Klaus Wilhelm Meier-Doernberg : me and some friends at "Greenheart Ibiza" created an eco-toilet. now we are on the 3rd generation. All information about it you can get here: http://www.casitaverde.com/composting-eco-loo.php

On my place "Sacred Heart Ibiza" I used earth wich has a lot of cal in the summer and ashes or ashes mixed with earth in the winter when I had to heat the house. blessings to you Akoo Ibiza (Klaus Wilhelm Meier-Doernberg)

Heiko Vermeulen : According to the humanurne handbook wood ash is alkaline and slows the decomposition process. It's better to use carbon rich materials such as saw dust or dry leaves. I use dry pine needles, which seems to work well. They are slow to decompose and slightly acidic, but will turn slightly alkaline as they decompose.

Paul Hetrick : Once upon a time I had a chance to talk to an archaeologist whose current project was excavating an old latrine from the 1860's (US Civil War) They had dumped a lot of ash in to keep the smell down, however, he said when he broke through the ash 130-some years later, it was still fresh underneath. Not what I'd call compost. I've used bucket toilets with sawdust and that works fine, both to keep the smell down, and worked in the sense of rotted. Before flush toilets became the rage, state-of-the-art indoor toilets had a series of buckets. You're do your business, sprinkle on a covering of fine dry clay and then rotate it so the next bucket was under the seat and the just used one was vented. The people that had these thought flush toilets were vulgar and smelly, but then the only people that had them had servants to carry out the full buckets. So, I'd recommend sawdust or other high carbon material, or dry earth, but not the ash.

Paul Hetrick : Oh, but your not wasting the potash if you use the compost. If you're not using the compost, you're wasting a lot of good stuff.

Sarvesvara Dasa : Thanks for the vsaluable information.

Guillermo von Breymann : I use sawdust. It works great, because it is carbonous and mixes well with the nitrogenous nature of the waste.

San Concrete : The ash is full of potash, and we are'wasting' that by throwing in the waste pile. - full brake service