no flies can enter the toilet :)

[@corradodecesare]

Hi, I apologize for my unrequested comment. We use slightly wet, outdoor stored sawdust or leaves. No flies, no insects. Dry sawdust is more pleasant to handle, but doesn't work so well. Have a nice day

[@richc.2968]

Nice work. Is there another way to handle the toilet that doesn't require so much interaction with the human waste and unplugging a liquid connection that will seemingly get waste on your hand? Maybe a large tube/slide out the back of the bathroom that fills a bucket with the solid material and also has the drain for the liquid - making the solids easier to remove and carry to compost bin?

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Yes of course you can set this up the way you mentioned. Fit the system to your needs :)

[@marie-christinematip4206]

💯💯💖💖THANKS

[@peterkoolwijk439]

Great jobb! Important. Congrats. A bit curious to know how the winters are where you are? The reedbed seems so perfect but where we live it wouldn't be active several months of the year. Do you you need to store the liquids through longer periods of frost? Greets.

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks! We do have a few months of winter here in Austria. In our case the compost toilet is used a lot less in winter so that we can easily store the liquids or dilute them with water and spread it along our hedge. The other option beside storing the liquids is to build a kind of polytunnel over the reedbed (you need a bigger reedbed for this) in winter so that the plants do not stop growing during the cold time of the year. But that needs to be tested and you need to have a look into very cold tolerant plants that are suitable for a reedbed!

[@tonisee2]

Actually, collected liquid is a good add-on to a compost pile to get it hot. Especially during cool seasons, when there is no grass clippings..

[@marcuss5330]

Nice, i'm planing to build a similar toilette soon. Could you tell me the type and name of your wood chipper and how much it cost round about? It's really painfull to find a good one in medium cost range.

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

The wood chipper is a Forest Master FMDD6 and costs about 500€. It`s a great machine (6.5hp), however I had to modify the outlet of the chipper so that it doesn`t clog when I put fresh and moist material into the machine.

[@ricardoantoniomelaraalfaro6557]

Is beutfull,

[@krisbatty2346]

Hello. I'd really like to know more about your reed bed. I have a Aquatiris installation that I find much too complicated and costly and which disenables any use of the clean water runoff.

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks for the feedback, I will do a video on my reedbeds in the future. If you want to know more right now please send me an email (you can find the adress on my website)

[@jonisolis9645]

@@manuelangerer-permaculturedo you have a video about the shredder/chipper you use? thanks

[@kellysoo]

We have one too. Just not next to the garden

[@nickdekoninck4270]

Awesome system and very easy to use. I'm thinking of building a compost toilet like this in the near future. I don't have a reet bed and the place where i want to build the toilet is not ideal for a reet bed. Is there an alternative for the reet bed or another option to still use the liquids? I'm thinking of building the toilet higher and use the garden hose to fill a small bucket and use the liquids in the compost pile for a quick start of decomposition. Do you have any ideas or alternatives? If i buildthe toilet like this is there a possibility that flies go through the garden hose into the bucket? If so how do i prevent this from happening?

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Yes you can use it in your compost piles! You just need to make sure to always have a compost pile where you can direct the liquids to. You could also dilute it with water and spread it along a hedge or other plants you do not eat something from. Flies won`t come into the toilet through the hose because they want to go into the bucket from the top. The bottom is too moist for them! You just have to make sure that no flies can enter the toilet, then you will be fine.

[@nickdekoninck4270]

@@manuelangerer-permaculture Awesome thanks for your input, this helps me alot. I can place a compost pile next to the toilet and direct the liquids to the compost pile or just dilute it for a border/hedge plants liquid feed. I'm making mental notes to use fly screen or something simlar to keep the flies out where there are gaps. Love your video's, I've seen them all in a row in one sitting 😂Awesome content, keep them coming! 😋

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks a lot!! @@nickdekoninck4270

[@annabartschova6242]

Your videos are super...I started permaculture too. Whete does washbasin water flow?

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thanks! The water also flows into the reedbed!

[@brandolifts7928]

what about toilet paper?

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Toilet paper is no problem, it also goes into the bucket!

[@miguelduarte75]

So for what do you use your human compost?

[@markushennecke9339]

Schönes Video! Welche Maße hat denn Dein Häuschen? Liebe Grüße

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Danke! Die Toilette ist 1,4x1,2m! :)

[@elzbietabiernacik7682]

👍🌞

[@mrksstrmntzr]

Hallo Manuel! Super Sache dein Kanal und deine Permakultur, ich freue mich auf mehr Videos. Was ist das für eine Hecke, die du zu Biomasse machst? Tagasaste? LG

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Vielen Dank! Die Hecke besteht hauptsächlich aus Reifweiden, die wachsen gerade und sind einfach zu häckseln. Zwischen den Reifweiden finden sich alle möglichen Pflanzen: Hartriegel, Holler, Kornelkirsche, Felsenbirne, Korallenölweide, Salweide, Hasel, Aronia, Wacholder, Erlen und Birken. Zum Häckseln verwende ich aber wie gesagt nur die einfach zu häckselnden Pflanzen. Liebe Grüße, Manuel

[@X3000BRO]

Where does the sawdust come from?

