There are plenty of composting toilets on the market. To help you decide which one is best for you, we’re reviewing the most popular choices. This way you can compare and pick the best composting toilet to fit your needs.
Why Use a Composting Toilet?
Composting toilets are great for off-grid applications, whether that is in an off-grid home, cabin, hunting camp, RV, or boat. The benefit for stationary off-grid applications is that they don’t require plumbing or a septic system.
When it comes to mobile applications, you don’t have to worry about finding a dump station or pump-out. Boats have been using composting toilets for years with great success, and now they are starting to catch on with RVers.
➡ For RVing, a composting toilet will extend your boondocking capabilities in more ways than one. To learn more, check out What’s So Great About RV Composting Toilets?
Composting Toilet Basics
The concept behind a composting toilet is simple: the liquids and the solids are separated to prevent odor and facilitate composting. The liquids are diverted and captured in an easily emptied container or larger holding tank. The solid waste falls into a bucket of organic material that starts decomposing the waste. Often, an agitator is used to turn the compost in the bucket, and a fan is used to keep the compost dry and smell-free.
The Best Composting Toilets
No matter what your application is, these toilets offer an environmentally-friendly, water-saving waste management solution for your off-grid needs. These toilets are a bit pricy but lucky for you we have tested them all and will share our thoughts here. Let’s take a look at the 6 best composting toilets on the market:
1. OGO Composting Toilet
Our current top pick for composting toilets is the OGO Composting Toilet. Unlike the other choices on this list that have a more traditional toilet shape, the OGO is square with rounded edges. This modern 15″ by 16″ design allows it to fit neatly in a corner or tight spot.
This RV composting toilet really goes the distance. It can hold 2.4 gallons of liquid waste and up to 30 uses for solid waste. Also, unlike the rest of the products on this list, this unit has an electric solids agitator that works by pushing a button—no hand cranking required.
Additionally, the OGO allows for venting on either side to accommodate your specific RV bathroom setup. And at only 28 lbs, you won’t have a problem adding this unit to a small camper van or off-road truck camper.
Personally we have found it more comfortable than it looks and very functional. The electric agitator is a very nice feature and helps the toilet get a good compost going. Compared to other units the compost bucket is a little smaller and will overflow inside the toilet if not emptied often enough. We have been able to find ways to plumb the uring with this toilet as well. Overall the unique design and ease of use make this our top choice.
Be sure to also read our full review of the OGO toilet.
2. Nature’s Head Composting Toilet
Nature’s Head is a great option for an RV composting toilet. This toilet costs around $925. The package includes everything you need to get set up.
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- Easy to install by any reasonably handy person.
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It has a full-size seat and a translucent liquid tank, so you can see when you need to empty it. The Nature’s Head composting toilet also separates solids and liquids to prevent odor.
It comes with a higher capacity than some other toilets on the market, with a urine container of 2.2 gallons and the solids container able to hold 60-80 uses, per their website.
You only need to empty solids every 4-6 weeks if you have 2 people using it full time. Although it has a higher capacity, it saves on space by using a unique spider handle agitator design. This agitator also works bi-directionally to help speed up composting.
Overall using the nature’s head we found emptying the urine bottle more difficult as you need to open the toilet in a more cumbersome way to get it out. We also experienced multiple fan failures and they are harder to replace. The size and depth of the bowl are good however and the unit feel more like a normal toilet than the OGO.
3. Air Head
The Airhead RV composting toilet comes with a slightly higher price tag at just over $1000. It is made of high-quality material with stainless steel hardware. You must empty the liquid tank every 1-2 days and the solids tank every 2-4 weeks on average with 2 full-time users.
The Airhead also includes the option to have the solid crank installed on either side. This makes it an ideal choice for small spaces where one side is preferred.
Something that sets it apart from other RV composting toilets is the seal around the lid of the bowl. This seal helps prevent odors from escaping the bowl and forces air to be drawn through a dedicated vent. It’s also quite small, making it perfect for a smaller boat or RV bathroom.
Unlike the Nature’s Head composting toilet, the Air Head does not require the bowl to be lifted to remove the liquid bucket. Simply unscrew the fasteners and tip the bucket out from under the funnel. One downside to the Air Head design is that the transparent urine level indicator is a small circle, so the level can be difficult to read.
