Why you Should Separate Liquids and Solids in a Composting Toilet

Keeping liquids out of the composting part of the toilet makes for an odor-free composting experience, easy maintenance, and simple cleaning. Dry solids (i.e., poop and toilet paper) don’t smell, and a covering material helps with keeping the solids dry and odor-free. 

One question that often comes up when researching composting toilets and DIY solutions is “do I really need to separate liquids and solids?” 

By separating the solids and the liquids you can also stretch the time between having to empty the toilet significantly.

Excessive liquids in the solids bucket not only adds more “bulk” by itself, it also takes more covering material to keep it from smelling. 

One common issue with off-the-shelf composting toilets is an inadequate separation between solids and liquids.

The pee enters the solids bucket, introducing excess moisture and causing that dump-station-burp smell. Plus, it adds all kinds of additional issues from trouble cleaning the toilet, where to dispose of the slush, and moisture-loving flies and other pests. 

Properly separating solids from liquids isn’t as easy as it sounds, but we’ve put years of R&D into perfecting our THRONE urine diverter.

The diverter gives a reliable separation of liquids and solids taking into account well-hydrated users, anatomical differences, and the next generation of composting toilet users.