Empowering Women Through Eco-Friendly Sanitation, Eradicating Open Defecation – India

This activity is providing a sustainable sanitation solution where it’s needed the most. Women-led Banka BioLoo has developed a bacterial digester system that aims to eradicate open defecation with a cheap and easy-to-operate alternative to standard toilets. This helps mitigate climate change, while making life cleaner, safer, and more convenient – particularly for women.

Fast facts:

120 bio-toilets installed in homes, institutions and communities;
450 bio-tanks fitted to Indian Railways train toilet system, servicing 30,000 passengers per day;
50 kilograms of human waste per person treated per year;
30,000 liters of water saved and recycled per day in schools, 500 liters by households.

The problem

A lack of toilet facilities in developing countries such as India means that many people have little choice but to defecate in the open. Aside from causing environmental damage such as groundwater pollution and excess methane emissions, this also comprises a health and safety hazard. Women in particular suffer in the absence of sanitation, as they are more vulnerable to certain diseases, and susceptible to becoming victims of molestation and rape while defecating in the open.

Conventional toilet systems require a sewer or septic infrastructure. However, sewer infrastructures use colossal amounts of energy to transport and treat water and wastewater. And septic ones contaminate the environment and groundwater, in addition to smelling foul.

The solution

Banke BioLoo provides basic, easy-to-install and hygienic human waste systems. This program designed a pre-fabricated bacterial bio-toilet super-structure, which is delivered to a site and installed within a few hours. This women-led business allows women to manage “pay-and-use” toilets. Larger bio-tanks generate methane that can be used for cooking and heating. The other byproduct created after bacterial digestion of human waste is clear, odorless, nutrient-rich water, which can be used for irrigation or gardening.

Helping the planet

Preventing the construction of sewage infrastructures saves resources and could preserve open spaces. The BioLoo saves energy, conserves water and prevents groundwater contamination. The effluent, if allowed to simply seep into the ground, helps recharge the water table. Preventing people from defecating in the open helps mitigate climate change, as excess emissions of methane are avoided.

Helping people

The bio-toilets prevent illness and deaths caused by water-borne diseases. People in communities with BioLoos are happier and healthier, with fewer visits to the doctor. Fecal litter is also reduced in these communities, particularly among poor families who live near train tracks. Many use the effluent water for gardening and vegetable growing, helping them become more self-sufficient. People who have installed the toilets as a business obtain a steady source of income. Women have access to a safer and more secure toilets, reducing rape and molestation. Human waste scavenging – a humiliating act undertaken mainly by marginal or under-privileged groups – is also stopped.

Scaling up

The sustainable BioLoos model is replicable virtually anywhere, for both densely and thinly populated areas. Banka BioLoo is especially interested in expanding in sub-Saharan Africa. The systems could be deployed en masse as pre-fabricated structures; yet are also customizable per users’ needs. The bio-toilet is an inexpensive, self-running system that doesn’t require a large infrastructure – as such, the program has already seen a steady growth in facilities and revenue. Initiatives to scale up are also easy to implement as all that is required is adequate capital investment and a sound workforce to implement the project.