Overall we feel the airhead toilet is one of the most robust on the market and best sealed. This toilet has a rubber gasket around the seat to seal it up from oders and bugs. The toilet has always worked very well for us but the lead time on orders and parts has always been very long. This was our first composting toilet and we used it full-time for a few years.
The Airhead is what we installed in our fifth wheel.
3. Separett
The Separett composting toilet comes with a price tag of just under $1000 for the popular Villa model. It is waterless and separates liquids and solids like the previous two models.
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However, these toilets are a lot different from the previous composting toilets in their appearance. They look much more like a traditional toilet, but they take up quite a bit more space than other toilet models.
Unlike the previous models, it does not have a liquid waste tank. Rather, liquids are diverted via a flexible drain tube to a holding tank. Given this option to divert to the grey water tank of your RV (which may require some engineering during installation), you wouldn’t have the hassle of having to empty a urine tank every day.
The solid tank is also different in that it is designed to have a compostable bag installed prior to use, and no organic material is added. All you need to do is tie up the bag and put in a new one. No churning is required and the toilet does not have a crank.
This toilet has adaptors for both AC and DC power to run the fans. A family using it full-time should be able to go for about 3 weeks.
We find this toilet feels the most residential of all the composting toilets we have tried. It also is by far the largest. The liner usage of this toilet can make it both easier and messier than a churning toilet design. The solids in this toilet don’t get the chance to break down as well as they don’t get churned up and can be a little worse to deal with. On the other hand, you can just tie the bags up and throw them out. For a residential application this is probably the best toilet on our list.
Pro Tip: When you gotta go, you gotta go. Ditch the porcelain throne and try out one of these 5 Best Off-Grid Toilet Options to Save Water and Manage Waste instead.
4. C-Head Composting Toilet
The C-Head composting toilet comes in several models ranging in price from approximately $700-800. The C-Head toilet also has several customization options to make it suitable for a variety of spaces, including a V-shape specifically for boats.
You can get a churning or non-churning system. There are also ready-to-go urine-diverting funnels or DIY options for tight spaces. You can even opt for a woodgrain finish in several colors or a traditional white toilet.
5. Sun-Mar GTG Toilet
Our next option for a great RV composting toilet is the Sun-Mar GTG. This toilet, like the others, has solid and liquid separation into two separate tanks. These tanks are both concealed in the toilet’s outer shell for a sleek look. It includes a small fan to vent odors but does not have a crank to churn the solids.
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This toilet is compact, portable, and is the smallest composting toilet available on the market. But with that small size comes a potentially shorter time between emptying of the tanks.
The Sun-mar GTG comes with the lowest price tag of our top 6 at just over $600.
Choosing the Best Composting Toilet For You
Choosing the right composting toilet will largely depend on the space you have available to install it. Be sure to look at the user guides and installation instructions prior to purchase to make sure the toilet will fit in your RV. Also consider what side the crank will be on as it will need to be easily reached, if applicable.
We hope you find a toilet that suits your needs from this list of the 6 best composting toilets on the market. They are functional, simple to use, and will greatly extend your boondocking capabilities!
If you’re still on the fence about a composting toilet because you’ve heard some nasty rumors about them, read this: 5 Composting Toilet Myths You Need to Ignore
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Randy Shay
Friday 15th of January 2021
Great info! Thank you!
Mortons on the Move
Friday 15th of January 2021
You're welcome! :)
Dan Hinz
Thursday 14th of January 2021
Thank you for this article. We will use it for reference when we make the switch, hopefully in the next year. Our set up is a Ram 1500 2020 Limited with a Lance 1995 TT, 2020. We will be retiring in a few years and this is our “gift” as we ease on into the next phase of our lives. We really enjoyed your “Go North” series, great filming and storytelling, thank you. We have been to Banff, Jasper and Yoho a few times, what beautiful views those Parks have. Just curious, what were the main reasons you picked the compost toilet you did, was it the Air Head? My guess would be the easy on/off of the liquid compartment .
Dan
Mortons on the Move
Friday 15th of January 2021
Hi Dan! Glad you enjoyed our Go North series! We did a complete review of the Air Head Composting Toilet over on Road Gear Reviews. You can find the video here: https://youtu.be/6IZasCrkuUY This will give you a better idea of what we like about this model.
Joseph Nethercott
Thursday 14th of January 2021
We are going with the C-head. It has an auger and no smell. Love the blog
Mortons on the Move
Thursday 14th of January 2021
Awesome! Thank you! Hope the C-head works well for you. :)