Bill Gates and Samsung have completed a project to create a home-use waterless toilet prototype that burns solid waste to ashes. The toilet was inspired by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge,” which began in 2011 and solicited designs for toilets that securely and effectively manage human waste.
Microsoft’s founder developed the waterless toilet, which combines heat-treatment and bioprocessing technologies to eradicate viruses in human waste, in partnership with Samsung Electronics research and development team.
A biological purification technique is used for liquid waste, while solid waste is dehydrated, dried, and burnt to ashes. According to Samsung’s website, the method also allows for 100% recycling of the treated water.
“The initiative aims to generate innovative solutions that can protect individuals and communities from human waste-borne pathogens and enable governments to implement truly inclusive sanitation services that reach the poorest areas,” according to the Gates Foundation.
According to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the disposal of human waste, which has not changed much since it was first practised, is a significant source of various major health problems.
“The flush toilet hasn’t changed much since it was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harington,” stated the foundation.
According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, over 3.6 billion people are forced to use poor sanitation facilities, resulting in 500,000 children under five dying each year from diarrheal diseases caused by a lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation hygiene.