Toilet+ : A Sustainable Sanitation Model for Developing and Frontier Economies Sadruddin Salman Master of Arts in Law & Diplomacy, 2012 Cindy Sobieski Master of Arts in Law & Diplomacy, 2012 Anjali Sarker University of Dhaka Mahbubur Rahman Turza University of Dhaka

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Background

Toilet+ 2 is a social business innovation, targeted for Rural Bangladesh—replicable to

anywhere in the world. The team members represent the University of Dhaka, The

Fletcher School at Tufts University, Harvard University, George Washington University,

and several professionals as advisers. In December 2011, Fletcher students, after

receiving a Student Research Fund award from the Institute for Business in the Global

Context of The Fletcher School, visited Bangladesh and joined the Bangladesh team to

conduct initial market research in Dhaka and Gazipur. Toilet+ idea has received

numerous awards and recognition, 3 including winning the first prize at the Queen’s

Entrepreneurs’ Competition 2012 held in Canada.

Issues to address According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and

Sanitation (JMP), 37 percent of the developing world’s population – 2.5 billion people –

lack improved sanitation facilities. Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation

services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children

every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands

more. Diarrhea, which is the number two killer of children under age 5 worldwide after

pneumonia, claims 1.4 million kids annually — more than AIDS, malaria and measles

combined. The United Nations has projected the number of deaths will rise by 10 percent

each year over the next decade.

In Bangladesh, a country of over 150 million people, 44 percent of the overall population

and 45 percent of the rural population4 lack access to improved sanitary facilities. Every

year over 70,000 children die from diarrheal diseases, primarily caused by unhygienic

sanitation. A huge number of people use unhygienic pit latrines or hanging latrines and

the rest defecate openly (Annex A), increasing the incidence of diarrheal disease and

cholera outbreaks in the community through feco-oral transmission of the diseases and

water source contamination during monsoon seasons; these outbreaks lead to increased

number of diarrheal death in children, creating a tremendous, yet preventable, health

and environmental hazard for the whole community.

2 Website: http://toiletplus.info 3 Web link: http://toiletplus.info/recognitions/ 4 Source: World Development Indicators (WDI) & Global Development Finance (GDF), 2010

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While there have been successes achieved through multiple interventions by the

Government of Bangladesh and NGOs, a permanent change could not be ensured due

to the following reasons:

Villagers simply lack motivation to change their sanitation behavior. Even when

they do shift to hygienic sanitation, they do not continue for long. Soon they shift

back to their previous unhygienic sanitation practice. This behavioral factor is

rarely taken into consideration, therefore preventing a permanent change in rural

sanitation.

Most villagers cannot afford safe sanitation. Flush toilets, priced at $330, are the

only potential alternative of pit latrines and open defecation yet are not

affordable for a major portion of the villagers, who earn an average of $75 each

month.

To fill this gap, Toilet + aims to provide poor villagers with affordable and hygienic

toilets, and bring households under a waste management system. To close the sanitation

loop, it will collect human waste and bio waste produced in the villages, will convert

this waste into organic fertilizer, and will sell the product to export-oriented agro firms.

Implications for other developing and frontier economies

Given the similar nature of problems, not only can the Toilet+ model be replicated in

urban Bangladesh, but it can also be adopted in any other developing and frontier

economies. A recent WaterAid report5 indicates that 57 countries, including

Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda, are currently the most off-track to meet their

MDG sanitation targets. The report also forecasts that if all 57 of the most off-track

countries got back on track to meet their MDG targets for sanitation by 2015, at least

400,000 additional children’s lives would be saved. Based on current trends, Sub-

Saharan Africa is not likely to have universal access to sanitation for another 350 years

(2360). This slow rate of projected progress calls for innovative solutions like Toilet+.

Business Model6

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The vision of Toilet+ is to bring the rural poor of Bangladesh under safe sanitation

coverage, thus saving millions of children from fatal diseases, improving the living

standard of poor villagers and ensuring a pollution free environment. The whole process

involves the active participation of the community so that the villagers encourage their

peers to use toilets.

Toilet+ offers a hygienic and affordable sanitation solution. It is a urine diverting dry toilet,

designed using Ecosan7 principles. The toilet can recycle 100% of the waste to

produce organic fertilizer and is flood resistant. Toilet+ is priced at $150 and will be

made affordable to the villagers through microcredit from a microfinance institution

(MFI), a strategic partner of Toilet+. The users will be able to pay significant portion of

their microfinance installments by selling human waste to Toilet+.

Figure: Toilet+ Business Model – Sanitation Chain

5 Water Aid, "Saving lives: sanitation and water for all would save 2.5 million lives", Discussion paper, April 2012 6 YouTube video clip explaining the model: http://youtu.be/YPNeaOOBp6c

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Toilet+ will buy waste from the household users and convert into organic fertilizer.

