Newsletter 97-Use of toilet as a source of income-12 November 2010
Currently 43% of the population lives on less than R13 a day. If the inception of dry sanitation and the use of urine and faeces as fertiliser were successful, households could earn R30 a week for the use of their toilet.
In 2002 more than a quarter of the four million residents in Durban had no sanitation. This resulted in a cholera outbreak. In response, the city built dry toilets and to date some 90 000 of these toilets have been built. These toilets do not use a single drop of water and are said to improve hygiene, save money and water.
Durban now wants to do a pilot project on 500 of the 90 000 toilets by installing 20 litre containers in order to capture urine rich in nitrates, phosphorus, and potassium; this can be turned into fertiliser.
It is planned that a municipal worker will collect the container once a week and in turn pay a household approximately R30 for their urine and faeces. This amount is expected to go as a high as R300 depending on how much demand there is for the fertiliser this generated.
Although there have been reports of residents refusing to use these dry toilets, the potential of turning them into revenue sources could get buy-in from residents.
This initiative is an example of a best practice not only for generating income but also for saving the environment. If successful, the project could be rolled out to the rest of the country which could see more people having access to sanitation, the saving of water, and potentially income generation.
-Nachi Majoe
by
nmajoe
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last modified
2010-11-17 10:17
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