A portable or mobile toilet (colloquial terms: thunderbox, porta-john, porta-potty or porta-loo) is any type of

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...

that can be moved around, some by one person, some by mechanical equipment such as a truck and crane. Most types do not require any pre-existing services or infrastructure, such as

sewerage Sewerage (or sewage system) is the infrastructure that conveys sewage or surface runoff ( stormwater, meltwater, rainwater) using sewers. It encompasses components such as receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, and scr ...

, and are completely self-contained. The portable toilet is used in a variety of situations, for example in urban

slums A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily in ...

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

, at festivals, for camping, on boats, on construction sites, and at film locations and large outdoor gatherings where there are no other facilities. Most portable toilets are

unisex Unisex is an adjective indicating something is not sex-specific, i.e. is suitable for any type of sex. The term can also mean gender-blindness or gender neutrality. The term 'unisex' was coined in the 1960s and was used fairly informally. The co ...

single units with privacy ensured by a simple lock on the door. Some portable toilets are small molded plastic or

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

portable rooms with a lockable door and a receptacle to catch the

human excreta Human waste (or human excreta) refers to the waste products of the human digestive system, menses, and human metabolism including urine and feces. As part of a sanitation system that is in place, human waste is collected, transported, treated an ...

in a container. A portable toilet is not connected to a hole in the ground (like a

pit latrine A pit latrine, also known as pit toilet, is a type of toilet that collects human waste in a hole in the ground. Urine and feces enter the pit through a drop hole in the floor, which might be connected to a toilet seat or squatting pan for user ...

), nor to a

septic tank A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatment ...

, nor is it plumbed into a municipal system leading to a

sewage treatment plant Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water p ...

. The

chemical toilet A chemical toilet collects human waste in a holding tank and uses chemicals to minimize odors. They do not require a connection to a water supply and are used in a wide variety of situations. These toilets are usually, but not always, self-conta ...

is probably the most well-known type of portable toilet, but other types also exist, such as urine-diversion dehydration toilets,

composting toilet A composting toilet is a type of dry toilet that treats human waste by a biological process called composting. This process leads to the decomposition of organic matter and turns human waste into compost-like material. Composting is carried out b ...

s, container-based toilets,

bucket toilet A bucket toilet is a basic form of a dry toilet whereby a bucket (pail) is used to collect Human waste, excreta. Usually, feces and urine are collected together in the same bucket, leading to odor issues. The bucket may be situated inside a dw ...

s, freezing toilets and incineration toilets. A

is a very simple type of portable toilet.

Types

Chemical toilets

collects

human waste Human waste (or human excreta) refers to the waste products of the human digestive system, Menstruation, menses, and human metabolism including urine and Human feces, feces. As part of a sanitation system that is in place, human waste is collect ...

in a holding tank and uses chemicals to minimize the odors. Most portable toilets use chemicals in this way and therefore are considered chemical toilets. The chemicals may either mask the odor or contain

biocides A biocide is defined in the European legislation as a chemical substance or microorganism intended to destroy, deter, render harmless, or exert a controlling effect on any harmful organism. The US United States Environmental Protection Agency, En ...

that hinder odor-causing bacteria from multiplying, keeping the smell to a minimum.

Enclosed portable toilets

Enclosed portable chemical toilets are widely used for crowds at festivals, and for worksites without permanent toilets, such as early stages of construction and remote worksites. On

planes Plane most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface * Plane (mathematics), generalizations of a geometrical plane Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane ...

and

trains A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

, some toilets are chemical toilets, and others are vacuum toilets.

Portable camping toilets

A portable camping toilet has a seat and a small waste tank. Adding a packet of chemicals to the waste tank reduces odors and bacteria, until the waste can be dumped at an appropriate facility. They are used in camping,

travel trailer A caravan, travel trailer, camper, tourer or camper trailer is a Trailer (vehicle), trailer towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable and protected than a tent (although there are popup camper, fold-down ...

s, caravans, and camper vans. They may also be used on small boats which lack a built-in marine toilet.

