I compost as well. We used to have a composting toilet, but crawling under the cabin to crank the handle and cleaning out the tray got a bit messy and, with more than occasional weekend use, the bad stuff isn't dying before it is time to clean it out. I now go in a bucket and compost in a pile, and that pile moves every year. In fact, that is very common in this area.
Since this is a prepping forum and many people here might find themselves in the awkward position of needing to do the same, I would like to try to set some minds at ease.
The most important part of composting is that you keep it covered with something like sawdust or leaves to keep the flies off it. Contrary to popular belief, open composting does not magically create cholera or other bacteria that causes epidemics. It takes someone with cholera pooping and that contaminated poop getting into the compost pile. Then, and only then, flies will spread that bacteria. There is e coli and other bacteria present that you do not want flies to spread, so keeping it covered is good practice regardless.
I used to rent a trailer on a friends farm. There was a holding tank, but being a farm, it was 100% legal to pump it out directly on the field uncovered as opposed to having a truck come and suck it out to do the same - so we did. We never had an issue, nobody ever got sick. One day I was taking a shortcut walking to a friends house and got an education on how septic pumping companies operate. They drive out into a field, open the valve, and drive. Tampons and unflushables were all over the field and nothing is even covered, and this perfectly legal for sewage pumping companies in certain areas if the field is a specific distance from population centers. Aside from protecting lakes and rivers from algae blooms, the septic system laws in my state make about as much sense as paying someone to take your garbage (that you cannot burn) just so that it can be burnt in their incinerator to produce electricity, which they then sell. Some bigger towns like Redwing MN burns all their trash, and the local garden stores sells bags of Milwaukee's poop as fertilizer (Milorganite). Mammals have been pooping on the ground for millions of years, it is an integral part of the planet's ecology. Depending on the composting method, human waste can be safe for gardening edibles after letting sit between 1 year and 7 years.
I don't pay per flush, and until I am too old to carry a bucket and run a garden hoe, I won't. All I have is blue clay, I need every ounce of dirt I can make!
: ) cats really luv bacon.
