This is a guest post from Amber Bradshaw of the Coastal Homestead.
I wish our first experience with a “luggable loo” had been somewhere fun like a camping trip, but unfortunately when we needed an “Emergency Relief System” (ERS) as they're called, it really was an emergency. Our toilet would not flush and there was nowhere else to go.
Our family was trapped at home during the 2015 South Carolina 1000 Year Flood. (See 20 Things I Wish I Had Before the Flash Flood Emergency for more of that story.) With very little notice and an unpredictable outcome, we received almost 2 feet of rain in less than 48 hours. To add insult to injury, this rain came on top of already flooded areas from the recent Super Harvest Blood Moon.
We were prepared for:
- Food Supplies
- Water bottles filled
- Medicine on hand
- Boat gassed and ready
- Tool Box
- Candles
- Electronic devices charged
Portable toilet and disposal area designated??? – NOPE!
Flood Waters = Flooded Septic
Within the first couple of hours of the flood, it rendered our septic system useless.
Here was our situation; 5 family members (3 females and 2 males), flooding outside and torrential rain, no toilet, 3 Days. I honestly don’t think I can express the gravity of this predicament but it was as serious to us at the moment as any other emergency situation. Not only did we have to relieve ourselves, we had to do so in a manner that wouldn’t contaminate our surroundings and pollute the air.
With the advice from a friend (Laurie Neverman), access to the internet, plus a little knowledge, we were able to make a safe, temporary (still using it days after the storm due to high water levels, ugh) Emergency Relief System AKA Bucket Porta Potty.
I highly suggest prefabbing your own ERS for future emergency situations. They can be stored easily and cost almost nothing.
How to Make a DIY Portable Toilet ( AKA Emergency Relief System)
Materials Needed:
- Empty 5 Gallon Bucket with lid (90 mil thickness will support weight better)
- 10 or 13 Gallon trash bags
- Several plastic grocery store trash bags
- Big trash can with a tight-fitting lid
- Absorption medium (biodegradable material to soak up the liquid): Saw dust, pine chips, peat moss, or newspaper torn into thin strips
(If making the ERS for future use, I suggest storing a big newspaper in the bucket)
- Pool Noodle or Pipe insulation (For pool noodle, cut a slit through one side of the noodle all the way down. Pipe insulation comes with a slit in place.)
- Toilet paper
Portable Toilet Assembly Instructions:
- Place the 10 gallon trash bag in the 5 gallon bucket
- Put a small handful of absorption medium in the bottom
- Insert plastic grocery store bag and fold over rim
- Slide pool noodle or pipe insulation over rim
- Add handful of absorption medium in bag
To Use Your Portable Toilet:
After each use, tie the small plastic bag closed and drop in bottom of 5 gallon bucket, when bucket is full, transfer all contents to large trash can with lid. Sanitize 5 gallon bucket and repeat.
If making an ERS for future use, place all the supplies in the bucket and replace the lid, mark on outside of bucket with a sharpie E.R.S. and store out of the way until needed. This makes a great camping toilet too. For a little more comfort and to keep things a little neater, you can also buy emergency toilet seats that are made to fit right on a 5 gallon bucket.
If you don't want to deal with assembling your own ERS, the Reliance Products Luggable Loo Portable 5 Gallon Toilet
Editor's Note: Another variation of this system is the basic humanure composting toilet. Waste is gathered directly in the bucket and mixed with ample absorption medium, then composted in a hot compost pile. The bucket is well scrubbed after each use, but will pick up odors after extended use. Some friends of our used this option while living in a very rustic remodeled barn. The only trouble they ran into was when one of the buckets was set outside during a snowstorm instead of being taken right to the compost, and it froze into a 5 gallon poopsicle.
How to Get Rid of Unpleasant Smells
Turning your living quarters into an Emergency Relief Station can be a stinky situation. I'm sure most of us have encountered the foul odor of a porta potty as some point in our lives. While a home porta potty might not be as musty as the big boys, it doesn't smell like roses. Here are a couple things you can do to ensure the air quality stays safe and your home remains pleasant-smelling.
EnviroKlenz Everyday Odor Eliminator
EnviroKlenz Everyday Odor Eliminator is commonly used for deodorizing carpets, but also works well on hard surfaces. You can use it to deodorize your portable loo, or keep a spray bottle on hand to spritz the waste before closing the bag to absorb odors.
If you'd like to give the product(s) a try, click on the image below or visit “EnviroKlenz Everyday Odor Eliminator“. Use code “CSH20” at checkout to get a 20% discount on your order.
