Hitting The Sanitation Trifecta: Waterless, Accessible And Circular | Infrastructure news

An initiative funded by the Netherlands, Denmark and South Korea through their ministries of foreign affairs, P4G is hosted by the World Resource Institute, which works at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity and human well-being.

“The cruel irony of climate change is that the regions facing the largest increases in temperature variability also have the least economic potential to cope with the impacts,” says Robyn McGuckin, executive director, P4G.

This is where P4G comes into play, striving to empower and accelerate climate startups that develop innovative technologies to protect the world’s most vulnerable populations in the areas of food, water and energy.

Informal settlements

informal community sanitation

Residents living in South Africa’s informal settlements are a vulnerable group. They typically suffer from a lack of sanitation service delivery, with little space for toilets and waste management facilities. When provided, toilets are communal and often placed on the periphery of a settlement, causing residents to walk long distances. Users of these toilets can be exposed to danger and violent crimes on their way to or at the actual toilets themselves. Furthermore, these toilets are sometimes locked at night, or are unlit, causing people to use buckets to store their waste, which they then need to get rid of in the morning.

“Rapid urbanisation and the high cost of providing and maintaining these sanitation services adds further pressure on municipalities. Often toilets that, for example, should cater for 400 people, are used by 2000 people. As a result, they are usually broken and dirty with blockages where these toilets can overflow, causing illnesses.”

“Communities residing in informal settlements generally lack the ability to choose the sanitation services they receive. Given the constraints of space and infrastructure, their options are limited,” adds Eben Mbhele, director of business development, Loowatt.

The solution

Kaloola loowatt toilet

Designed for low income, urban settings where electricity and water are scarce, the Loowatt toilet (branded in South Africa as Kaloola) uses a waterless flush system to seal faeces, urine and toilet paper inside a polymer film. It prevents users from seeing or smelling the stored waste and is a good technical solution for informal settlements. After an initial feasibility study to test user acceptance of Kaloola, it was found that the technology compared favourably to flush toilets.

Kaloola toilets are rented out at R350/month and are serviced weekly as a pilot project at four informal settlements (that have government provided free municipal toilets) in Durban, KwaZulu Natal where there are currently over 125 paying households. Payment is made up front, on a monthly basis, and prepaid vouchers can be bought at the local spaza shops and other more established retailers like Pep and Shoprite.

The Kaloola toilet is also rented out in commercial locations such as construction sites and events as toilet trailers or single toilet cabins.

Work has been done to reduce the cost of the toilet and the outside structure, while still manufacturing a product that is durable, light and easy to transport.  For durability purposes, Kaloola has moved away from its original design with a wooden outside structure and now uses a composite of fibre glass and concrete that is surprisingly lightweight, durable, modular and easy to deploy on site.

Circular economy

Kaloola – BORDA partnership waterless toilet

“We cannot solve one problem (access to safe, dignified sanitation) but then create an environmental problem in terms of faecal sludge as a waste product. The effective management of faecal waste is critical for preventing environmental contamination and health risks. Furthermore, the disposal of this faecal sludge at wastewater treatment plants poses a significant cost.  Toilets are often located in geographically challenging areas, that are difficult to reach and usually far away from wastewater treatment plants, making the transport costs (without even considering the discharge rates) very expensive,” explains Mbhele.

He adds that fortunately, the Kaloola toilet opens up circular economy opportunities. “This is where our partnership with BORDA becomes extremely beneficial. BORDA is an international organisation specialising in integrated decentralised sanitation solutions in the fields of wastewater, sludge and solid waste management. They bring significant expertise in monitoring, learning and evaluation and will share best practices on the feasibility and treatment options for container-based sanitation. Due to BORDA’S experience, in a short time, we are now very close to finding a viable solution to the faecal waste. There is already a tangible benefit to municipalities by removing faecal sludge from their wastewater treatment plants. We are also investigating options of treating faecal sludge on site.”

Kaloola excited about the potential of turning the faecal sludge into a resource. Opportunities for the processed waste to be reused include biochar, biogas, bricks, fertiliser and the use of black soldier flies to digest the sludge.

“The profits from one of these alternatives can then be used to sustain the business and subsidise vulnerable people in need of a toilet, especially the elderly,” says Mbhele.

