Gates Foundation - Reinvent the Toilet Fair - Andrew Larsen, Andrea Koestler, Fontes Foundation - Attractive and Very Low Cost Emergency Sanitation Structure

Andrew Larsen and Andrea Koestler of the Fontes Foundation have developed an attractive and very low cost emergency sanitation structure. Five toilet units are grouped on a vented pentagonal structure which allows pee and poop to fall directly into a box containing the composting pile. When it’s filled up, the toilet structure and steps are unbolted and moved to a new pentagonal composting box at a different location. Learner says that people really don’t like emptying toilets. Used plastic billboard ads are used for the walls and roof and to cover the wooden box commodes and floors of each stall, making them easy to clean. The attractive structures are being used in Haiti, but would be suitable for outdoor festivals and events anywhere in the world.

phlush.org - August 17, 2012

This week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Fair brought together innovators seeking to define the next generation of toilet technologies. After receiving grants over a year ago, university teams, small firms, and non-profit groups set to work, meeting a short deadline and compelling criteria: toilets must remove pathogens, recover energy and nutrients, operate off-grid, cost less than 5 cents per user per day, and appeal to people in both high-income and low-income nations. On Monday, teams from all over the world set up and fake poop was distributed. On Tuesday, Bill Gates awarded prizes to teams from Cal Tech, Longborough University and the University of Toronto and announced new grants.

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Fontes Foundation - http://fontes.no/org/

CLICK HERE - Video Presentation - Andrew Larsen - "Five-toilet composting system array in peri-urban slums in Haiti - a report on progress"