DIY Air Freshener
Ingredients
- Distilled Water
- 8 oz Spray Bottle
- Essential Oils
Instructions
Add following into a spray bottle:
- 10 drops of lemon essential oil
- 10 drops of grapefruit essential oil
- 5 drops of thyme, sage, or tea tree essential oil
- 10 drops of Bergamont essential oil
Fill with distilled water and shake. Spray your DIY air freshener in the 5 gallon bucket before and after use. This also makes a wonderful whole house air freshener.
Air Purifier – Smudge Sticks
Smudging is burning a bundle of herbs that have been dried and tied together.
Smudging has been used for over thousands of years and it is one practical application we can use today to help purify the air and kill airborne bacteria.
Published research reveals that cleansing herbal smoke, such as that mustered in the ceremonial burning of smudge sticks and incense, may indeed cleanse the surrounding air of harmful bacteria, granting the practice proven clinical benefit
You can purchase ready-made smudge sticks or make your own.
How to Make a Smudge Stick
Materials Needed:
- Non-toxic Twine or String
- Bundle of herbs (see list below)
Instructions:
- Gather a large handful of herbs in any combination you desire, including stems.
- Clip herbs to similar length
- Bind the ends of the herbs altogether at one end and continue to tie the herb bundle like you would a roast.
- Once the bundle is bound, hang to dry in a cool, dark place for a couple of weeks.
After your smudge stick is dry, it is ready for use.
Light end in a secure area and wait for the stick to smoke, gently blow on the end to create a nice smolder and cleanse the air. Place in a fireproof tray and stay with it until it is completely out.
The most popular herbs used in smudging are:
- White sage (Salvia apiana)
- Cedar (Thuja)
- Sweetgrass (Hierochloe odorata)
- Sagebrush (Artemisia californica)
- Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
- Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
- Lavender
- Yarrow
- Juniper
- Pine
- Mullein (Verbascum Thapsus)
- Rosemary
- Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
- Mint (Mentha)
- Bee Balm (Monarda)
- Catnip (Nepeta cataria)
I hope our flood experience helps others be better prepared. We never thought we'd be hit with a disaster like this, but now we know better. Should flooding, a hurricane or other problems hit, now we know we have a safe and sanitary emergency toilet.
More Emergency Preparedness Posts
- Emergency Cooking – 10 Ways to Have a Hot Meal When the Power Goes Out
- Emergency Heat During a Power Outage and other Winter Storm Preps
- How to Build a Burn Barrel – Burn Trash Safely
This post is by Amber Bradshaw of My Homestead Life.
Amber and her family moved from their tiny homestead by the ocean in South Carolina to forty-six acres in the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee.
While building their off-the-grid homestead, they live like the days of old – cooking without electricity, collecting water from the creek and raising chickens, goats, pigs, turkeys, bees, and guineas. They've recently filmed their journey for a TV show on the Discovery Channel and the DIY Network/HGTV called Building Off The Grid: The Smokey Mountain Homestead.
Rhonda says
Highly recommend the Humanure toilets. We use a couple of them almost exclusively now (still have the flush hopper, of course, just don’t use it)–in this old house, we now have an upstairs toilet! No problems in power outages, we use less water, and it composts beautifully–more for the fields.
Sideliner 1950 says
Great article on such an important subject. Thank you. The “pool noodle” seat is a great idea. The DIY “ERS” you describe is indeed simple and relatively inexpensive to assemble. We, too, have a “Luggable Loo” and accessory materials, and as a backup I constructed a similar homemade bucket potty with an inexpensively purchased toilet seat/ lid combination made to fit the bucket.
Also really appreciate the extra information regarding odor-suppression/ masking/ mitigation, too. On that subject, do you think it might be a good idea to assemble in advance one or more small plastic bottles containing the 35 drops of essential oils you mention, and store it/ them for whatever length of time required — as a “preps” for such an emergency –to be combined in the spray bottle with distilled water only at such time as odor suppression is required?
Clearly, under any circumstances, having some kind of toilet to use is a much more hygienic and desirable option than not having one. An individual’s ability to maintain his or her personal hygiene at all times is essential to maintaining health not only for that individual, but for the family or other group to which that individual may belong. The use of an ERS/ emergency toilet facility such as you describe should go a long way in helping maintain a high level of individual and group personal hygiene, and, hopefully, health and well-being.
To take it a step further, I suggest the following: instead of making just the one ERS for the family’s/ group’s emergency use, make two — one reserved exclusively for solid human waste and toilet paper (no exceptions!), and the other exclusively for urine. Yes, this “two-bucket” method requires users to employ a “two-step” elimination process. But afterwards, it’s easier to safely, effectively, and regularly dispose of urine alone than it is to manage and eventually dispose of the bags of a mixture of solid waste AND urine.
