Biochar Community Toilets
This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: Biochar Community Toilets.
Our company is a well established group of humanitarian engineers. We develop technology and provide training for regionally specific sustainable development.
Sobre ti
Sobre ti
Nombre
Nathaniel
Apellido
Mulcahy
Correo electrónico
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Sobre tu organización
Nombre de la organización
WorldStove
Sitio web de la organización
País de la organización
Países en donde este proyecto está creando impacto social
Tu organización es
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¿Cuánto tiempo ha estado operando la organización?
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Innovación
Selecciona la fase que describa mejor el momento en el que se encuentra tu emprendimiento
Crecimiento (tu iniciativa piloto ya se está aplicando y se empieza a expandir)
¿Cuánto tiempo se lleva poniendo en práctica tu iniciativa?
Operando más de 5 años
La necesidad: ¿Cuál es el problema que tratas de solucionar?
According to Dr. Paul Farmer, Haiti is currently facing the world’s largest cholera epidemic due to a profound lack of sanitation that can be directly linked to human waste and improper treatment or disposal of excrement. (Meeting Cholera’s challenge to Haiti and the world: A joint statement on cholera prevention and care (2011) PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 5 (5), art. No e1145)
Haiti also suffers from extensive deforestation, which has lead to a litany of environmental concerns. In the northern part of the country the loss of topsoil has been so extensive that the region has been certified as desertified. The new iteration of our biochar toilet reduces the time needed to eliminate waterborne illnesses from poor sanitation while the processed waste can aid in soil restoration.
La solución: ¿Cuál es tu solución? Sé específico.
By utilizing biochar toilets we can already compost fecal matter at twice the rate of tradition fecal decomposition processes. (Proceedings 2004, Organic Waste Treatments: Safety Implications. Vinneras, B., Comparison of Composing and Urea Treatment for Sanitising of Faecal Matter) In our laboratories we have developed, tested and verified new prototypes that employ a system for rapid processing. This new method can render fecal matter free of pathogens on a daily by-need basis through a practice that eliminates the need for any chemical treatments or additives. By doing this on a daily basis we are reducing the risk of waterborne illnesses from pathogenic microorganisms that arise from fecal matter. An added advantage of this process is the reduced volumes that need to be handled. By utilizing our new biochar toilets, we can reduce the number of waterborne illnesses that currently kill approximately 1.5 million children per year globally. (WHO.org Fact sheet N 330, August 2009).
El Modelo: Muéstranos a través de un ejemplo específico cómo tu solución hace una diferencia, incluye tus actividades primarias
Our specific objective in requesting this grant is to build, deliver and install one of our latest generation institutional scale biochar toilets at a partner health institution. Over the past decade our primary activities have focused on cleancook stoves. We have found in many cases that by reducing the cost of cooking many people have had more income available for the purchase of additional food. In addition to our stove programs, biochar produced by the stoves is being used to increase crop yields for subsistence farmers. This increase access to food has created a greater need for access to sustainable sanitation options.
In this specific example, by locating our next generation of biochar based toilets designed specifically for use in clinics or institutions, we provide sanitation to higher population densities found in institutional settings. We provide this in a way that is appropriate for both rural and urban settings and perhaps most importantly providing sanitation to patients who pose the greatest risk due to increased pathogen levels in their excrement.
The greatest advantage of this next generation institutional biochar toilet is the ease of operation and the fact that all surfaces can be sterilized on a daily basis. This increases the assurance that it will be appropriately operated. The fact that it can provide an odor free experience will hopefully increase the rate of acceptance and use. This unit will render safe-for-handling its contents on a daily basis eliminates the need for large and potentially hazardous storage chambers.
El mercado: ¿Quiénes son tus pares y competidores? Identifica a otros que también estén trabajando para dar respuesta a las necesidades que tú abordas y en qué te diferencias de ellos. ¿Cuáles son los desafíos que estos jugadores podrían representar para tu éxito o crecimiento?
Currently, there is a movement towards building and implementing composting toilets and pit latrines in the developing world. Though these methods provide an improvement upon existing sanitary conditions by reducing the number of people who defecate in the open air, they still possess the profound risk of contaminating local water supplies because of the length of time needed for human fecal matter to decompose to the point of being safe to handle. Pit latrines also possess a risk due to collapse during rainy seasons, with many pit latrines being rebuilt every one to two years. There is no easy way of disposing the fecal matter from these latrines once they fill up, as communities that use them often lack resources to adequately dispose of the fecal matter.
Esta presentación se trata de
Impacto social
Historia de la fundación: Queremos saber acerca del momento en el que hiciste "¡Ajá!". Comparte la historia de dónde y cuándo el/los fundador(es) vio (vieron) el potencial de esta solución para cambiar el mundo.
While on a humanitarian relief mission in Haiti in 2010, out of necessity and need WorldStove developed and introduced its first separating, odor free, low cost community toilets that are still being successfully used today. Because the waste can be processed in the same day that it is excreted, it can be rendered safe and free of many of the pathogens that plague developing countries’ water supplies.
We built the first three toilets because in the camps we were working in there were no sanitation options. To our surprise we found them being used far more often than other options in other camps. When we asked why, we were told that because of the specific design that incorporated the use of biochar there was no odor, making the latrine experience less offensive. Because of the lack of odor, it allowed for people to maintain their dignity in a crisis situation providing them privacy and sanitation.
