Thanks for all the excellent information. I just finished Anna Edey's book and am working on designing a 1-person vermicompost toilet system. I see maximum load information, but I have the opposite situation, minimal load. The toilet will be used for one person, in a tiny home setting. An IBC tank seems excessively large and totally overkill. I am wondering if a 50 gallon tote would be of sufficient volume to handle the load for one person. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Hi Jacquie
An IBC rank does seem excessively large in a tiny home setting, for sure. The risk with smaller containers is the larger surface area to volume ratio meaning your worms are going to be far more affected by external temperature fluctuations. Also, a smaller system is more sensitive to changes in feed rate so, for instance, if you have a friend to stay for a couple of weeks, you may conceivably have issues, particularly if the ecosystem is still in the early stages of getting established. But if you can keep the worms well insulated and happily within their preferred temperature range, then in theory a 50-gallon tote ought to work for one person. Please send us project details for our case studies if you do!
