Cleanwaste GO Anywhere Toilet by Ezygonow Review
In this post we take an in depth look and review the Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet by Ezygonow.
We Have a Camping “Shit” Problem!
With more and more people camping and exploring this beautiful country we live in, there is an ever-increasing problem with how people are using the toilet when outdoors. When there are no facilities, people either just do not know how they should be using the toilet properly or, they do know but are those sorts of people that are inconsiderate of others and do not really care. This post is not for the latter as they would not be reading this in the first place.
All of this is causing a real gross problem that we now see when travelling and camping outdoors. The amount of toilet paper scattered about the bush and in some instances piles of shit (literal shit) lying about is disgusting and just unacceptable. If we choose to spend time outdoors, we need to learn to respect the bush and leave no trace. We are outdoors enjoying what nature has to offer in the first place so leave it as it was for everyone else to have the same enjoyable experience.
Solution is Simple, Buy a Toilet
The easiest solution to this problem is to buy one of the many camping toilet options that are available in the market. There are loads of different options that can fit any budget. If you do not have a toilet though, read our post here on how to use the toilet in the bush.
A big advantage of having a camping toilet is you do not need to go hiking into the bush carrying your shovel to find some privacy and dig a deep hole. There is also little chance you will stumble upon a landmine left by one of those inconsiderate type’s we mentioned before. You will also be doing the bush and your fellow human beings a big favour by taking your crap back out with you. Win, win in our eyes. If you have travelled into the Outback, good luck digging hole, the ground in most places is like concrete. Another real big factor to consider is that all private campsites do require you to have your own toilet. By not having a toilet you are really limiting your campsite options which is a massive disadvantage with the number of amazing private camps now available across Australia.
We have two types of toilets that we use, a Thetford chemical toilet, and the Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet. In this post we are taking an in depth look at our Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet. We believe this is one of the best toilet options available, especially for those that prefer touring over long stay camping trips.
The GO Anywhere Toilet
The Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet is made by our mates over in the USA which is always a nice change from the usual gear made in China. As a result, the overall quality of the toilet is superior to many and will last an extremely long time. This toilet uses plastic collection bags and a special powder to capture and manage all waste. We will explain how the toilet works a little later.
The Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet is a compact toilet when packed away, the size of large briefcase, measuring in at 480mm x 360mm x 120mm. As it is made from hardy durable plastic, it is lightweight weighing in at only 3.2kgs which is great for any touring setup. Even though it is lightweight and compact when packed away, it can support up to 226kgs which is impressive if true. Either way, it will be able to support the weight of any person that is going to be adventuring outdoors.
When setup, the GO Anywhere toilet sits 360mm from the ground, just below the height of a normal toilet. Dimensions when setup are approximately 530mm x 430mm x 360mm. The toilet has three-fold out legs that fold up snugly and out of the way when packed away. There is a removable lid on top of the toilet that when setup can be used as a supporting base if the ground is soft. However, we usually do not remove this and use it to close the toilet when not in use. The toilet has a normal size toilet seat. Below the toilet seat is a mesh net that helps to support any waste.
How the GO Anywhere Toilet Works
The GO Anywhere toilet works differently to chemical toilets that most would be familiar with. Waste is collected in plastic collection bags with the aid of a special powder named Poo Powder.
Poo Powder
Poo Powder is pretty damn cool, weird but it actually is. It turns liquid waste into a gel therefore solidifying it. It does this pretty much instantly, quite cool to see. The Poo Powder must be activated by a liquid to work. Solid waste is then encapsulated by the Poo Powder once it has been activated by the liquid (usually pee). If for some reason when using the toilet there is no liquid, you would need to activate the powder by pouring in a small amount of liquid. The Poo Powder contains a “decay catalyst with natural enzymes” that then breaks down the solid waste. Poo Powder continues to work until it is fully saturated. The powder does also help with odour control. You can purchase this Poo Powder in either a small or large container that comes with a premeasured measuring scoop. The small container will provide 55 scoops or uses and the large 120 scoops.
Collection Bags
So, when the toilet is setup, you place a collection bag inside the toilet. This collection bag is supported by a mesh net so that the bag stays in place even with the weight of the waste. Once the collection bag is in place, you then add a scoop of the Poo Powder. Now the toilet is ready for you to do your business.
