While there continues to be debate in Australia about what sort of campers should be allowed to camp in areas designated as being exclusively for ‘self-contained vehicles’, New Zealand is pressing ahead at pace to legislate on the issue.
The Self-Contained Motor Vehicle Legislation Bill has just passed its third reading across the Tasman, in a move the NZ Government says is a critical milestone in its work to better manage the impacts of freedom camping on communities and environment.
It contains changes around the certification of self-contained vehicles, including the requirement to have a fixed toilet. And the Bill enables councils to decide how freedom camping is managed in their region.
The self-contained debate is set to heat up in Australia. PIC: Cizza
There will be a transition period of two years, to give people enough time to comply with the new vehicle rules.
There is also a protection to ensure people experiencing homelessness aren’t unfairly penalised.
NZ Tourism Minister, Peeni Henare, said the Government had listened to the calls from councils and communities to make these changes.
“Freedom camping is popular for both our domestic and international visitors,” Peeni Henare said. “This Bill addresses environmental pressures and ensures that we protect our whenua (land).”
He said that the extensive engagement that had taken place had provided the Government with better options and, ultimately, better legislation.
“Now is the time to make these changes as we welcome manuhiri (visitors) back to our shores,” the Minister said. “It is another step towards shifting Aotearoa New Zealand to a more sustainable future, one that gives back more to people and places than it takes.”
In Australia, many grey nomads travelling with portable toilets rather than ones which are plumbed into their vehicles, argue that they should be considered ‘self-contained’. While some campsites spell out exactly what they consider constitutes a self-contained traveller, the whole issue seems to be something of a grey area to many travellers. And there also seems to be significant variations in the way, and the extent to which, the issue is policed.
More information about the new New Zealand requirements can be found by clicking here.
WIN! WIN! WIN!Grey Nomad Members are being given the opportunity to win an organic bamboo fitted sheet set designed for caravans from Ecoluxe Travel Decor. The winner can choose a queen, double, or two singles. The prize is valued at approximately $100.
Click here to find out more about the prize, and how to enter.
Members: If you wish to enter, please click here.
Legislation is inevitable in Australia because as always the small group of people doing the wrong thing affects us all. Any self contained toilet should be permitted- but heavy penalties for wrong disposal of waste
Self contained should include portable toilets. Just because someone has a plumbed in system doesn’t mean they are going to be more responsible in emptying than a person with a port-a-loo,
I don’t think we should create a divide between the 2 by saying one is more careful or responsible than the other. I have seen enough messes around dump points to know it’s not what you empty, but how….
If you have the right equipment for a job you should not be penalised for where it it located or installed.
Do we really need to create a divide in our traveling community when the majority of the people making the decisions don’t even travel in RVs or vans and sit their on their cushy bottoms in offices in Canberra, most probably don’t even wipe their backsides outside of their 5 star hotels when they travel.
Tell me how they are even justified in making decisions like that without proper knowledge or experience.
Often folk that own big rigs with everything built in including the toilet, will brag how they have never cooked inside or used the toilet, totally agree should be no distinction between built in or portable loo.
Totally agree with you Bruce. I think as a Nation we need to legislate laws that protect our environment from International Travellers who, in my past experience, don’t show much respect for our environment. When confronted, they claim ignorance!! I’ve seen them emptying their portable toilet cassettes into our Septic Systems, where its clearly posted not acceptable.
Well said. Also why do you even need to be self contained when a lot of the so called self contained camping areas have toilets anyway.
Yes but would you use these toilets at 2 am AND have you seen the condition that people leave these toilets?
Your exactly right travellers with portable grey water tanks are more likely to dispose of correctly but those with on board tanks are more likely to find it harder to dispose of it without moving their van. Have seen some just crack the drain once on the road and drain as they travel.
Just because you have a fixed/plumbed toilet doesn’t mean crap pardon the pun.
I have heard of people with plumbed toilets dumping their waste along out back roads or pulling up after leaving camp and just opening the valve on the side of the road so they have an empty grey water tank ready for there next stop.
