At the Reinvented Toilet Expo (yes, this is a real event) Microsoft president and philanthropist Bill Gates spoke on behalf of his nonprofit, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and their research into modern sanitation facilities. According to the World Health Organization, at least 2 billion people in the world don’t have access to sanitary toilets, and the hygienic implications are unpleasant in more ways than one. To illustrate this point, Gates brought a jar full of actual human fecal matter onto the podium with him.
The Gates Foundation has been researching a new type of off-grid toilet that can separate liquid and solid waste from water without the need of a connected sewer system. This would be beneficial for many small and new societies that do not currently have a constructed sewer infrastructure. Using his poop jar as an example, Gates explained the myriad of possible illnesses that could arrive from water contaminated by human waste. The aforementioned small communities are constantly vulnerable to diseases like cholera and dysentary because they have to expose themselves to untreated toilet water.
The Gates Foundation has a nearly-complete prototype of an off-grid toilet almost ready to roll out to these communities around the world. First priority will be given to public spaces like schools and apartment buildings. Ideally, once this tech takes off, the creation process will become cheaper and people can get them in private homes for only a few hundred dollars.