As the Poo Powder continues to work until fully saturated, you can sometimes get more than one use out of one scoop of powder if there is still dry powder in the collection bag. If not, then it is as simple as adding more Poo Powder to the collection bag. Poo Powder is supposed to gel and solidify around 600 grams of liquid and solid waste. You can get about three to four uses out of one collection bag, but this will depend on the amount of waste. Some people might not like using the toilet after someone else however, we find it is far cheaper to use the one collection bag multiple times. We are not having other people use our toilet, so it is just the two of us and we are able to deal with crapping on top of each other’s crap (sorry to be crude but we must explain how this works somehow). You do dispose of your toilet paper inside the same collection bag, so the other person’s business is usually well covered anyway.
Odours
Odours we have found to be fairly good. The Poo Powder does assist with odour control. For comparison purposes the odour is like what you would expect when using a long drop or composting toilet. There are odours, but you will not smell anything away from your toilet tent.
Setting up the GO Anywhere Toilet
Setting up the Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet is extremely easy and takes a couple of minutes to be ready to use.
To start, the toilet is flipped upside down or on its side to allow you to fold out the three legs. These legs fold out extremely easy and will click when securely in place. There are two legs on either side of the rear of the toilet and one in the front in the middle. The lid is then opened or removed by pushing in two small plastic tabs and lifting the lid. Then the toilet seat is lifted so that you can insert one collection bag. The Cleanwaste collection bags fit perfectly so we would recommend purchasing these for this toilet. The top of the collection bag is secured around the edge (as you would with a rubbish bin if that makes sense) and once in place, the toilet seat is then closed. When the toilet seat is closed this helps to keep the collection bag in place. We then push the collection bag into the mesh net so that it fits snugly against it. The final step is to add one scoop of Poo Powder to the collection bag before using the toilet. Once the Poo Powder has been added, the toilet is ready to be used.
Packing up the GO Anywhere Toilet
When you are ready to pack up and move onto your next camping spot, packing up the GO Anywhere toilet is quick and easy.
The first step is to remove the waste and collection bag. This is as easy as opening the toilet seat and pulling the collection bag out of the toilet. All liquid waste will be a solid gel so the collection bag will be easy to handle. We simply close the sides of the top of the bag together and then try and remove as much air from the bag. Then we twist the bag and tie a tight knot in the end of it. We then throw the closed collection bag into our normal rubbish bag. This rubbish bag is then closed and thrown into our Drifta rear wheel bag to be disposed of in a general waste bin. We will talk about disposing of the collection bags in general waste further below.
Once the collection bag has been removed from the toilet, we then wipe the toilet down with some toilet paper and hand sanitiser. Then we close the top lid and flip the toilet over. There are a few tabs that help keep the legs securely open. These tabs need to be pushed in and then the legs can be folded back down. These tabs are quite stiff so you will need to give them a good squeeze to be able to fold the legs back down. Once all three legs have been folded back into the toilet you are all packed up and ready to move onto the next packing task.
Waste Collection & Disposal Bags
You can purchase the Cleanwaste collection bags in packs of ten for around $12. These bags are extremely strong and do help with odour control so we would not recommend saving a few dollars to use cheaper bags that are not for this purpose. We have heard from others that use the same toilet that have tried other biodegradable more ecofriendly bags but had massive issues with odours.
There is also the option to purchase larger disposal bags. These disposal bags can be used to store a few of the used collection bags. The disposal bags are even stronger than the collection bags, puncture resistant, and have a locking mechanism. We have used a few of these disposal bags but usually we just throw the used collection bag in our rubbish bag.
There is also the option to buy the GO Anywhere toilet kits. These toilet kits come with the collection bags already pre-loaded with a scoop of Poo Powder. We looked at these as an option, however they end up being far more expensive. Our recommendation would be to just buy the Poo Powder and collection bags separately. Even with the toilet kits you will still need to add more Poo Powder if using more than once, so it does not make sense for us to buy the kits.
Disposing of Waste Collection Bags
One question we did have when we looked at purchasing the Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet was how we would dispose of the waste collection bags. Would there be any issues with disposing of these in the normal general waste bins?