Seen that a few times at a free camp near where I live. People drive off with their grey water tank open and for those of us following behind, it’s not exactly nice having someone’s grey water spraying over your car! Might as well be travelling behind a cattle truck.
Are you saying black or grey water?
Exactly! There is a big difference. Some dry places are pleased to have grey water in garden beds etc.
Grey water is just washing up water or shower water. It may have a little detergent in it but hardly like travelling behind a cattle truck.
MM interesting . Grey or Black . Grey … shower and sink I assume .. Black ? Yes >another item . have seen lots of camp areas where ” grey ‘ supposedly is emptied into system ie drain . In doing so had at times area caretaker had came along and moved hose to water plants .lawns etc !!! Enquired why ? Better to put to better use ,So where does that leave one ofcourse one would NOT let ” BLACK Water ” as you say run out onto ground area . Use a dump as required . No probs ..
The overseas BackPackers in Vans shud carry a portaloo..
the company’s that hire the mini buses shud supply a portable dunny..
got to get ’em to use ’em .. there’s a problem .. they’re here for a “good time” not a long time …then back “home” and then preach environmental concerns to us .. having trashed ours ..
The problem is that the hire companies give them a refund if they come back without being used. So an incentive to crap in bushes instead.
The writing is on the wall, for anybody, who tent camps in Australia, including campertrailers, roof top tents, caravans with out toilets. They will all be banned. Freedom camping will be banned, you will have to stay at caravan parks only. Don’t worry, it’s coming, and I will be one of the campers to be banned, then it will be a NEW COUNTRY FOR ME.
Hard to carry a portaloo on a bicycle or motorbike.
Dead right Ric .Will start thinking overseas holidays .
All about money ,Caravan parks,
At the moment use station stays .
We toured the South Island NZ in 2020 in a hired motorhome and were astounded to see the range of Certified Self contained vehicles pulled up around us at freedom sites including at one stop a sedan and several SUVs, all with compliance stickers!!!! so obviously a review was very much needed.
I don’t think this will stop the grubs who just use the side if the road and leave lu paper everywhere.
Sadly, I suspect that you are right.
I can see in the future that one will have to hire a Building Site Toilet and tow the bloody thing around . Oh and also believe it or NOT it will have to be emptied somewhere along the trip !!
Fixed or unfixed toilet: NO DIFFERENCE! They both need to be emptied. The legislation should be directed more to provide dump points than to dictate the type of toilet.
Excellent comment… I’m yet to a dump point a any rest stop on any main roads/highways !!!
That should be… See Any Dump Points!!
Both fixed and portable toilets should be allowed , they both have the same removable cassette system. The problem is not the toilet type but the lack of dump points.
There are dump points everywhere free camping is possible. That of course excludes major city centres because there are no free camps there
Very few aloound rn ang the gibb river road…Certainly totally insufficient numbers of dump points.. Travel through the alpine regions from thredbo across into victoria ,say beachworth and many other routes has composting toilets ( thanks to nat parks ) but no dump points….many other areas are the same..
Almost none of the vans less than around 14 feet plus campervans were built with toilets…sort of limits their use if this were to be adopted…
And the propensity of “DUMB DUMPERS”
Seems that the well healed that can afford a Van with all the Plumbing luxuries are getting preferential treatment ?? then of coarse there are always going to be the “animals” as I saw the other night in the Park I am in in Adelaide cleaning his Cassette in the Toilet,Shower block and got VERY upset when I told him what I thought of someone doing that !!!!
When I get home I always empty my cassette in the toilet bowl at home. I don’t get messes everywhere. You just have to be careful. Though I think most caravan parks ban you from using the toilets to empty cassettes.
Interesting, how the targeting is towards portable toilets. It mentioned built in systems will be OK. To me they both have some form of removable cassette. I can understand if there is no facillities on board that’s not good. Also how would it be policed. Will there be “dunny cops” raiding caravans in the bush.
You should just grt a huge fine if you are found “squatting” in the bush.
A toilet is a toilet fixed or not shouldn’t even be a debate
Portable toilets and built in toilets both have the one thing in common, both have to be emptied at a built for purpose disposal facility.
