Plastic pit latrine slabs coming to Tanzania to revolutionise sanitation

The Silafrica Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Mr Alpesh Patel displaying his wares

The prospects of meeting the MDG on sanitation could soon be in sight with the coming of a low cost technology plastic latrine slab that will in time replace the concrete one.

The Silafrica Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Mr Alpesh Patel said that the new technology dubbed 'AIM Toilet' is bound to make headlines on the continent because it is a 'do it yourself' product that doesn't require additional costs for masons.

"We are officially launching this new product in Kenya on April 1 this year then do the same in Tanzania. The machines and mouldings are already in place and so we are good to go," he said.

According to a 2010 brief policy document by Water Aid, data from UNICEF/WHO - Joint Monitoring Programme for water supply and sanitation shows that the coverage of improved latrine in Tanzania stands at just 24 per cent.

Sanitation particularly toilet construction, has been treated as a household issue and not a public good, although the public health benefits of universal coverage are considerable. Individual latrine construction or on-site sanitation has remained a solution for excreta disposal for more than 80 per cent of households. The costs of constructing and upgrading latrines are high, especially for the poorest Tanzanians.

Silafrica known in Tanzania as Simba Plastic Ltd is renowned in many parts of the country for being the first company to be involved in plastics and introduced SimTanks as well as the selling of Speedo and AIM pens.

Mr Patel said that unlike the conventional concrete that requires one to construct another after the pit latrine is filled needing one to move to another location, with the plastic slab, one just needs to pluck it off and can be reused continuously.

He said that the low cost technology has been designed in such a way that it needs minimal maintenance by cleaning it and is make of reenforced plastic that can withstand heavy weight and vandalism.

"There are other plastic slabs available but ours has the advantage of not having pins making everything detachable. The handle of the lip if lost can easily be replaced by any empty water bottle, " he explained.

The Silafrica Managing Director, Mr Akshay Shah (extreme right) explains how the plastic slabs work to visitors of the 2014 Reinvent the Toilet Fair

The product requires two slabs of wood underneath it for support, should be fitted on a 3 by 4 by 10 feet pit where the small slab will cost 15 US Dollars and the big one will at 25 US Dollars. In Tanzania, they will be sold alongside SimTanks due to the existing dealer infrastructure.

The Selling Sanitation officer, Mr Michael Momanyi told this paper that the new plastic slap products designs are based on in-depth consumer research and address the features that consumers want most - affordability, durability, cleanliness and ease of use.

Mr Momanyi said that once an unknown quantity, Kenya's nascent on site sanitation market is now seen as a major opportunity and that the market for latrine slabs alone is projected to achieve 19 million US Dollars (approximately 1.6 billion Kenya Shillings) in 2014.

"While improved sanitation coverage has experienced a modest 5 per cent gain in the last 20 years, current market trends suggest an uptick in coverage increase over the short term," he said.

According to the Kenya Onsite Sanitation Market Intelligence October 2013 report, the projected sales of latrine slabs in terms of households is 626,800 and projected plastic product revenue by 2017 is 8.2 million US Dollars (698 million Kenya Shillings).

The World Bank Group's Selling Sanitation initiative is supporting the private sector to understand the opportunity and identity viable market entry strategies.

Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation does what he has been doing and does best for the past 40 years, 'preaching the gospel of sanitation' at the Fair

The Sulabh International Social Service Organisation Founder, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak told this paper that after being in the sanitation field for almost four decades, his organisation had developed a model that can help meet the MDG on sanitation.

Dr Pathak said that using his twin pit latrine that doesn't require it to be connected to the sceptic tank and doesn't need frequent pumping of the waste, the questions of the day can be answered.

"In 1968, I was 'pregnant' with a child and I delivered it in 1970 and have been committed to it by mind, body and soul and that child in Sulabh. Like men deliver children, men deliver ideas. I have brought this child up, now it is the duty of the government to partner with NGOs that are committed to use and modify the model to their liking to other regions, Sulabh cannot be physically everywhere," he explained.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programme has organised a fair dubbed 'Reinvent the Toilet Fair 2014' that focuses on the development of tools and technologies that can lead to radical and sustainable improvements in sanitation in the developing world.

The need for better sanitation in the developing world is clear. Forty percent of the world’s population—2.5 billion people—practice open defecation or lack adequate sanitation facilities, and the consequences can be devastating for human health as well as the environment.

Even in urban areas, where household and communal toilets are more prevalent, 2.1 billion people use toilets connected to septic tanks that are not safely emptied or use other systems that discharge raw sewage into open drains or surface waters.

Poor sanitation contributes to 1.5 million child deaths from diarrhea each year. Chronic diarrhea can also hinder child development by impeding the absorption of essential nutrients that are critical to the development of the mind, body, and immune system. It can also impede the absorption of life-saving vaccines.