From the information we could find, supposedly the Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) in all states and territories of Australia have classified the used GO Anywhere toilet waste bags as solid (putrescible) waste. What does this mean? Basically, this means that the waste collection bags are classified the same as household waste, incontinence pads and sanitary pads. Therefore, they can be disposed of in general waste. However, there could be certain local councils that have their own regulations regarding the disposal of such waste in normal waste, so you need to be aware of this.
Drifta Storage Bag
The Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet does pack up nice and compactly and is easy to store. We would however recommend purchasing an Australian made Drifta canvas bag that is made specifically for this toilet. It does make storing the toilet that much easier. The Drifta canvas bag does have enough space when the toilet is inside allowing you to store flat about 50 or so collection bags on top. You can find the Drifta canvas bag here on their website.
Better Than a Chemical Toilet
Overall, the Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet is a great camping toilet. We reckon this is far better than the good quality Thetford chemical toilet that we also use. But this will of course depend on how you plan to use it. If you are more into touring and are staying at a different campsite every other day, then this is by far the best toilet setup. If you prefer to setup camp and stay somewhere for long periods of time, then a chemical toilet might be a better option for you. We do still use our chemical toilet but only really when we are camping for a weekend in the one location, we are not carrying loads of gear, and not going that far from home.
There are a few advantages that we believe make the GO Anywhere toilet better than a chemical one. First, the GO Anywhere toilet is compact and lightweight at just over 3kgs. This is extremely important in a touring setup but still important in any camping setup. Chemical toilets are bulky. Most good quality chemical toilets, like Thetford, are quite light when empty. However, they require a good 10-15 litres of water in the waste and flush tanks to work properly. Once you start to use them, they become heavy and a nightmare to pack away. On top of this you need to use 10-15 litres of your water supply for the toilet. When travelling more remotely this is a real waste of water meaning you need to carry more and therefore more weight.
Another big benefit of the GO Anywhere toilet over a chemical one, is you are not limited to the number of uses before you need to find a dump point. Most towns do have chemical toilet dump points these days, but it still a hassle having to find one and then deal with one. It is messy, not that much fun, and time consuming. There is also the risk of leaks while travelling before finding a dump point. As you can dispose of the GO Anywhere waste bags in general waste, it is easy to dispose of these with your other rubbish. There is no risk of leaks and no need to clean the waste tank as there is with a chemical toilet.
Where the GO Anywhere toilet loses to a chemical toilet is odours and toilet stability. Chemical toilets are amazing with odour control. We have no issues at all with odours when using our Thetford chemical toilet. Odours with the GO Anywhere toilet are not bad but a chemical toilet is far better. The GO Anywhere toilet only has the three legs. It is stable when sitting down however, it does become less stable when wiping. This is because you need to lean forward and to the side, here you need to ensure your feet are securely on the ground as there is only the one leg in the front of the toilet and it can become a little wobbly. A chemical toilet is perfectly stable.
Overall though we do prefer to carry the Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet over our Thetford chemical one for the benefits listed above. If we could start our toilet buying process again, we would have only purchased the GO Anywhere toilet and saved ourselves a little money.
We purchased our Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet and canvas bag from Drifta. You can find it here on the Drifta website. You can also purchase the toilet, collection bags, disposal bags, and Poo Powder from Ezygonow on their website here.
Thanks for reading this review of our Cleanwaste GO Anywhere toilet. If you do have any questions or comments please let us know in the comments section below. For more gear reviews you can read them here. To keep up to date on future posts become a part of the 4WD Adventurer Community here.
Thanks for reading.
The thoughts of Peter.
05/12/2023 @ 8:07 AM
Hello and thank you for your detailed and informative reviews. I read your review of the Thetford 365 and the Cleanwaste Go toilets. My question for you is which of the two you would recommend for van life travel going to places which might not have disposal stations very often but want to use it in the van? It sounds as though the Cleanwaste is being recommended more for outdoor car camping rather than incur van camping? I’d be happy to know your thoughts and am happy to have stumbled on your site.
M in italy
06/12/2023 @ 4:55 PM
G’day Michael
Glad you found the posts useful.
