High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A pail closet (or pail privy) was a room used for the disposal of human excreta, under the pail system (or Rochdale system) of waste removal. The closet was a small outdoor privy which contained a seat, underneath which a portable receptacle was placed. This pail, into which the user would defecate, was removed and emptied by the local authority, on a regular basis. The contents would either be incinerated or composted into fertiliser.