WAG bags

Waste aggregation and gelling (WAG) bags have a gel to immobilize liquid waste and surround solid waste in a plastic bag, which is then put in the trash. They are used in the US Army and in wilderness. They can be used to line a bucket, with a toilet-seat lid, and are required for Utah river trips.

Urine-diversion dehydration toilets

Portable urine-diversion dehydration toilets are self-contained

dry toilet A dry toilet (or non-flush toilet, no flush toilet or toilet without a flush) is a toilet which, unlike a flush toilet, does not use flush water. Dry toilets do not use water to move excreta along or block odors. They do not produce sewage, and a ...

s sometimes referred to as "mobile" or "stand-alone" units. They are identifiable by their one-piece molded plastic shells or, in the case of DIY versions, simple plywood box construction. Most users of self-contained UDDTs rely upon a collection agency or a post-treatment process to ensure pathogen reduction. This post-treatment may consist of long-term storage or addition to an existing or purpose-built

compost pile Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by Decomposition, decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and man ...

or some combination thereof. The necessity of a post-treatment step hinges upon the frequency and volume of use. For instances of infrequent or very modest seasonal use, a post-treatment phase might be deemed unnecessary due to the lower accumulation of waste, simplifying the overall disposal process.

Container-based sanitation Container-based sanitation (abbreviated as CBS) refers to a sanitation system where toilets collect human excreta in sealable, removable containers (also called cartridges) that are transported to treatment facilities. This type of sanitation in ...

refers to a collection system which regularly replaces full containers with empty containers, and disposes of the waste.

Commode chair

commode chair A commode chair, known in British English simply as a commode, is a type of chair used by someone who needs help going to the toilet due to illness, injury or disability. A commode chair sometimes has wheels to allow easy transport to the bathroo ...

(a chair enclosing a

chamber pot A chamber pot is a portable toilet, meant for nocturnal use in the bedroom. It was common in many cultures before the advent of indoor plumbing and flushing toilets. Names and etymology "Chamber" is an older term for bedroom. The chamber pot ...

) is a basic portable toilet that is used next to a bed (bedside commode) for people with limited mobility. Before indoor toilets, it was used world-wide as an indoor alternative to an

outhouse An outhouse — known variously across the English-speaking world otherwise as bog, dunny, long-drop, or privy — is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket ...

History

The close stool, built as an article of furniture, is one of the earliest forms of portable toilet. They can still be seen in

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

s such as Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site in

Old Montreal Old Montreal (, ) is a historic List of neighbourhoods in Montreal, neighbourhood within the List of municipalities in Quebec, municipality of Montreal in the province of Quebec, Canada. Home to the Old Port of Montreal, the neighbourhood is b ...

, Canada. The velvet upholstered close stool used by William III is on display at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

; see

Groom of the Stool The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool") was the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, initially responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene. The physical intimacy of the role natur ...

. Early versions of the "Elsan chemical closet" ("closet" meaning a small room, see water closet, WC, and earth closet) were sold at Army & Navy Stores. Their use in World War II

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

aircraft is described at some length by the Bomber Command Museum of Canada; in brief, they were not popular with either the flying crew or the ground crew.

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

s living under

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...

(i.e. before the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

) faced severe challenges.

Public toilet A public toilet, restroom, bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils or pris ...

s were segregated by race, and many restaurants and gas stations refused to serve black people, so some travellers carried a portable toilet in the trunk of their car. Since 1974,

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

guides rafting on the Colorado River have used ammo boxes as portable toilets, typically with a removable toilet seat, according to the

Museum of Northern Arizona The Museum of Northern Arizona is a museum in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States, established as a repository for Indigenous material and natural history specimens from the Colorado Plateau. The museum was founded in 1928 by zoologist Dr. Harol ...

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ), known locally as Flag, is the county seat of Coconino County, Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 76,831. Flagstaff is the principal city of the Coconino Cou ...

Society and culture

A slang term, now dated or historic, is a "thunder-box" (''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'': "a portable commode; by extension, any lavatory"). The term was used particularly in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

; travel writer Stephen McClarence called it "a crude sort of colonial lavatory". One features to comic effect in

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

's novel '' Men at Arms'':

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portable Toilet Portable buildings and shelters Street furniture Toilet types