A shitty yet memorable day at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair 2014

Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation in a tete a tete with Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organisation at the Fair

When two of the world's renowned brains on sanitation are seen together like this, know something big is brewing

One of the 300 exhibitors of the fair take a souvenir photo with a toilet fanatic

Mr Fausto Marcigot (left) explains the ABCs of Sanergy - Fresh Life toilet model to one of the many visitors who thronged the pavillion

Another major attraction of the fair was the National University of Singapore which has developed a technology that process human 'shit', urine and waste water into reusable products through a combustion process...mindblowing

The Fair did not discriminate and attracted people from all walks of life, as long as you had a pass

Poo from 'Take Poo to the Loo' initiative took the time to visit the Sulabh stall

Memories all around

If you needed to see people thinking outside the box, the Reinvent the Toilet Fair 2014 was just the place

Need I say more?

American Standard Brands Vice President - Research, Development and Engineering, James McHale (left) explains a low cost technology to a visitor

The Sulabh stall was abuzz with visitors very eager to learn a thing or two

Dr Ioannis Ieropoulos of Bristol Robotics Laboratory in a project that generates electricity from urine and this power can be used to charge mobile phones and even laptops

One of the many gizmos at the fair

Toilets of all shapes and sizes were present

Another hi tech toilet in the making

Silafrica Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Mr Alpesh Patel displays plastic latrine slabs that will revolutionalise the sanitation sector in Africa. This technology is coming to Tanzania next month

New Sesame Street muppet comes to life in support of cleaner, healthier latrines

The need for better sanitation in the developing world is clear. Forty percent of the world’s population—2.5 billion people—practice open defecation or lack adequate sanitation facilities, and the consequences can be devastating for human health as well as the environment. Even in urban areas, where household and communal toilets are more prevalent, 2.1 billion people use toilets connected to septic tanks that are not safely emptied or use other systems that discharge raw sewage into open drains or surface waters.

Poor sanitation contributes to 1.5 million child deaths from diarrhea each year. Chronic diarrhea can also hinder child development by impeding the absorption of essential nutrients that are critical to the development of the mind, body, and immune system. It can also impede the absorption of life-saving vaccines. 

Creating sanitation infrastructure and public services that work for everyone, including poor people, and that keep waste out of the environment is a major challenge. The toilets, sewers, and wastewater treatment systems used in the developed world require vast amounts of land, energy, and water—and they are expensive to build and maintain. Existing alternatives that are less expensive are often unappealing because of impractical designs or because they retain odors and attract insects.

Any investment in better sanitation—including the construction of pit latrines—can help improve public health and quality of life. Better sanitation reduces child diarrhea and improves overall child health. For women and girls in particular, improved sanitation offers greater dignity, privacy, and personal safety.

But solving the sanitation challenge in the developing world will require radically new innovations that are deployable on a large scale. Innovation is especially needed in urban areas, where billions of people are only capturing and storing their waste, with no sustainable way to handle it once their on-site storage—such as a septic tank or latrine pit—fills up.

One promising approach is to seek solutions that have the appeal of the flush toilet connected to a sewer network, but don’t require that infrastructure so would therefore be more affordable, better for the environment, and less wasteful of resources.

Groundbreaking improvements in toilet design, pit emptying, and sludge treatment, as well as new ways to reuse waste, can help governments and their partners meet the enormous challenge of providing quality public sanitation services—particularly in densely populated urban neighborhoods.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through its  Water, Sanitation & Hygiene program has organised the Reinvent the Toilet Fair 2014 in New Delhi that focuses on the development of tools and technologies that can lead to radical and sustainable improvements in sanitation in the developing world. Although they support some clean water and hygiene projects, sanitation is their top priority because they have identified it as a neglected area in which they can spur significant change.

I am currently at the Fair and believe me, I have witnessed some of the most innovative technologies of this century. One that especially caught my eye is Raya who was unveiled at the event. Whether in America, Asia, Europe and even Africa, I doubt there many urban dwellers who have never heard of the muppets from Sesame Street, I wouldn't be surprised if people in the rural areas know them too.

Raya is a six year old aqua-green girl muppet, and she loves to learn and remembers every fact she reads or hears. Some of it is useful, some not so much. For example she knows that giraffes have seven bones on their necks.

"I make sure to wear my sandals everywhere - espcially to the latrine. Wearing my sandals helps protect me so I can stay clean and healthy," she says in an interview with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Director, Mr Brian Arbogast.

Having orginal co-productions in Banglsdesh, India and Nigeria, and an extensive history of addressing and meeting the needs of children locally, Sesame Street is primed to harness the appeal of the beloved Muppets to deliver this important conent in meaningful ways.