Sanitation is a big deal. Millions of people get sick each year because they don't have access to clean water and/or appropriate sanitation facilities.Here's an op-ed from the LA Times arguing that we do something we don't often do: talk about poop and, more specifically, the urgent need to find ways to help solve sanitation problems by making toilets more accessible to more people in the developing world. From the op-ed: 40% of the people living today still use the outdoors for defecation. Just imagine, yikes. . .now, imagine how entrepreneurs - social and traditional - might help.
I've written earlier about EcoTact, a private sector project in Nairobi that is providing toilet, shower, and water facilities in the Kibera slums. Here's another post from Social Enterprise's website on this topic.
More recently, I learned about Vision Foundation's work supporting the use of EcoSan toilets.
Produced in South Africa, EcoSan toilets are dry/waterless, have no sewer connection, and use no chemicals. They aren't cheap but they do offer a sustainable alternative to the current convention. While it may not be glamorous work, I'd say that the entrepreneurs who find creative ways like these to tackle one of the world's most pressing public health issues are real heroes.
- Karol
(the photo of an EcoSan toilet is from the WesnetIndia.org website).
(the photo of an EcoSan toilet is from the WesnetIndia.org website).
2 comments:
While I applaud the thought behind this, wouldn't it be simpler and cheaper to teach them to use a shovel? Or maybe just some composting methods?
It seems like chemical toilets are just taking a component out of the circle of life that could be put to some good use.
For most of America's history, we just had a hole in the ground, and wiped with corn cobs. Fill up a hole, move the outhouse.
Why is something like this expensive chemical toilet even being considered?
EcoSan toilets aren't cheap, that's for sure. Consider though some of the costs associated with traditional sanitation methods: here's just one story that makes some of these costs clear: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89568.
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