I was so pleased to see the topic of humanure being digested here. Thanks, too, for the reference to the Humanure Handbook.

I have lived with a sawdust toilet here in Northern New Mexico for almost 6 years.  Even though I live without a flush toilet, I still have friends, guests, and out-of-town company.

The Humanure Handbook has been my trusty guide.  The sawdust toilet system works so well even my mother (a Virgo, no less) came to stay with me for a month and didn't complain.

More of us need to get over our fecophobia.  As Humanure Handbook author Joseph Jenkins says, "We need to stop shitting in our drinking water."  So much of the world has no clean drinking water, and here we are defacting in ours. What a strange species we are.

Try a sawdust toilet.  Follow the guidelines in the book. You'll get over your fecophobia in no time.

I have lived with composting toilets both in my home and non-profit organizations.  There are a couple of things that prospective buyers/users should know:  

First, depending on your family size and usage, certain models need extra compost added if you put a lot of liquid in the unit.  Read:  beer parties can be a problem with excess liquid.  

Second, as time goes on, some models may harbor little flying moths, or beasties, as they were called by my children, and in addition to being unsanitary as they fly about the house landing on your body or on food, etc., your children (and grandparents) will take up writing poems or songs about the adventure, in addition to being grossed out.

Third, in hot, humid weather we did detect the odor outside.  Composting toilets are a great alternative, but they are NOT for everyone.  You might want to consider adding a standard low-flush model in addition to a composting unit.  Do your research and make sure the model you choose is not prone to these problems.

A couple of friends built a house in California 100 miles north of San Francisco (Mendocino County).  They were told by the county that they were legally required to have a flush toilet in order for the house to be up to code.

This is disgusting!  What should be outlawed is flush toilets, which waste five gallons of water with every flush.  Instead, our highly anti-environmental society actually requires these wasteful toilets, and does so in an arid part of the country that can't support the number of people living here now, even if they did't waste water.  Talk about assbackwards!

It is essential that we revolutionize our societal perspective in order to achieve balance with the environment.  Changing our relationship with our own fecal matter is an important aspect of this.  We must begin to look at our poop as an asset, and not as a liability.

I here by move to strike the term, "human waste," from the daily vocabulary drill.  "Human waste" should not be used to describe the one of the "fruits" of our labor - Poop!

We switched to a worm box from composting our people waste a couple of years ago. It has worked out fine. The worms (red wigglers, not any worm) digest everything including household compostables, leaves, grass clippings, sawdust, newspaper and the human contribution. When they get done with it, it looks and smells like forest soil. The only recognizable item I have ever found is an avocado pit.

We haven't had any problem with smell. I think the worms work the material introducing air so that it does not go anerobic, which is the real smell producer. I use the material when the worms are done with it, which takes about a year. I don't use it on the surface of the soil, but bury it instead, and I don't use it in the vegetable garden.

We like this approach much better than composting the stuff. The worms do all the work and they do it really well!