Partner: NURU International
2.6 billion people in the world lack access to improved sanitation. As a result, open defecation is widely practiced, contaminating water sources and spreading otherwise preventable water born diseases. In Kenya alone, more than half the rural population practices open defecation. Some use pit latrines, which can contaminate water sources, are dangerous to construct, and are prohibitively expensive. In villages in Kuria, Kenya pit latrines cost up to $850 to construct.
The Team
Anthony Luckett
Purin Phanichphant
Lisa Scheible
Kat Steele
Abby Sturges
The Insight
Rural, poor families in the developing world need an affordable, safe, and effective system to collect and reuse human waste. Examining the current landscape of sanitation solutions we discovered that open defecation is a rational choice for these families based upon their needs. To eliminate open defecation we need to create a product that meets the unique needs of these communities.
The Product
The Fertiloo is an affordable compost latrine that provides rural families with access to improved sanitation while offering a safe and easy way to contain their human waste and use it as fertilizer for crops. Designed to cost under $100, the Fertiloo is an out of the box solution that up to 10 people can use immediately upon purchase and fulfill their annual fertilizer needs after six months.
What’s Happening Now?
The Fertiloo team partnered with Kory Russell and Sebastien Tillman, PhD candidates in the Civil & Environmental Engineering department, to apply for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene Grand Challenge. The project, “Integrated Mobile Sanitation Solutions in Peri-urban Setting” was funded in Spring 2011 (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/watersanitationhygiene/Documents/wsh-gran…). Kory and Sebastien are now calling this project re.source and have partnered with SOIL in Haiti to design a consumer-driven line of latrines that double as containment and transport systems for fecal waste. Inspired by the Fertiloo, the latrines will be low cost, mass produced, and easy to ship, enabling sanitation services and collection businesses to develop in suburban and rural communities. Learn more about their work on their website: http://resourcesanitation.com/
We are open to partnering with other groups who would like to pursue development and testing of the Fertiloo in rural settings.