This very effective “two-bucket” method has been employed successfully for decades by river rafting outfitters taking groups of 20 or more down the Colorado River through the extremely environmentally sensitive Grand Canyon and other remote, environmentally sensitive river basins, where “pack it in, pack it out” is not just good advice, but also the law. Employing the “two-bucket” method is, however, a different toilet experience than most of us are used to; and it does require self-discipline to ensure success of the method. I would suggest that parents supervise their young children’s use of such a “two-bucket” ERS system until they are certain their kids understand what must happen where and when.
Finally, following every toilet experience, we should all remain mindful and vigilant always to wash and sanitize our hands as thoroughly as possible to prevent the initiation or spread of disease.
I very much appreciate the opportunity to comment on this important subject; and I welcome any comments, criticisms, questions, or suggestions regarding the “two-bucket” method mentioned above.
Laurie Neverman says
For pre-prep of the spray bottles, I’d use glass if possible instead of plastic if they are going to be stored for an extended time, because some of the EOs may start to break down the plastic.
I think the urine only bucket is a good idea for many circumstances, and is recommended in The Humanure Handbook. With heavy flooding, I don’t know that Amber would have had anywhere safe to dump it, at least for a few days when the rain was heaviest, but it would take a while to fill a bucket.
Sideliner 1950 says
Glass it shall be! Thanks! I’m not experienced with EOs, and that addresses my concern exactly.
Debbie O'Brien says
A side note on glass, dark glass is best as it will protect the integrity of the EO from the harm sunlight can do to it, must EOs you buy will already come in a small dark glass container with a plastic reducer cap which won’t get eaten by the product inside. A useful site if you are not a regular user of EOs, and so do not have handy little empty bottles floating around for homemade blends is http://www.aromatools.com They have glass containers in every conceivable shape size and color for the diy enthusiast who makes their own hygiene products with EOs, from spray bottles to wide mouth lotion jars to diffusers and of course the more typical sizes you find EOs in (5, 10 & 15 ml etc) me and my sister buy and sell DoTerra oils and these guys are their sister company.
Connie says
Kitty Litter! The pine kind really helps with odors, but so do some of the others. Easy to get & easy to use. (I have a septic tank, too – and this has been our solution although I didn’t make a seat for our bucket – will do so now!) Thanks for the tip!
Robert says
I’ve waited a long time for something like this. Practical poo prepping is more important than what bugs can we eat, at least for most of us!
Robert says
I just did.
Kathy says
We have a urine collector that fits in the toilet for collecting urine for testing (from when I donated a kidney). Super easy to sit once and keep separate – just haven’t tried it for size with a 5 gallon bucket. Probably available from any medical supplier on the cheap. I also have a couple of the female stand and pee funnels – available on Amazon. Either would help in the 2 bucket method. Urine could effectively be stored in 2 liter bottles for later disposal without odor. We also have kitty liter stored for #2….
Laurie Neverman says
The urine collector is a good idea. It would make separating the two waste streams much easier. They have them on Amazon.com for around five bucks – Medline DYND36600H Specimen Collector Pans
.
Sheila says
We’ve been using the method that Joseph Jenkins describes in his “Humanure Handbook” for about four years now. His book is funny and smart. I was a little skeptical at first, but now I wouldn’t have it any other way. You don’t waste gallons of good drinking water to get rid of a little waste, there is NO SMELL at all, and you end up with fabulous humanure! We originally used sawdust as cover material but have gone to peat moss. We found that the sawdust didn’t break down, even after years of composting. My husband built us a very nice toilet — the 5gallon bucket sits under a regular toilet seat and the bucket is enclosed in a wooden box. There are two of us in the household and a year of humanure fits in a 4′ x 4′ bin. We have 3 bins and fill a new one each year and use the humanure in the three year old one. This past year we went on a trip and camped in our tent trailer. We brought along a Port-A-Potti — which stinks to high heaven!!! I told my husband from now on we bring a sawdust toilet! I’m sold!!!
Laurie Neverman says
Thanks for sharing your story, Sheila.
Karen C says
I’ve also heard that if you get a 6 gallon bucket that you won’t need to “squat” down as far – it’s a couple of inches taller. May not be helpful if you have little ones, but beneficial for the older folk.
Laurie Neverman says
Good to note, although I’d be careful not to fill an entire 6 gallon bucket (humanure style) since it would be very heavy – but I’m not that brawny.