Use of a cassette or enclosed container require the owner to slide out the cassette from the built in toilet or disconnect the seat from the enclosed container to be emptied.
I see no difference between the two.
absolutely correct…
What is a fixed toilet? No one uses the old style septic toilets anymore. All caravans/motorhomes use cassette or composting toilets just bolted to the floor. Even showers can be hybrid recessed -in-the-floor that collect in a grey tank. We need a certification similar to Australia’s motor home club to eliminate council concerns.
Could somebody please tell me whether this is going to prevent camping in tents.
Is the authority genuinely worried about the environment – I hope so. Or just their caretaking expenses.
Good comment re more dump points.
Roberta Tait
I cross the paddock each year on a bicycle and camp along the way. Carrying a portaloo is not an option.
BCF and others sell a folding toilet (under $40) Wanderer Foldable Camp Toilet | BCF easily carried on bicycle or motor bike in panniers.
Tent campers on Teewah Beach/Double Island Point must have a Loo with them so they manage, bush dumping just turns the place into a big septic.
Problem is a non-plumbed toilet is likely to be tucked away in a cupboard or under a bed, so likely to remain unused
Bullshit! Ours is in a cupboard and we have to empty it every 3 days. We also have a spare tank in case no dump points nearby.
I have a self built tiny van. I consider myself self-contained. I have a portable loo. a portable shower and a portable kitchen. I am self-contained.
Portable toilets should be included in what is considered to be self contained, as should portable grey water tanks. How is a porta potti waste holding tank any different to a Thetford or Dometic waste holding tank on a toilet that has been fitted in a caravan or RV?
Main reason for requiring installed toilets and grey water tanks is that with portable types, both are likely to be packed away and never used
There should be no distinction between plumbed-in toilets and porta-loo’s. They both have canisters which need to be emptied the same way. I had the recent disgusting experience of an elderly person walking away from an ordinary toilet block with his empty canister on his way back to his caravan. The stench in the toilet block was enough to make you vomit. ‘Plumbed-in’ doesn’t equate to ‘more responsible’.
Nothing wrong with portable toilets as long as there emptied in dump points.
The Kiwis have lost the plot completely look at all of the mixture of language you would have to take an interpreter to visit the place. Rest assured that is the reason they come to live in Australia but on our current trajectory we are rapidly joining them in the stupidity stakes.
You think this type of Legislation is crazy – just wait until The Voice referendum is passed!
I am an authorised self containment testing officer here in NZ. My belief is that it shouldn’t matter what toilet you have on board, but that you have one and use it. Any van that does not have one onboard should in my opinion be made to stay in recognized camping grounds
Why do people that travel with so called “self contained” caravans equipped with full toilet/ensuites cluster around toilets & showers in camping areas? After using the on-site facilities they then declare that the camping area is for “self contained only”. Are they too scared to use their toilet for both liquids & solids & are they afraid of emptying the cassette afterwards. LOL.
We use our Thetford Porta-Potty for everything that its designed for.
We’ve doing it for 13 years/130,000kms of travel.
Since Covid arrived 3 years ago we haven’t been near a public toilet/shower facility.
Everyone should have a right to camp anywhere in Australia, why are we making some people camp here and others camp over there? Why has camping become so hard ? We used to all get along no matter what you were staying in!!! Don’t turn camping peacefully into a slinging match with bloody toilets . Just do the right thing and we’ll all get along………
There is no difference between porta potty and a cassette toilet they both have cassettes bureaucratic nonsense
To Rae Smith, I couldn’t agree more with you!!!! Stop telling us how to LIVE, FUN POLICE AT IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have been disappointed at some locations in Australia where grubs have toileted very close to the well used free camping zone. I made it my ambition to get my gas burner at these locations and burn the paper so at least the white paper evidence of their visit was eliminated. It seemed fairly rare for this to happen but for some reason, at certain locations, many people must have thought it was ok. I think it is hard to police such things and a porta potty may be required, but a sturdy plastic bucket with a well fitting lid can be pushed into service successfully also. Perhaps education is more important than equipment.
