Maintenance Cleaning and Emptying of your Composting Toilet

A great cleaner for composting toilets is pure vinegar for the urine diverter, the urine bottle, and seat, and an environmentally safe soap mixed with water for the rest. You can also mix water and baking soda as cleaner alternative that is microbe safe. 

If you end up with deposits in your pee jug, just use warm water and vinegar to clean. Alternatively, you can add some small pebbles, gravel, or even ice, and vinegar to the jug, close it and shake it like you mean it. 

R&D Team Pro-Tip: Diaper detergent works wonders for solid pee deposits!

Other options include bottle cleaners or a trusty scrub sponge. It goes without saying, you’ll want to keep your composting toilet cleaners separate from your kitchen cleaners. 

When deciding on an urine diverter, make sure you choose a material that doesn’t stain after a couple of weeks. The THRONE urine diverter and the Throne Composting Toilet are made out of LLDPE, and after years of R&D we can proudly say: we can vouch for no stains. The best cleaning practices for LLDPE are wiping it down with gentle cleaners. If needed you can use a “harsh” cleaner every once in a while, but it does affect the glossy outer layer if used regularly.

The solids

How often the solids are disposed of depends on a number of factors. These include how many people are using the toilet, how big the bucket is (check out our premium oversized bucket for extra time between emptying), if you allow toilet paper in the bucket (totally fine for composting but it does fill up the bucket faster), or if you plan on using the solids for humanure or if you’re just disposing of it in the regular trash. 

Generally speaking, you can expect to have to dump the solids anywhere between 5 days (with 4 people, 2.5 gallon solids capacity, and with toilet paper allowed) to a couple of weeks with fewer people and/or bigger capacities. 

Lining the bucket with trash bags makes it easier to clean the toilet, as does a mechanism that allows you to lift up the seat to access the bucket and pee jug. We recommend using compostable bags, as long as you’ll be removing the solids semi-frequently. When you build your own DIY composting toilet (for example using our free DIY plans), this is an easy to implement feature with a big impact (believe it or not, this is not what you can expect with off-the-shelf toilets).

Vent for condensation and humidity control 

Contrary to popular belief, a vent does not transport bad smells outside on the patio for your BBQ guests to enjoy. It serves mainly as a humidity control by transporting moist air outside, preventing condensation and a humid (read: smelly) compost. 

Adequate covering material

We recommend moisture wicking covering materials like coconut coir, sawdust, or peat moss.

And, if you want to add a little magic to prevent smells from the get go: cold ash (maybe from your tiny wood stove) and coffee grounds added to the compost eliminate any smells right away.