GSAP Microflush Biofil Toilet

CATEGORY: Health

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We've invented a miracle toilet. It is affordable for the developing world, environmentally conscious, and includes a loan fund and an ownership model that are necessary for making this a long-lasting project.

Standings & Awards

591 out of 591 in Africa
284 out of 284 in Health
574 out of 574 in Pilot
992 out of 992 in Charitable
4003 out of 4003 Overall

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Ghana Sustainable Aid Project Toilet Group

We are improving health, creating jobs, and giving people a basic necessity in a structurally sustainable way.

We are the Ghana Sustainable Aid Project, and we’ve worked with Ghanaian and US engineers to create a toilet model that will change sanitation in developing countries forever. Right now, the poorly named VIP (Ventilated Improved Pit) Latrine is the primary toilet in Ghana and other African countries. The toilet is known for its bad odor, and ceases its decomposing functionality if water ever enters the toilets and tanks - which, of course, it does. The VIP toilets have even been known to collect methane and explode! The designer of the VIP toilet has admitted that the design does not work, and we've created a toilet that'll take its place.

Our Microflush-Biofil toilet is named for the dual technologies that make it innovative. The microflush valve allows the toilet to be flushed on less than two-thirds a cup of water - and it uses the handwashing greywater of the previous user, so no water is wasted. The biofil digester uses aerobic digestion with a tiger earthworm as the primary macro-organism and fly larvae, dung beetles and sometimes cockroaches as secondary players. Unlike the VIP unit, which has to be de-sludged every few weeks, the Microflush-Biofil toilet only has to be de-sludged every two years — and when the composted waste is removed, it can be used for agricultural purposes.

We've recognized the pitfall of not including financial and social infrastructure while constructing projects, and so the Microflush-Biofil toilet model includes both. We're creating a revolving loan fund that loans money to build a toilet to groups of four to six families, which can be paid back over the course of three years. This also avoids the issue of becoming dependent on donations - we believe that in order for a project to be sustainable, we should not give away toilets for free. The co-op model ensures that families will value the fact that they own their toilet, and will take care to keep it clean, unlike the public toilets which belong to nobody.

Lastly, our toilet is affordable. In Ghana, it costs about fifteen cents a day to use a public toilet, but the Microflush-Biofil daily cost is only five to seven cents a day for the first three years (as the loan is being paid off), and less than three cents a day after that. Of this cost, half are supplies like soap and toilet paper - they aren’t even related to direct maintenance costs.

Roadmap to Success Optional (1 - 3 minutes to upload)

Roadmap to Success:

roadmap_to_success.pdf

FIVE PROJECT QUESTIONS Required (60 - 90 minutes)

1. What is your innovation?

In short, our toilet IS ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS (uses less than two-thirds a cup of water to flush, uses the previous guest's handwashing water to flush, composts waste, creates agricultural fertilizer, and uses solar panels to create energy), IS CHEAP (compared to the ~15 cents/day to visit a public toilet, ours only costs 5.4-6.9 cents/day for the first three years, then only 2.5-2.8 cents/day after that), and INCLUDES FINANCIAL/SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE (includes a loan fund and a co-op model).

2. Who gains the most?

The local community gains the most, as these toilets will help prevent the 12% of deaths in Ghana that are water/sanitation/hygiene related, the annual 22,900 deaths due to diarrheal based diseases, and the 455,000 Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost in Ghana alone. On top of that, these toilets will improve the lives of those who have had to defecate in fields or use public toilets, and will create jobs around building the parts for the toilets and selling the toilets themselves.

3. Who pays?

We're initially looking for grants from organizations to get us off the ground and create the revolving loan fund. We believe that giving things for free is harmful to a country's long-term growth and independence, so we've created a system where we can loan the needed money to a group of 4-6 families (a toilet handles 30 uses/day), and they will pay it back over the course of three years at a rate of 5-6 cents/day. That money will then be given as a loan to another group of families, and so on.

4. What is your success?

We've successfully demonstrated the technology with the prototypes that have been installed so far, which (including the ones tested in labs) number over 100. 16 stalls are currently being closely monitored in Ghana. 12 months from now, pending start-up funding, we expect to be selling at the rate of 100 per month, 2 years from now at the rate of 300+ per month and within 5 years we should have coverage throughout the 170+ regions of Ghana with distribution to West Africa and beyond.