Christine A Fry says
I have also heard for people unable to do the bucket thing, that they can flush water out of toilet till empty and line it with a couple of garbage bags and do the litter in the bottom, use then a little more litter and then the next day you can tie it up and put out for disposal and do it again, I am older and a little disabled so using my own toilet with my safety bars would work better for me. any thoughts
Laurie Neverman says
Sure, as long as you’re careful not to flush the litter, this would absolutely work. There are even products designed specifically for this, such as the Carebag Toilet Bowl Liner with Super Absorbent Pad. The bag is designed to fit the commode bowl, and the liner takes the place of the litter and is much less messy.
Debbie O'Brien says
Side note about squatting, in general it is actually the position our bodies were meant to eliminate waste in, for those with bad knees I would recommend the addition of a squatty potty, basically a stool that slides out of the way under your toilet bowl when not in use… The commercial is friggin hilarious too, go check it out on YouTube. They are now available in a two pack from Costco
Laurie Neverman says
We have Squatty Pottys in all the bathrooms. I recommend them in the post “What’s a Healthy Bowel Movement?” (There’s a photo of ours by the toilet, too – but no action shots.)
I don’t know if you’re a Shark Tank fan, but I originally saw the Squatty Potty on Shark Tank. The video ads that Squatty Potty ended up with are even funnier knowing that they are so different from what was originally created on Shark Tank’s Beyond the Tank.
Jake White says
We are having a bunch of portable restrooms rented out for a community event we are holding. We wanted to be prepared to get rid of smells so that people will have great experiences with this event. This DIY Air Freshener seems like a pretty good idea, and it seems like a good investment for us. Thanks for sharing it!
Laurie Neverman says
Your customers will appreciate it.
J. Pridmore says
I have a 5 gal bucket with scented trash bags and cat litter to use for emergencies.
Mike Perry says
My collection buckets have taken on a terrible odor, much worse than what’s going in them. I started with Home Depot buckets but have found that they pick up a bad odor no matter how much I scrub and wash them. I’m switching to a metal bucket in the hopes that metal will not hold that odor. I use 8 buckets and empty, wash and start over again once a month. Has anyone else had a problem with collection bucket odor?
Laurie Neverman says
Yes, plastic buckets are notorious for holding odors. I had a local friend with a family of 8 living off grid, using the bucket toilets. After a while, she retired the buckets, because the odor refused to wash out.
An option I think would be worth a try is EnviroKlenz Everyday Odor Eliminator (link). It’s recommended for getting the stink out of garbage cans, so the odds are good it could destink a poop bucket, too.
Mike Perry says
Did your friend give up the bucket toilet system all together? Or did she try another bucket? I’m interested because I’d like to know before I invest a small fortune in metal buckets. And will a deodorizer inhibit the compost process as it will transfer to my compost consentration bin? I’ve just purchased 3 buckets from Uline and I’m wondering if I’ve traded one problem for another, i.e. will the metal buckets begin to rust and by doing so begin to hold odor again. I wondering if the acidity of urine won’t promote rust in my new metal buckets. And I don’t need to tell anyone, buckets aren’t cheap. If the metal buckets are the answer I’d like to get back to my 8 buckets routine meaning only having to do the emptying and cleaning once a month. Thanks for the input and help
Laurie Neverman says
Eventually they moved out of the off grid place and into an old farmhouse, so they gave up the humanure system. While they were using it, they just switched plastic buckets. I’m not sure what happened to the buckets with the imbedded odor, but I’d guess they were tasked to outside chores where the odor wouldn’t matter so much.
I wouldn’t use metal. As you mentioned, it’s sure to rust over time. You may be able to find used plastic buckets cheaper somewhere locally. Many bakeries, for instance, get that gloopy fruit goo they put in baked goods in five gallon buckets, or premade frosting.
If you’re treating just the plastic with the odor remover, I’m certain it wouldn’t interfere with the composting. The product is mostly metal oxides, so I suspect just a light spritz on a regular basis into the bucket contents would impact composting less than say, a sprinkle of baking soda, which would raise the pH.
Vesta Copestakes says
I’ve been advocating a similar system for our homeless camps. 5-gallon bucket, lined with plastic trash bag (tall kitchen variety) inexpensive toilet seat attached to PVC pipe structure that is held to the bucket with bungee cords – put World’s Best Cat Litter (made from corn and yes, that’s the brand name) at bottom of bucket, add a scoop whenever necessary. It IS the best because it controls odor and is 100% biodegradable. Use the ni8tulti-cat formula. When sufficiently full, tie up the bag and toss into the trash the same way people do with cat box litter.
Laurie Neverman says
We’ve been using a biodegradable walnut based cat litter that is a little less expensive than the World’s Best Cat Litter. It also works well for odor control.