Emergency Waste Sanitation for Survival
You may not realize how important your trash service and sewer or septic system are until they aren’t running. Many of us have experienced clogged toilets, backed-up septic systems, or not being able to find a toilet when we need it. Occasionally strikes disrupt trash pickup services or access to solid waste dumps. These are minor inconveniences compared to the continuous waste accumulation that will happen if you are not prepared for emergency waste sanitation to deal with both human waste and trash accumulation in an emergency.
Ignoring waste from the stuff we use and our own bodies can be a massive mistake when survival is on the line. You’ll need to plan ahead and have the few tools you’ll need to address short-term and long-term interruptions to trash and sewer services if you are reliant on them at home or bugging out on the road.
Contents (Jump to a Section)
Trash Waste Removal in Emergencies
Trash collection skips a week and your bin starts overflowing. No big deal, it’ll come next week. But then it doesn’t. Don’t panic- whatever issue will resolve itself. But what if it doesn’t?
This happens often during disasters, emergencies, and civil strife. Most people have no clue what to do with their trash if it is not collected so it starts to pile in the streets. This can cause a huge sanitation problem, especially in cities- but also even in rural areas if you mismanage your own trash.
Sanitation Problems
Trash becomes a mountain of a problem and a haven for insects, rodents, and disease. Nooks and crannies, humidity and moisture traps, and rotting organic waste make piles of trash ideal spots for them to nest and breed.
Piled trash can also become a fire hazard, cause nauseous smells, and signal that an area is occupied if you are trying to lay low.
Trash Management
Trash can be managed with a plan in three main ways:
- Contain – Put the trash in a bag, dumpster, or other receptacle.
- Remove – Relocate the trash away from waterways, living areas, and not upwind. This is easier if it is contained.
- Reduce – During emergencies, compactors and incinerators are hard to come by, so you can reduce it yourself by burning trash or reusing portions of it.
This last point is a good idea because some trash can be useful. Composting organic waste can be great for sustaining gardens, and modern trash can be used to make survival tools: check out Paleo-Pocalypse by Rowan WalkingWolf,
Bug Out Bag Trash Solutions
For portable survival kits, waste sanitation supplies are often lumped in with hygiene and even some PPE. After all, managing your trash is about your health, ultimately and there is a lot of overlap between the supplies you’ll use to address it.
Trash Bags
Trash bags are amazingly versatile in survival kits- helping with everything from makeshift ponchos to solar water stills. Of course, they are best at holding trash, which is a good survival use for them as well. Thru-hikers save their trash to deposit it at pre-planned spots along the trails they hike. This is to keep the trail clean.
For bug out bags and other mobile kits, this is less about being eco-friendly, but instead about not leaving ‘breadcrumbs’ about which supplies you have and are using in a trail that leads to you. If you toss your trash as you use it, you’re not practicing great situational awareness- whether it’s along a trail or out the window of your bug out vehicle.
Fire and PPE
Similar to some solutions at home, it is possible to burn trash but you’ll want to wear gloves, eye protection, and a mask as personal protective equipment (PPE). Those are usually in most bug out bags anyway so using your fire solution to burn trash on the go isn’t a bad idea as long as you use common sense and practical fire safety.
Human Waste Sanitation for Survival
Human waste sanitation systems were first implemented as clay pipes in Mesopotamia way back in 4000 BC, and then the Romans introduced indoor plumbing later. These systems allowed those societies to flourish, improving their citizen’s health, development, and economies. The importance of avoiding and managing our waste is timeless though.
Parasite infections and disease outbreaks are much more common in communities without sanitation systems. Other communities that manage waste well even use it for agriculture, transforming a burden into a resource.
Sanitation Problems
Human waste can cause serious issues in survival situations.
If you are not brushed up on your history, you may remember being taught in grade school that in the Middle Ages, people would toss their chamber pots out into the street from their windows. While I’m sure somebody’s best contribution to the world has come through a window onto the street, it wasn’t standard practice. They were just as sensitive to foul odors as we are today, and there were strong penalties for not using latrines (which drained into cesspits).
That didn’t stop everyone though, as rules aren’t always followed. Most of Europe had a period where it had public sanitation issues, with London, Berlin, and Paris being overrun with human waste. People were even using the balconies and stairs of the Louvre as toilets.
Toileting Solutions
Going to the bathroom is something that doesn’t stop in emergencies.