I know of a few people that use the Cleanwaste in Troopys with no issues. However, you would have to dispose of the bag after every use. It does have low odours but I wouldn’t want to use it more than once in a van. It’ll probably not be the best with odours. If you used this as an option you would go through lots of bags and powder and so it’d be quite expensive. Option if you had space, could be to install a shower style awning on the side of the van that is quick to setup and then it’s external and you have privacy. Lots of people do this here in Aus, not sure what you can get in Europe though. Look into Quick Pitch shower tent.
Lots of people do use chemical toilets in vans. Probably the better option inside a van. You can get a lot of uses out of it so it’ll just depend on how long you are staying in places that don’t have disposal options. Just remember you’ll need water for the tank. Odours will be fine.
Personally I’d prefer to get an external ensuite / shower style awning secured to the vehicle. Setup in under a minute and use the Cleanwaste. But I suppose weather in Europe is something to factor in. You can get covers for the top of these so that might be an option.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
Peter
25/08/2023 @ 2:18 PM
Thank you for your explanation of the Cleanwaste Go Anywhere toilet.
I have a space within my 4WD where I hope this will fit. Can you please give me exact dimensions for a space that will accommodate the unit when fully closed, including any extrusions that may be an issue for me.
Your advice will be very much appreciate.
Stavros
31/08/2023 @ 6:30 PM
G’day Stavros
Thanks for reading and your message mate.
Take a look at the manufactures website. They have the dimensions listed there.
https://ezygonow.com.au/product/cleanwaste-go-anywhere-portable-toilet/
Hope that helps.
Cheers
Peter
30/06/2022 @ 1:43 PM
I really like this, as I’m looking into eco camping. But I am curious on the information from the EPA. Did you email EPA or call?
Just trying to confirm that it comes under putrescible waste.
04/07/2022 @ 9:14 AM
G’day Brooklyn,
I am going off the manufacturers publicly provided information which states that the EPA’s/EPU’s in all States and Territories of Australia have classified this as putrescible waste. If you want confirmation from your local State’s Envinronmental Protection Agency, it might be best that you contact them directly. This product has been used in Australia for quite some time now and there have not been any reported issues that I am aware of.
Cheers,
Peter
29/11/2021 @ 7:17 PM
I forgot to mention our camping toilet. It is called Separett. It actually separates pee from poo. We collect our pee using a Black plastic bottle not the hose supplied. I think it is made in Sweden and you can get it from a “Better way to go” website here in Oz. About $140. Check it out.
29/11/2021 @ 9:36 PM
Just checked it out mate. That’s a pretty cool toilet. Very different design. Thanks for sharing. I’ll add a link below for anyone that is interested in checking it out. Finding out about a few new toilets from this post.
http://www.abetterwaytogo.com.au/separett-rescue-camping
Cheers mate.
Peter
29/11/2021 @ 7:10 PM
Small point. I thought you might like to know. Reckon has a k in it. Your blog is great. It really is the best because it is not driven by gear supplied by businesses and I trust your unbiased opinion. And I’ve got a 76 as well.
29/11/2021 @ 9:32 PM
G’day Richard,
Thanks for letting me know. Hate typos!
Thanks for the feedback as well. Great to hear mate. We are offered a bit of gear to be perfectly honest. Most we don’t take but some we have if it’s any good. If we ever do write a post on anything that’s been given we will definitely make it obvious. But 99% is paid for! Always wanted this to be an honest site so that everyone reading knows if there are any other interests involved.
Thanks for reading and the support mate. Love getting these comments. Makes all the hard work putting this stuff together worth it.
Cheers,
Peter
16/11/2021 @ 5:34 AM
looks like a great product. I use a somewhat similar product that is cheaper but a lot more bulky!
https://www.snowys.com.au/thunder-down-under-toilet
16/11/2021 @ 9:48 AM
G’day Dan,
Yeah I have seen the Thunder Down Under toilet. Love the name haha. These are a good cheap alternative if you have the space. There are a few other options as well. My mate grabbed something similar to the one we have off eBay that cost under $100 that packs away fairly small. They bought that as it was a cheaper toilet but then by the good quality Poo Powder and collection bags.
Appreciate the feedback mate.
Cheers,
Peter