Por favor, describe el objetivo de tu iniciativa: un resumen de lo que están tratando de lograr
Our initiative is to build and deploy a new prototype biochar toilet. The goal of this particular initiative is to provide a community health clinic with our next generation biochar toilet and to conduct further laboratory testing to re-verify that the human waste is safe for handling once it has been processed.
¿Cuál ha sido el impacto de la solución hasta la fecha?
Our first prototypes have been in the field for over two years. We have successfully implemented the biochar toilets in Haiti and Senegal and have had great success and feedback from the communities that have used them.
What we had originally designed to be a temporary stopgap application has proven to be a long-term sustainable solution. This has driven us to elaborate on our original designs to create evermore durable and permanent solutions. Lack of odor and ease of operation have clearly been the driving forces behind the acceptance of our early prototypes, and therefore are the driving design parameters of our next generation versions. Realizing the greatest need for sustainable sanitation, because of high population densities and high concentrations of infectious disease, we have focused our greatest efforts in developing sustainable sanitation options specifically for hospitals and relief clinics.
Cuál es tu impacto proyectado para los próximos 5 años?
Over the next five years, WorldStove plans on installing two to five of our biochar toilets in health clinics in up to ten of the countries where our programs are already established. Each toilet provides sanitation options to fifty to one hundred people a day, meaning that over the course of five years this component of our work will be bettering the lives of over 36,500 to 182,500 people. Measures of success that we are currently observing are neighboring communities that are inquiring about acquiring their own biochar community toilets. With this in mind, we have been working to develop strong partnerships with local health organizations so that we will not only be meeting the greatest needs but assuring permanent staffing necessary for long-term operation of the devices.
Las iniciativas ganadoras presentan un plan fuerte de cómo van a alcanzar y realizar un seguimiento del crecimiento. Identifica tus metas a seis meses para el crecimiento de tu impacto
Through a formal evaluation process we will monitor acceptance rates, daily use, structural integrity, and pathogen elimination.
Identifica tres grandes tareas que tendrás que completar para llegar a las metas de seis meses.
Tarea 1
Formal evaluation program
Tarea 2
Structural revision, and upgrade if necessary, of all critical components.
Tarea 3
Publish report on the both user feedback and laboratory analysis of processed waste.
¡Ahora piensa en grande! Identifica tu meta de impacto a 12 meses.
Refine evaluation process based on the previous six months and redesign if necessary the clinic sized toilet
Identifica tres grandes tareas que tendrás que completar para llegar a tu meta de impacto a 12 meses
Tarea 1
Formalized partnership with local subsistence farmers and reforestation programs and to continue the application of the sanitize
Tarea 2
Provide training programs for subsistence farmers for permaculture based intensive agriculture.
Tarea 3
Monitoring of samples being taken of surrounding water tables to verify a decrease in pathogen levels following the introduction
Sostenibilidad
Cuéntanos sobre tus alianzas.
We are partners with many different organizations, including but not limited to the Rwandan Red Cross, Gente Como Nosotros in Mexico, The Youth Recovery Initiative of Sierra Leone. Our partnerships were born primarily through our work with Clean Cookstoves, and reforestation/subsistence farming programs that were all born from the biochar produced with our clean cookstoves.
¿Actualmente te estás dirigiendo a otras poblaciones, lugares o los mercados para tu innovación? Si es así, ¿dónde y por qué?
There are currently 2.6 billion people worldwide who lack access to any kind of improved sanitation, and 2.2 million people dying a year as a result of poor sanitation and hygiene practices (http://www.susana.org/lang-en/sustainable-sanitation
). Our program seeks to address this critical shortcoming. Realizing the greatest concentration of hazardous pathogens will be hospital areas, we area specifically targeting hospitals and clinics as recipients of our latest generation of biochar toilets. The other reason that we target clinics is to be sure of having permanent staff.
¿Qué tipo de sistema operativo y factores internos de la organización hacen que tu innovación sea un éxito?
Our biochar toilet is overbuilt, which ensures ease of use and longevity. Because each of the locations we have been selecting are either affiliated with or in proximity to local health clinics we are assured of permanent local staff that we can train, creating work for them and assuring the long-term correct use of the toilets. Creating long-term sustainable solutions that can be maintained by the local communities in which our products are used, is an essential dimension to our work.
Por favor, pon en claro las necesidades u ofertas que hayas mencionado anteriormente y/o sugiere categorías de apoyo que no están especificadas en la lista
By being locally owned it empowers communities to be the directors of their own improvement. The knowledge and technology transfer allows for local communities to replicate the programs on their own with minimum to no additional guidance from the outside.
 | 62 weeks ago Matt Service said: How soon can the biochar and waste be used as fertilizer? How many pounds of char are required per pound of waste? about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 62 weeks ago Demian Dellinger said: We so take sanitation for granted and smart, deployable, and scalable solutions like this will save thousands of lives all over the ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 62 weeks ago Jessica Anders said: Agreed! In addition to that, the importance of sanitation and an odor free environment for doing something as simple as going to the ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 64 weeks ago Amy Loeffler said: When people speak of sustainability this part of the equation is often forgotten. Hacking the food system in both developing and ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 66 weeks ago Nathaniel Mulcahy updated this Competition Entry. |
| 66 weeks ago Nathaniel Mulcahy submitted this idea. |