Toilet options

Where will I poop and pee? Bathroom visits are simple in a sticks-and-bricks house with indoor plumbing, but take some extra thought in a camper. Small vehicles may not have room for a full toilet, and those with a toilet aren't going to have a standard flush toilet. Obtaining water and taking care of sewage (“black water”) are both constant concerns when living in a vehicle.

If you don't have room or don't want to deal with sewage, you can stay near places where toilet facilities are available. This might be in paid campsites, a friend's driveway, 24hr stores, fast food joints, rest areas, etc.

Essentially, you have to decide if dealing with your own toilet is more or less of a problem than finding someone else's toilet when you need it.

Toilet options

A urine-diverting toilet with trash bag liners.

From most expensive to least expensive, and least primitive to most primitive!

• Plumbed toilets are closest to a conventional flush toilet. Waste is dropped from the toilet into a sewage holding tank which will later be emptied at a dump station. These often use a bit of water as a rinse, and chemicals need to be added to the tank to reduce odors.
• Composting toilets separate liquid and solid waste and dry out the solid waste to virtually eliminate odors. They may cost several hundred dollars.
• Cassette toilets are portable toilets with a small holding tank built into the base of the toilet, which can later be removed and emptied into a flush toilet.
• Bucket toilets can be used for solid waste (similar to a composting toilet) or for solid and liquid waste if disposed of quickly.

No toilet

If you don't have a toilet or close access to a restroom, you can pee in a bottle and dump it later.

For men, Gatorade bottles are preferred by many men because of the wide opening. Laundry detergent bottles may work well since they have a handle and are opaque for discreet dumping.

Women may find a Go Girl or SheWee-type device helpful. Some women report success with inexpensive funnels in place of proprietary female urinals, and with pee cloths instead of toilet paper.

In a small vehicle with no room for a bucket, you can use doubled-up grocery or trash bags. (Grocery bags are less likely to be water-tight!) Tie off and dispose in trash after use, as one does with baby diapers or dog poop bags. Tip: those doggy poop bags are a good way to store the tied off bags until you can get rid of them. In many places, it's legally and environmentally acceptable to dump human waste in the regular garbage as long as it's properly sealed. In some places it is illegal to put fecal waste in the trash at all, including diapers or dog waste. In these places, be sure to dump your waste into a toilet.

In remote areas on public property, depending on the climate and location, cat holes can be dug in the ground to bury your waste.

What about the smell?

If your vehicle has a plumbed toilet with holding tanks, smells are handled by chemical treatment and stopping airflow back up into your living space. Tanks may be vented also.

If you have any other type of toilet in your vehicle, separating solids is key. Any toilet that mixes solids and liquids together must be emptied very quickly. Separated wastes won't smell very much at all, especially if the solids are covered with a desiccating or drying medium like sawdust or even kitty litter.

Van Toilets Gallery

Because who doesn't love looking at toilets?

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See more in the Toilets category.

Nature's Head Self Contained Composting Toilet

Nature's Head Self Contained Composting Toilet – One of the most popular toilets for nomads! Easy to install by any reasonably handy person. No odors, no maintenance. 5 Year Warranty. Huge capacity. 2 people using full time will need to empty the solids container every 4-6 weeks. Easy empty in 5 minutes. A vast improvement over older composting toilet designs. This one works!

Urine Diverter for Compost/Bucket Toilets

Urine Diverter for Compost/Bucket Toilets – Keeping the urine from solids keeps your toilet compost digesting aerobically without smells and makes your eco-toilet easy to maintain. Catches the maximum amount of urine and keeping the solid waste as dry as possible. Works for both male and female users. To fit, simply screw underneath the hole beneath the toilet seat. It forms a continuous ring around the toilet hole, which is ideal for compact compost toilet installations. Glossy surface is easy to clean of solids and the metal filter can be removed for cleaning. Made from Tough ABS Plastic, with a metal filter - this is a very robust diverter that you can rely on, even in heavy use installations.