Waste characterisation

Borda research facility for sanitation

“One of the key activities of this partnership is to characterise the waste from the Kaloola toilets. This involves the description of sludge behaviour in treatment processes and disposal. Waste characterisation facilitates an understanding and prediction of sludge properties. It will help us ascertain the viability of certain treatment options and uses for the sludge. We have appointed the WASH R&D Centre UKZN – a leader in WASH research, development and innovation – to do the waste characterisation as well as an economic analysis on the financial feasibility of these treatment options and uses,” states Alvin Anderson, country director, BORDA South Africa.

Characterisation includes analyses of properties such as moisture, potential pathogens, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen and total phosphorus, fats oil and grease (FOG), sludge volume index (SVI), pH and alkalinity.

“These properties play a role in deciding upon the end use of the faecal sludge. For example, faecal sludge with a high moisture content cannot be used to create biochar because it would be costly to dry the material,” explains Samuel Getahun, a senior research scientist at WASH R&D Centre UKZN.

Faecal waste – Kaloola

The faecal waste in the Kaloola toilets is trash-free. This is because the patented flexible rubber roller in the bowl of the toilet regulates the size of the waste stored in the barrel, ensuring that only human waste is retained. Furthermore, the faecal waste has no chemicals or water.

Over 400 kg of faecal waste is collected per week.

“However, one of the concerns is the polymer liner. The liner is inserted into the toilet covering the bowl and captures any solid or liquid waste. When the flush button is pushed, the liner and waste are drawn into the barrel below. When the toilet is serviced, that barrel is removed containing the waste that is inside the polymer liner. Even though the polymer liner forms just under 1% of the total waste collected, we still need to look at a treatment option for the liner,” explains Anderson.

This is reiterated by Getahun, who explains that the liner is classified medical grade waste because it is contaminated by human waste and has to be managed by a specially accredited company. “The classification from a regulatory perspective is a problem as it increases the handling cost of the liner.”

The polymer film is separated from the organic waste. The separated polymer material can be used for recycling once there are sufficient quantities.

On a positive note, because the organics stream is not contaminated with chemicals, cover material or heavily diluted with water, it can be fed directly into wastewater treatment works or anaerobically digested for production of biogas and fertilizer.

WASH R&D Centre UKZN have appointed a master’s student to work on the project. “We have a dedicated faecal sludge laboratory, and everyone who works in the laboratory must complete a rigorous safety programme as well as a laboratory induction and training on sampling and analysis procedures. Monthly samples of faecal sludge have been collected from the Kaloola toilets,” adds Getahun.

Turning faecal sludge into a resource

faecal sludge into a resource with Kaloola

There is some resistance from the public over using faecal waste for fertilisers, especially for growing fruit and vegetables. “We are hoping that from our engagement with the Department of Water and Sanitation as well as the Crop Sciences Department from the WASH R&D Centre UKZN, treated faecal waste can be used in a safe way. It is all about capacitation and education. Continuous engagement with the public as well as showcasing the advantages of turning faecal sludge into a resource is really important,” states Anderson.

BORDA has been involved in faecal sludge treatment and re-use in other countries. “Zambia have Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants (FSTPs) where the end product is mostly used as fertilizer. The demand for this product is higher than the output that these plants can produce. In Mali, bricks have been created from the faecal waste. In Madagascar, faecal waste from the Loowatt toilets is converted into liquid fertiliser for farmers. But this has not yet been commercialised. There are so many opportunities,” he adds.

Another challenge is that the off-grid sanitation systems are often located in geographically challenging areas. This adds a transport cost should the faecal sludge be treated off site.  Another problem lies in the costly technologies required to actually turn faecal sludge into an economically valuable product. “It is expensive to do this on a small scale,” notes Getahun.

Despite this, Getahun adds that the WASH R&D Centre UKZN has done a lot of work on faecal sludge from various sanitation systems and is searching for a financially viable solution. “I am excited about this project as the research will provide valuable insights into faecal sludge resource recovery processes. These findings have the potential to assist municipalities and waste management companies in optimising faecal sludge management and resource recovery. This can then be expanded to other locations in Africa and around the world.”

Faecal sludge is not glamorous and can battle to attract funding, so the much-needed funding from P4G has accelerated the investment journey of the Kaloola – BORDA partnership. Typically, institutional investors and venture capitalists want to see scalability and clear business proofs before they invest businesses. McGuckin adds that P4G’s objective is to identify climate startups with growth and impact potential and support them with grants and technical assistance to become investment ready.

McGuckin believes that the startups of today will grow into titans of tomorrow and that this partnership is well on track towards creating a climate smart future.

“The project will hopefully expand the availability of low-cost technologies to treat faecal sludge. There is a huge customer base around the world that has a need for the services that are coming out of the Kaloola-BORDA partnership.”

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