I feel Gray water poses a greater health/environmental issue than fixed/non fixed toilets.
Discharging g water in one place over a couple of days is unhealthy for humans and environment. Disposal of black water from fixed/unfixed toilets in dump points is acceptable, disposal of b water in the bush/ down stormwater should be illegal!!
Its more the mess/bog made by it.. For over 30 years our grey water from house has gone on lawns and gardens, kept everything going during drought when dams dry, no mains water here just tank water so every drop counts……….. We haven’t died and kids, dogs, horses never ill and kept it all green…….. Black should be in a dump point for sure.
During the drought we were encouraged to catch our washing machine and sink water run off for our gardens lawns etc to try and keep them alive. I know of a number of camps that are happy to allow you to direct your grey water to their trees etc.
we all spend money( lot’s of it) in the small towns & if they want the travellers to keep coming then put some place for them surely they should be able to recover the cost of a loo it’s only a hole in the ground with a shed on top(it’s a bit more than that) & a container to collect the shopping receipts to see how much we spend each month then we will all be able to do the thing we love doing Camping
The difference between self contained and portable toilets is I think not the plumbing but where they are located.
Self contained is a toilet in a enclosure with easy access, a door and as such is more likely to be used at the camp
Portable toilets can be anywhere usually in a cupboard and sometimes still in the cardboard box they came in. Some of the campers I have met with portables say they are for emergencies only.
These are the campers likely to go bush as it’s easier than unpacking and they leave the mess for every one else.
Some rigs can have a holding tank, so the rig needs to go to the dump point to dump the tank which is not removable…..
So it’s not OK to collect grey water in portable containers yet its OK for bush walkers and tree hungers to delicate off the walking tracks. Seems like a double standard in favour of a minority.
Containing grey water is a good idea as many will just drain onto the ground, in a few days you have a bog for the next person to avoid, along with piles of burnt ground and ash piles, fires should be managed as well, no fire unless in recepticle and proper ash disposal….. many have no idea of fire safety.
Of course those that are the problem will continue to do so, no matter what legislation…..
We have done a few laps and the disgusting habits of a small percentage of travellers that we have seen is abhorrent. European visitors are the worst they just don’t give a dam. Grey water is greatly accepted in most places and depending on where we were heading next we would empty our fresh water tanks to create a little bit of relief for the local critters. Very easy to take your dunny to the next dump point. Need to penalise the few guilty severely not the innocent.
I think they should have something with them, for when they want to go, as, many places, the area is littered with paper every where, and smell, not a nice sight.
Interesting how some articles generate much more interest than others, and this one sure gets people going.
I think one of the aspects of grey water not dealt with in these responses is the storage problems of grey water. I have followed more than a few vans dropping their grey water on the road as they drive along. Not really nice as it splashes up onto my vehicle, but more important is the microbe and bacterial levels in this water. It is well known (or should be) that grey water should not be stored for more than 24 hours because of the growth of harmful microbes and bacteria. Environmental experts suggest that grey water after this period is effectively black water and should be disposed of in the same manner.
I am lucky enough to own a 16” off-road Caravan and we carry a Porta-loo and use it responsibly and dispose of the waste accordingly but if it’s mandatory to have a toilet fitted and Plumbed my Van is to small and we don’t have the space.
I think the portable toilets are ok and I for one cannot afford to have a fitted toilet,.As I’m sure there are lots of other people who cannot afford them either, and most caravan parks I’ve managed or was a caretaker at, didn’t find TOO many people doing the wrong thing.
Of course any portable toilet should be considered as self contained. Travelling with friends recently, 2 had portable toots for night time and used public loos at daytime. Unlike the grubs who travelled all the way out to SW Qld to leave their toilet paper tickets fluttering amongst the desert and lakeside dunes in one of the NPs. And grey water was welcomed on the ground everywhere in central west nsw and sw Qld in every park we stayed in.
Don’t worry about NZ. After living there I found that the government will introduce anything thats slightly green! Thats maybe why they’re not in the best economic position!