A water-free mobile toilet, which was presented this week in Wageningen during a sanitation conference, can be a solution for slums and refugee camps. But in the industrialised countries as well, the flush toilet can be replaced by the water-free version.
Stench and diseases are part of the image of slums, where people use gutters instead of toilets. In cooperation with researchers from the Lettinga Associates Foundation (LeAF), the Landustrie company from Sneek has developed an alternative: the Mobisan. This toilet does not require water or sewer. It will be tested this autumn for the first time in a slum near Kaapstad.
In the new toilet, faeces and urine are separated. The urine is removed, and the faeces fall into a container that is ventilated. On the outside of the cabin, there is a handle which is used to periodically stir the mass of faeces with a rotation mechanism. In this way, the faeces become dehydrated, after which they undergo the same treatment in a second compartment. The final result is pathogen-free dehydrated human faeces, claims Brendo Meulman of Landustrie Sneek. This material can be safely used as fertiliser for vegetable gardens in the slums or elsewhere in agriculture.
The mobile unit is an example of a new trend in developing countries, says Wageningen environmental sociologist Dr. Bas van Vliet, who organised the Sanitation Challenge Conference in cooperation with Wageningen University. Van Vliet: ‘In many countries, the large-scale attempts to build sewers are part of their colonial heritage. Only a very small percentage of the sewers have become operational. On the other hand, there are the small-scale individual ecotoilets of the development organisations, which cannot help everyone. The Mobisan toilet is an interim form for a neighbourhood. A whole series of these toilets will be installed in Kaapstad, and a community of 500 people will be responsible for their management.’
In developed countries as well, low-water toilets will become more popular, predicts Van Vliet. ‘Many environmental technologists at the conference are working on vacuum toilet systems which transport human waste to a fermentation tank in the neighbourhood without wasting water.’ The sewer in which water is mixed with waste has long been the standard, but according to Van Vliet it is an inefficient system. ‘Unfortunately, in South Africa as well, the water flush toilet is the Mercedes among the toilets. We must change this ideal.’ / Joris Tielens
This article has been produced by the editors of Resource, the weekly news magazine of Wageningen University and Research Centre. More information can be obtained by the press department of Wageningen UR, e-mail: pers.communicatie@wur.nl or the editorial board of Resource, e-mail: resource@wur.nl. See also the archive on http://www.resource-online.nl