To get better quality fertilizer, Toilet+ will mix the human waste

with other bio-wastes. Toilet+ employees will purchase

kitchen waste, poultry waste, cow dung, hay, rice husk,

etc. besides purchasing human waste. The bio wastes are

currently discarded or underutilized in the villages. All

waste will be transported to the processing plant of Toilet+

and will be converted into organic fertilizer.

Finally, Toilet+ will sell the organic fertilizer to export- oriented

agro processors who have high demand forproducts with

organic features (i.e., Agro processing firms mainly export

vegetables and fruits produced by organic fertilizers to countries

like the United States, where organic is a core product value).

Hence, these firms are likely to pay higher prices for organic

fertilizer.

Toilet+ offers collective profit & responsibility. Under the Toilet+ model, households will

have to form cooperatives to get microcredit from the partner MFI. On the approval of

the MFI, Toilet+ will construct a toilet for the households in exchange for payment made

by the MFI. Now the cooperatives will become

collectively responsible to repay the

monthly installments to the MFI.

Cooperative members will sell waste

(human and other bio-wastes) to us. As

an example, an 18 member cooperative

will get $70 a month to repay 75

percent of the collective installments.

Each household will have to bear 25

percent of

the monthly installments, which is around $1.30. Therefore, members will create strong

peer pressure on one another to use Toilet+ to repay collective installments in time.

7 Ecological sanitation, also known as Ecosan, is a form of sanitation that involves urine diversion and the recycling of water and nutrients contained within human wastes back into the local environment.

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Each cooperative member has incentives to motivate others to use Toilet+ regularly.

Such strong peer pressure will bring a permanent change in the sanitation behavior of

the villagers.

Opportunity for Impact: A Sustainable Solution to Sanitation Problem

Saving Children from Diarrhea and Death

Each year thousands of children will be saved from death caused by diarrheal diseases. Toilet+ aims at ensuring a ‘cleaner environment’ rather than providing only sanitation. When all the households, because of monetary incentive and strong peer pressure, will use Toilet+ toilets, a healthier environment will be ensured in the villages, making it less likely for the children to die from diarrheal diseases.

Accessible toilets at a secure distance

While pit latrines stand far away from households, a Toilet+ toilet is an odourless, permanent structure constructed just beside the house. As a five minute walk can be dangerous for a woman at night, such a toilet will ensure great safety for young girls, pregnant women, and old people.

Permanent change in sanitation behavior

Toilet+ would be the first business entity in Bangladesh to offer a financial incentive to use hygienic toilets. Poor villagers, who do not realize the long term benefit of safe sanitation practice, are more likely to use Toilet+ toilets because they can earn money by selling waste from their own toilets.

Constant peer pressure to use safe toilet

Cooperative members will act as change agents to motivate each other to stop open defecation, join the cooperative, and purchase Toilet+ toilets. The whole cooperative will suffer and will not earn required revenue if one cooperative member fails to produce the expected amount of waste. As a result, the possibility of default in paying the microcredit installments will arise. Thus, the members will be under constant peer pressure to use Toilet+ regularly.

Completely waste free villages

Toilet+ will introduce a way to recycle the huge amount of waste produced in the rural areas. From each toilet, 100% human waste will be collected to make organic fertilizer in combination with other types of bio waste. Such opportunity will prevent villagers from defecating openly and dumping other bio-wastes in the environment. This will result in a cleaner environment, free from soil and water pollution.

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Redefining the concept of Sanitation in Bangladesh

Factors Current Scenario Future Scenario

Sanitation Only two options are available to the Toilet+ toilets are hygienic, less Solution villagers: expensive flush toilets expensive than flush toilets, and

(affordable to only a few) and cheap, economically profitable for a long time. unhygienic pit latrines.

Affordability Every household has to pay for its own toilet; the expense seems to give no immediate benefit

The villagers will get microcredit assistance to purchase Toilet+ toilets and pay the monthly installments along with the other cooperative members through sale of waste.

Sustainability Both donor agency’s donation-based model and current latrine business model are not sustainable since people are more likely to shift back to open defecation or unhygienic practice in the long run. Besides, the current sanitation businesses are very small scale, local efforts.

The Cooperative will continuously generate revenue by selling both human waste and bio-waste. 75 percent of the monthly installments will be paid by this revenue. After making the full repayment of the microcredit, villagers will continue to use Toilet+ toilets to generate further revenue.

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Why proposed solution should work

Given the needs for safe sanitation, the proposed solution has high possibility of success

for the following reasons:

1. Villagers get long term financial incentives. Because of this long term incentive,

people will continue to use T+ toilets and therefore, there will be a permanent

change in their sanitation behavior.

