NPO takes innovative step in mission to eradicate pit toilets in SA

CAPE TOWN - Efforts to eradicate problematic and illegal pit toilets in South Africa have received a much-needed boost from a non-profit organisation (NPO).
 
The Save Our Schools NPO has built 12 flushing toilets, for both men and women, inside a shipping container.
 
With many rural and informal communities across the country relying on pit toilets, the organisation says it wants to create safe and hygienic sanitation facilities across the country.
 
The SOS NPO said the Wash Hub would also be able to turn human waste into fertiliser so communities can create their own food gardens.
 
Organisation CEO Shelley Humphreys said: "So with this ingenious idea, the liquid waste is separated instantly which goes into pipes underneath the container, and a few metres into the ground surrounding it that's where we want to do food gardens."
 
Humphreys also added that they also had other innovative plans.
 
"The solid waste goes down into a chamber underneath the container. That container is sealed, and we have aerial pipes at the back which push air into the container to dry the solids out. After two to three months those solids are completely dried and what we are doing now is looking at how we can turn that into biochar tablets."
 
The Wash Hub will be piloted at the Makausi informal settlement near Primrose in Germiston, Gauteng next week.