Warning: DO NOT USE BLEACH. Using bleach to try and stave off any bad smells can be the last mistake you make. Bleach mixed with the ammonia in urine and feces can create many toxic chemicals- potent enough to kill. Especially if you are in an enclosed area, bugging in. Chloramine and hydrazine are a few of the nasty by-products produced, and both cause extreme nausea and a burning sensation in your eyes.
Composted human waste can also be something of a commodity. Entire civilizations once depended on ‘night soil’, and even feuded over the collection of it. As a type of agricultural manure, it can change entire landscapes from infertile to fertile.
To make human waste work for composting, you’ll need to divert the liquids from solids. Composting toilets make this easy and do this for you. From there, processing the solids into fertilizer is relatively simple.
Bucket Toilet
A bucket toilet is pretty convenient, especially if you are prepping for others as well as yourself. In the interest of space, you can also get a bucket toilet seat, which provides a little more flexibility in where you get the bucket from.
With the seat, you could use the 5-gallon bucket you already own and have it serve a dual purpose (up until the point you start relieving yourself in it).
Put about an inch of kitty litter in the bottom of the bucket and trash bag, and then cover each squat salvo with at least 1/2″ of kitty litter. Some pet deodorizers may also come in handy to minimize the odor. Sawdust also works well if you do not have a feline friend or their commodities around.
The bucket toilet fix is a great portable prep that can save some scraps of dignity in an emergency scenario. You want to line the bucket with trash bags or specialty bags for easy cleanup and to be able to seal any excrement quickly. Getting a lid for your bucket toilet or 5-gallon bucket can allow you to be mobile with it as well.
Composting Toilets
You may think this is swatting a fly with a baseball bat, but the composting toilet is the Rolls Royce of toilets without plumbing. Composting toilets can go through many uses before they need to be emptied. It receives rave reviews from RV owners, campers, bug out cabin owners, and even sailboat captains.
Incinerating toilets are another option for this group but do not fit as well for an urban emergency scenario since they usually require a type of fuel. While composting toilets are not for everyone, it is worth mentioning the best option regardless of the cost and space it may take up.
Toilet Paper and More
Toilet paper is important for hygiene and sanitation. Many preppers stock up on conventional toilet paper, to the point where it’s a bit of an inside joke.
Bidets aren’t common but are an excellent option for long-term prepping. Instead of using a limited resource, like toilet paper, all you need is some water. Even grey water is acceptable since bidets are used to rinse your behind.
If you are using a composting toilet, things can get a bit tricky since you want to still keep solids and liquids apart.
Installed bidets often don’t need electricity and can still function in a wide range of disaster events. But our go-to is the portable bidet, which really excels in any emergency and is wildly versatile.
Bug Out Human Waste Solutions
Beyond the trucker piss jugs, you’ll need to have better solutions for when you are pressed to bug out. One of the most common ways to get rid of excrement on the go is the tried-and-true cat hole.
Cat Holes
A ‘latrine’ should be dug out in soft soil away from water sources, living sites, and trails. You’ll need to go 6-8″ deep in a 4-6″ circle (depending on your aim).
A trowel or small shovel makes this much easier to dig, and we’ve covered the two different sizes in our best survival shovel review.
Relieve yourself in the hole, and then cover the excrement with the dirt you just dug up. Pack the dirt down and scatter leaves and twigs on top to make it look undisturbed.
Lastly, you’ll need to wash your hands with soap or hand sanitizer as bacterial infections in survival situations can quickly become deadly.
Toilet Paper and Portable Bidets
To keep yourself clean and practice good hygiene, you’ll also need to clean your rear. Toilet paper tablets are lightweight coin-sized expanding towels that can help you clean up with just a dap of water. Otherwise, you can use a travel bidet to rinse the area if you have water to spare. Both of these are versatile, and smart to include as part of your sanitation and hygiene solutions in your bug out bags.
The Final Word
Trash management is relatively simple if you get ahead of it by containing, removing, and reusing it. Human waste management is a whole other story, as it can be very difficult to manage long term. Scaling bucket toilets into full-scale burn-out latrines, deep-pit latrines, mound latrines, and even outhouses would be required if a disaster persists longer than a few months.
Here are a few other guides our subscribers have found helpful:
- Best Off-Grid Shower Options
- Best Wet Wipes for Survival Hygiene
- Home Survival Kit List | 53 Essentials
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