If You Have Wilderness Toilet Questions - We've Got Answers
Thanks for checking us out. We're this small startup company in Vancouver, WA USA that has spent the last several years getting our toilet kit right. We're a bunch of wilderness lovers - especially Mark - who invented the Packit Toilet.
If you love to go deeper into the remaining wild places - off the beaten path - there are as you know NO toilets. So people who go to these places just squat - do their thing - and leave it - along with their toilet paper. Problem is too many people are now going to these - even remote - places and they're starting to look and smell awful. Take a look at our video demonstration (CLICK HERE) and you'll actually see with your own eyes what we're talking about.
Anyway - Mark decided to tackle the problem of designing a toilet that was compact enough to fit into a backpack. But it had to leave enough room for all the other stuff. Not as easy as it may appear. Took almost three (3) years to get the folding pattern right. But the result is the Packit Toilet fits into a child-size backpack (or into the small forward hold of a short kayak) with room left for all the other stuff. And kids - surprisingly - love it. They're not the least bit afraid to sit on it - and many actually carry their own Packit Toilet and tie the knot in the waste bag after they're finished - and then go and dig a cat hole to bury their body wastes. This early training bodes well for the future of wilderness and back country. And that self-reliance can play out in many other areas of life later on.
Mark designed the Packit Toilet to be a little shorter than the conventional home toilet to better accommodate children and smaller women. After all - the Packit Toilet isn't bolted to the ground. But we have lots of guys 6'2" and 6'4" who use it regularly and without problems or complaints. So that idea seems to have been right (please let us know how it works for you).
A Complete Dry Toilet System
A dry toilet system means you don't need any water. There is no "flushing." There is nothing to flush. You relieve yourself into a waste bag - a biodegradable waste bag at that - tie a knot in it after you're finished - and then dig a shallow hole (a cat hole) and bury it. Everyone wins - the wilderness - the creatures who live there - and you the wilderness lvoer.
No More Squatting: Many people either hate to squat - or can't because of former injuries or because they're simply getting older. And for those who like to take their time - the Packit Toilet is "a little bit of heaven in the woods" to quote one of our customers.
For You Moms: No more having to throw on a robe, grab a flashlight, and head to the campsite toilet at 2 in the morning. Many of our customers tell us that the toilets at campsites are now unbearable - or too far away to be practical for camping with kids - especially when they really have to go. Or your TWO kids have to go - at the same time.
What's Really Different About the Packit Toilet?
- It's easy to store - easy to set up and use - is more hygienic than your home toilet.
- Kids love it. We haven't heard from a single parent of any fear in children using it - even two-year olds. It was designed to look enough like their home toilet to take away any fears of sitting on it.
- The toilet only has 3 parts - a base, a seat, and a waste bag. Just snap together the 4 snaps, insert a bag, and it's ready (see picture below). Takes about 10 seconds.
- 6-year old kids pack one in their child's backpack. They easily learn how to set it up, use it, and then take responsibility for either burying or packing out their own body wastes. Dad and mom and wilderness are grateful.
- The green waste bags tear off easily from the roll, and are easily inserted into the toilet's base. When you're done, simply tie a knot in the bag, find a spot at least 200 feet from water sources, dig a cat hole, and bury it (or pack it out in an ordinary plastic garbage bag, if required where you're camping). NOTE: our biodegradable waste bags start to degrade within 24-hours. Plastic bags take up to 100-YEARS to degrade.
- The Digger works exactly like a post hole auger. Punch it into the ground and at the same time pinch the dirt (see the "Read Me First" instructions in the shipping box). The no hassle waste bags and the Digger makes it easier to take responsibility for managing your own body wastes while visiting wilderness areas.
- All 4 of the kit's parts are shades of green in harmony with the forest wilderness they're intended to help preserve. The seat looks like a slice of green [shinny clean] porcelain. Your tush will love it, and our waste bags don't stick to your skin. They're made from cornstarch.
- Big guys - do not be afraid. It will support you (if you lean to wipe, just move into a semi-squat position to avoid pushing the toilet over. Keep in mind - it's not bolted to the ground.
- You can set it up in your tent. How's that for convenience? When that unexpected rainy drizzle comes in August, you can mock it with laughter.
It folds into "the smallest lightest portable toilet in the world" (quote from our original press release). The base folds to about the size of a folded newspaper - and the seat folds around the base. The whole kit fits into a small backpack with plenty of room left for all the other stuff.
Why Do We Have Such a Hard Time Talking About Poop and Pooping?
Mark has studied and written much about the taboos associated with poop and pee and pooping and peeing in general. Some of it is obviously funny. Most of it isn't funny at all. We have now a global sanitation crisis of truly epic proportions. Of the 6.6 billion people who now live on planet Earth (according to U.N. data), only about 1.5 billion have any connection to a sewage system. Most of the other 5.1 billion people simply poop and pee on the ground - and leave it there. All the diseases (to both humans and animals) that human poop is associated with - are on the rise, even in America.
When you can't talk about the cause of disease because people are uncomfortable or simply won't talk about it (and this is true whether you're in Japan, Mexico, Africa, Asia, South America, or yes, even in that most modern of countries, America), how can you talk about disease prevention? Everyone's in denial about why their children are dying like flies because they refuse to talk about or even consider the cause to be poor sanitation habits and attitudes.
When grown men - many of them big men - tough guys - speak of pooping and peeing through the use of numbers ("one or two?" they ask their kids), you know we have a serious social problem to overcome if we're to affect changes in global sanitation habits. We can speak about war, hunger, wealth, etc., but pooping, peeing, sex, and death (as the late George Carlin said, "we don't die, we just passss awayyyyy.") are pretty much off-limits, and we desperately need that to change if mankind is survive on this very small and more fragile-by-the-day planet (for more on this subject, CLICK HERE) or simply scroll down the GOSWI Blog archive to your immediate right....
Who's Buying The Packit Toilet Kit?
- People who love to camp, yet hate to squat.
- Women because they hate to get splashed on, or get poop on their sneakers.
- Boaters because they don't have to come to shore when someone has to go.
- Kayakers because it stows easily in the front hold of a small kayak.
- Fishers because most of them own boats without a toilet.
- Hunters because many are older and even though they don't mind squatting, their knee joints tell them otherwise.
- Rafters because they can now get their passengers to deal with their own poop. A half a dozen Packit Toilet Kits is all they need for several days on a river.
- People with RVs who don't want to or can't empty out their black water.
- Men and women who work in remote places.
- And many others, each with their own story to tell.
Call Mark at 360-607-1947 to order, or simply to ask some questions about the toilet kit.