NEW DELHI, March 23:
A toilet which goes beyond solving sanitation problems and can be used to generate cooking gas and electricity is surely a bonus.
One such cheap and economically friendly toilet by Indian organisation Sulabh not only provides clean and proper sanitation both in urban and rural India but also generate electricity for small villages and cooking gas for households from human excreta.
“This organisation has converted 1.3 million bucket toilets into flush toilets and lakhs of scavengers have been freed from manual cleaning of human feces and shackles of untouchability,” said Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, a non-profit voluntary social organisation founded in 1970.
Participating in a “Toilet fair” held here recently, Pathak demonstrated a low cost toilet model which cost less than Rs 2000 for rural areas using locally available materials.
The Sulabh flush compost toilet is eco-friendly, technically appropriate, socio-culturally acceptable and economically affordable. It consists of a pan with a steep slope especially designed trap which requires 1 to 1.5 litres of water for flushing.
There are two pits of varying size and capacity of each pit is designed for 3 years’ usage. In about two years, excreta in the pit get digested and are almost dry and pathogen free, thus safe for handling as manure.
“The Sulabh model has been adopted by a number of countries, including China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia for expansion and promotion of sanitation facilities,” Pathak told PTI.
The NGO has constructed more than 8,000 public toilets at important places all over the country which are being used by more than 15 million people every day. Sulabh has invented two technologies. One for individual houses and the other for public places like housing colonies, high-rise buildings, schools, colleges, hospitals and public toilets in areas where there is no proper sewerage system.
“Now we have come up with the idea to also start a sanitation revolution in this country. Whereas one revolution led by Mahatma Gandhi brought Independence, this revolution will bring freedom from dirt and filth,” Pathak said.
The NGO which runs public toilets in India has helped transform the lives of manual scavengers also through programmes that have taught hundreds of cleaners other livelihoods such as embroidery and making noodles and pickles.
“Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy to rescue untouchables and bring them in the mainstream of society at par with others became passion of my life in 1968. Since then I have been working to change the sanitation scenario in India, to help stop the practice of defecation in the open and to raise the status of untouchables,” Pathak told PTI.
Besides providing clean sanitation solutions Sulabh has invented an efficient design of biogas plant linked with public toilets. Under this system only human excreta with flush water is allowed to flow into biogas plant for anaerobic digestion
“Sulabh installed 200 biogas plants in the public toilets all over the country. Production of biogas from public toilets and recycling and reuse of effluent through simple and convenient method is the major breakthrough in the field of sanitation and community health,” Pathak said.
The biogas produced is used for cooking, lighting mantle lamps, and electricity generation. Cooking is the most convenient use of biogas. Recently Sulabh has modified the genset which now runs on 100 percent biogas. This has made electricity generation from biogas more sustainable.
“The first Sulabh public toilet linked biogas plant was set up at Adalatganj, Patna. It produced electricity from biogas which was supplied to the 3 kms long Bailey Road, Patna. Another such project is providing electricity at a small complex in Palam, New Delhi,” he said. Barring the success story of Sulabh, there were other organisations and NGOs who have developed technology which provides a way to generate income. ECOSAN UDDT (Urine Diversion Dehydration Toilet) is an integrated approach to close loop on sanitation, to save water, prevent pollution of water and return the nutrients in human excreta back to the soil.
“This Ecological Sanitation Toilet is built over the ground and nothing comes out of this toilet as a waste. Human waste becomes total compost which can be used for agriculture and urine is collected separately and it is also used for agriculture. According to research by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University at Coimbatore and the National Research Centre for Bannana 33 percent of fertilization cost can be reduced by using human urine and compost,” said V. Ganapathy, Public Relations officer for Scope which has developed ECOSAN UDDT.
The toilet is feasible both in dry and flood prone areas and is being implemented in a large scale in Tamil Nadu in Tiruchirapalli District. From toilets which generate income, electricity and cooking gas Beijing’s Sunnybreeze Technology Inc has come up with a toilet unit which does not use water and is solar powered.
“The water is substituted with balls that keep the bowl surface clean by carrying fecal matter out of the toilet and reduce odour. The pipes leading to the on-site waste processor are solar powered,” Jing Ning, CEO Beijing Sunnybreeze Technology Inc said. (PTI)
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