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

From a local sawmill!

[@patrickcleburneuczjsxpmp9558]

Why not build the toilet directly over the compost bin so that the bucket and related chores are done away with?

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Because then I would need a much bigger building and it`s harder to have the toilet free of smell and flies! But you can do that if you know how to do it!

[@patrickcleburneuczjsxpmp9558]

@@manuelangerer-permaculture Thank you very much for that explanation!

[@munaught883]

Strange question. What is the size of your property?

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

This is a very valid question :) It`s about 2700m².

[@SerekWaniliowy900]

How often do you need to empty the bucket?

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

This bucket has a Volume of 25 liters. I guess after about 30-40 uses of the toilet I need to empty it!

[@bradbiesecker162]

I like things like composting toilets to help grow flowers and whatever else can be done. But what I hate is when environmentalists lecture us about the need to do this kind of thing or take an arrogant tone about it. I'm glad Manuel Angerer did not speak in an arrogant or lecturing tone

[@kattar_hindu.96]

Good information and nutrients cycle buddy

[@elmafudd5645]

What is your home brew like😂

[@emmabobby3666]

Hello, could you tell me why you do not use you human waste compost on the vegetables you grow? And why you prefer the chicken composte to grow food with? I am setting up our new land and want to start a human waste composte, we will also have a few chickens but not this year. Thank you for your videos.

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

We don`t use our humanure compost on our vegetables because there is a little little chance that it may contain pathogens. There are many people growing food in humanure compost and I guess most of them are fine. It`s up to you how you decide on this, it also depends on how much medication is taken by the people using the toilet, you do not want to have too much of that in your vegetable garden. Chicken compost has no risk of having pathogens to humans in it. It`s also way more fertile! Plants love the poop of birds!

[@emmabobby3666]

Thank you so much for answering@@manuelangerer-permaculture . I guess i'll want to play it safe at least for the first few years while i get more knowledge and confidence. Thank you dor all that you share. Wish you all the best

[@tonisee2]

To kill possible human pathogens, hot composting would be the key. However, it is surprisingly difficult to ensure uniform heating of whole compost pile over +55 C. Even when turning the pile. Another possibility could be time - letting pile to stay for year or two before using that compost.

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Yes, you are right, even if you are a compost pro there will be some bits left, that did not get hot enough. Time helps! @@tonisee2

[@objektivone3209]

The basic idea is good, as long as all the users of the toilet are free of medication. I miss you uncovering the problem of medication in the stool, e.g. penicillin which during composting migrates from the soil to the crops to humans, animals and wildlife. In the long term, this will cause problems in the life cycle of the local area. In some places, rats have become immune to rat poison. I know that urban water centers eliminate the problem of medical residues using chemicals, carbon and sand filters, heat and electronic requests, but I do not know how they practice the processes.

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Thank you for your comment! Medication is of course a serious concern and the less we use it the better. But the most effective way to break down all these substances is through hot aerobic composting and letting fungi work through them. As you can see in the video, both is happening in my compost pile: First there is a hot aerobic composting process and after the heat is gone the huge amount of sawdust makes sure that fungi starts to work inside the compost heap. In my opinion most of these environmental problems with medication (like the rat topic you mentioned) not only result from human medication but also from animal medication. For example cow menure in conventional agriculture is spread on the field without a composting process or anything else having taken place beforehand.

[@objektivone3209]

Now that you are touching cow dung, the authorities here have just announced that they have measured an increased content of drugs in the cities' waste water. I have read about machines that make soil steam. The desired result requires a very high temperature. Some of today's new superhospitals use a new method they call MBBR. The concept is based on a biofilm-based cleaning method also called 'Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor' (MBBR) which is followed by a chemical ozone treatment. In the biological cleaning process, small flat plastic bodies are added to the waste water, on which the bacteria settle in a layer and form a so-called biofilm on the body. It is this biofilm that creates optimal conditions for the slow-growing bacterial cultures that are responsible for the breakdown of medicinal substances in the waste water. I would really like to see a documented and cheap DIY method that neutralizes all residual medicine in feces.

[@andybwilly]

No nutrients were harmed in the making of this video

[@abaskamal8599]

terming human poop as nutrient makes for a less disgusting perspective (much needed), especially with the hedge layer & chickens before using as edible plants fertilizer

[@thanos6345]

OMG no way!!!!!!

[@rangaroo6385]

Poop is just undigested food really if you think about it...

[@manuelangerer-permaculture]

Yeah

[@IBrowseThisWebsite]

0:55 "The materials." LOL, you're talking about your pee and poop