2. Toilet+ makes the toilets affordable even for the poorest. It enables the villagers to

avail microcredit from the partner MFI. So, even the poorest can purchase toilets

and repay installments collectively by selling waste to Toilet+.

3. Toilet+ offers collective profit. The more members use toilet, the more a

cooperative earns. So members of a cooperative will motivate each other to use T+

toilets even more so that they can gain more revenue and pay collective monthly

installments easily. Peer pressure will work as a strong compelling factor to

change the sanitation behavior of the community.

4. Toilet+ makes the villagers responsible. A problem can be best solved by the

people affected by it. So Toilet+ will make each individual responsible to change

the sanitation behavior of his fellow members permanently.

5. Toilet+ employs local people. Local people will have better understanding of the

population in each locality and will be able to communicate easily with the

villagers. Since these employees have faced similar sanitation challenges

themselves, they should better understand the severity and necessity of solving this

problem.

6. Toilet+ stays afoot in local community. Unlike many organizations who just donate

toilets and leave the locality after some days, Toilet+ will work hand-in-hand

with the local people throughout the lifespan of the organization, buying the

human and bio waste from the households involved, thus helping them with

lifespan maintenance of the T+ toilets. Toilet+ will keep the community clean

and hygienic, decrease incidence of feco-oral diseases transmission causing

diarrhea deaths, decrease contamination of water, and keep the local community

clean and green, healthy and pollution free.

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Product Description

Toilet+ toilet is a Urine Diverting Dry Toilet (UDDT) designed to suit in the rural

environment of a disaster-prone country like Bangladesh. In Toilet+ toilets:

• Solid waste is stored in a tank beneath the toilet seat. After every use, feces are

covered by pouring ash. So no water is required for flushing. Liquid waste is

diverted away through a pipe and collected in a jar.

• Mixture of dry feces and ash is stored in the tank. There is a heat panel behind

the toilet covering the storage tank. By concentrating sunlight, it raises the

temperature inside the storage. After every six month, dried, decomposed, odorless

feces are taken out.

• As the tank is constructed above the ground, the whole structure stands 2-3 feet

high from ground level with stairs. So during floods it does not overflow. Even if

the water level rises very high, the pans can be sealed with water-tight lids to

prevent epidemics.

Proved Technology: EcoSan

Toilet+ follows the EcoSan model, which involves urine diversion and recycling of

nutrients contained within human wastes. This toilet diverts urine right at the

defecation point, thus separates feces and urine before storage, which makes it easy

to sanitize and use the decomposed waste afterwards with optimal treatment. The

whole structure is made from locally available materials (i.e., bamboo, brick,

cement, tin), thus it becomes very cost- effective compared to the benefits it

provides.

Similar types of toilets are being used in many countries in the world, especially

in the developing ones. (Appendix B)

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Competitive Advantages

In comparison with the pit latrine, Toilet+ toilets have many benefits which are listed below.

Features Traditional Pit Latrines Toilet+ Toilets

Waste management

Pit cannot be emptied, waste often leaks out and pollutes water

Waste is stored in a solid tank and is collected at regular interval

Water Consumption

After every use, 7-10 L water is needed for flushing

Ash is poured to cover the waste, no water is required

Life Span 3 years 15 years Cost Price: $40/unit Price: $150/unit

Maintenance: $5/year Maintenance: $10/year Convenience Far away from house; unsafe for

women and hard to reach for the old and disabled

Adjacent to the house, often attached; so safe and easy to use for all

Smell Unpleasant smell attracts flies Dry ash and cover prevent odor

Disaster Resistant

Become over flowed during floods and causes epidemic

Can be sealed temporarily with water tight lids so that no disease can

Conclusion

The key to Toilet+ is to create pro-poor sanitation innovations by changing the

incentive structure and bringing the private sector into sanitation in new ways. This

groundbreaking Toilet+ model seeks to revolutionize the sanitary sector in various

locations around the world.

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APPENDICES Appendix A: Sanitation Situation in Rural Bangladesh

47% use pit latrines Cheap, but unsafe & unhygienic

20% use flush toilets Costs $350- $700

21% defecate openly which is the worst situation

12% use various other types of toilets set by donor agencies, NGOs and government

Appendix B: Successful EcoSan Projects in Other Parts of the World

Toilet Model/Sanitation System Country Urine diverting dry toilets project Kunming, China ACTS Eco-friendly Public Toilet Centre Bangalore, India Private urine diversion dehydration toilets in peri-

Kathmandu valley,

Automated composting toilet system at Asahiyama Asahikawa City, Japan TepozEco urban ecosan pilot program Tepoztlán, Mexico Ecological sanitation pilot project in Chordeleg Azuay province,

Dry urine diverting school toilets Gozhuli, Ukraine Sanergy Nairobi, Kenya

Appendix C: Operations Flow Chart