Faced with the permanent crisis of drinking water service that exists in third world or African countries, Archie Read, a 21-year-old student who is in his third year of architecture at the University of Dundeein Scotland, it occurred to him to create Sandi, an ingenious toilet that works without water.
The young man spent two years doing his professional internship in a sanitation company on the African continent, getting to know countries like Kenya and Madagascar, the latter which motivated him to develop the toilet.
According to a report published on the website of The Spanishthe future architect realized that, for areas like the ones he met in Madagascar with potable water problems, it was necessary to provide waterless toilets.
The key was in the sand
Against his objective, Read had the sixth Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations Organization (UN), “Clean water and sanitation”, which requires certain requirements so that the required sanitary levels are met.
Taking into account the context in Africa, firstly, the toilet had to be cheap at the time of its manufacture. Secondly, had to guarantee having the ability to treat a household’s poop and urinefor example, made up of seven adults for two days or three kilos of solid waste and 30 liters of liquids.
After drawing the objective, the device arrived. How to replace the water? well with sand. The change of material also implied a change of system: Sandi It consists of a mechanical discharge system using a basic conveyor belt that transfers the waste from the toilet itself to the tank located under the body of the toilet..
This way, the user fills the body with sand and pushes it until the sand travels into the cup. Once it is full, you can do what you need. In addition, the architect plans to add a divider to separate feces from urine, which would allow each type of waste to be treated.
Archie Read explained that the Sandi could cost up to 72 dollars and hopes to partner with government organizations for the commercialization of this toilet that can help countries like Madagascar.
