Alex a full-time traveler from @SlowRoamers shares his Boxio compost toilet review.
Why a Compost Toilet
With the rapid increase in RV, Overlander, and Vanlifer travelers hitting the road after COVID-19 our remote camp spots, hidden gems, and overnight spots saw a sudden influx of travelers passing through. Unfortunately, the sad reality of this sudden influx of wandering souls also means the increase of pooping humans waking up at those spots, downing their morning coffee, and then experiencing the resulting involuntary need to do their morning business and leaving behind their less-than-desirables. And then just like that, the spots we cherished or often used to camp over for a night were suddenly blocked off or signed “no overnight parking,” due to an overabundance of discarded toilet paper and excrement (among other things I’m sure).
Look, I’m not pointing fingers here, we were all educated on proper pooping etiquette at some point in our lives and there are those that simply haven’t been educated yet. Overnight or boondocking spots being shut down is a harsh reality we’re up against and educating people on etiquette and options is the first step in slowing down or stopping the process of losing our camp spots. This is why I’m here to share about and spread the word about the toilet brand that we use in our van.
Boxio Compost Toilet
A large portion of the road-warrior demographic who travel in smaller vehicles, whether they be cars, small vans, pickup campers, teardrop trailers, whichever. Cramming a bulky composting toilet into one of those can be a challenge, they’re either too big, a weird shape or too heavy. Luckily, there are a number of options on the market. Yes, you can poop in a bucket, or practice proper camp pooping etiquette and dig a 9” hole, but we’re trying to educate people on their options here, so bear with me.
In our van we use a separating toilet called a BOXIO Toilet. It’s a very basic separating style toilet that fits inside what is called a “eurobox” an efficient, straight-walled, low-profile box made widely used and, you guessed it, in Europe. The interior separator, liquid container and solids container are made by regionally recycled plastics. The solids container is lined with a biodegradable bag and the liquid & odor binder is hemp husk. BOXIO states that the toilet is good for 8-10 uses before needing to throw the bag in the trash or emptying the liquids container. My partner and I haven’t tested this yet, but we’ll take their word for it. As far as odor goes, the liquids container can be plugged off, but I suggest keeping it ahead of draining it out, which fortunately is quite easy and surprisingly enough, the hemp husk is actually quite efficient in containing any odors; however, I’ll reiterate that it’s best to stay ahead of emptying the containers.
Boxio Compost Toilet Review: Features to Consider
The overall form factor of the toilet is quite simple, it truly is a box. What’s great about a box is that it’s easy to store and stack, so when it comes to building an alcove or placing the toilet in your trunk or storage area, it’s not an awkward shape you’re dealing with. Unloaded, the toilet is quite light and easy to carry making it easy to remove from wherever you have it stored.
BOXIO sells a wide variety of different accessories for the toilet, the savings package comes with the bags, shake container, a bag of hemp husk and three rolls of composting bags as well as the BOXIO UP with clips as an auxiliary under-toilet storage unit. The beauty of the BOXIO system is that their Toilet, Wash, Cool(er) and Solo units can all be stacked on each other and are super easy to build around in the event that you’re in the building process of your van. If I were to select a particular subgroup of road travelers that the BOXIO toilet is best for, I’d say overlanders, car campers, small van owners and those that weekend camp in remote locations without services. With BOXIO’s various add-ons, the outdoor pooping experience can be really quite enjoyable.
Cost
The current price for a BOXIO Toilet MAX+ savings bundle is $229 USD (On sale for $179 USD for just the toilet). It’s obviously a bit of an investment and a bucket would definitely be cheaper, that said not everyone wants to use a bucket. I personally think it’s a great and relatively inexpensive option to other separating toilets on the market (most with a price tag of $1000) and it has a great level of additional functionality to it with the addition of the other BOXIO items.
Thanks for reading and happy pooping!
Read more real reviews from full-time travelers:
More about compost toilets and RV toilets:
How to pick the best composting toilet for your RV
