Gates on a quest to reinvent waterloss toilets

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has challenged scientists to develop waterless toilets for the 2.5 billion people around the world without access to modern sanitation

    These aren't your typical loos. One uses microwave energy to transform human waste into electricity. Another captures urine and uses it for flushing. And still another turns excrement into charcoal. They are part of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation competition to reinvent the toilet for the 2.5 billion people around the world who don't have access to sanitation. 
    Scientists from around the world have taken up the challenge, and the foundationannouncedsomeprojects that will be getting more money to take their ideas from the lab to cities. 
    "We couldn't be happier with the responsethatwe'vegotten,"BillGates said. To pass the foundation's threshold for the world's next toilet, it must operate without running water, electricityorasepticsystem,notdischarge pollutants, preferably capture energy and operate at a cost of 5 cents a day. 
    The UN estimates disease caused by unsafe sanitation results in about half the hospitalisations in the developing world. About 1.5 million children die each year from diarrheal disease. Scientists believe most of these could be prevented with proper sanitation, along with safe drinking water and improved hygiene. They expect to field test within three years. 
    Most of the prototypes on display this week in the open courtyard of the foundation's headquarters turn solid wasteintoenergy.Thisisbothapracticalandpragmaticsolutiontothesolidwaste puzzle, said Carl Hensman, program officer for the foundation's water, sanitation and hygiene team. 
    Many recycle waste into other usable substances such as animal feed, water for irrigation, or even just energyandwatertoruntheirownsystems. 
    Some, like the winning project from Caltech, use chemistry and engineering to completely transform the waste. Clement Cid, a Caltech student, said it has been intellectually rewarding to work with scientists from a variety of specialties. "You can come up with great ideas," he said, adding that the toilet fair offered more ideas. 
    Other projects on display were not so high-tech, including one from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that sends black soldier fly larvae inside latrines and even home toilets to process waste, resulting in high quality animal feed. 
    The fly larvae project is already being field tested in Cape Town, South Africa, and the inventors are working on a kit to sell to entrepreneurs. 
    "At the end of the day it will look very low-tech, but there's a lot of science behind it," said Walter Gibson, a medical biochemist who is part of the development team. 
    The Gates toilet focus started just about a year ago, and including grants announced, $370 million in foundation dollars have been committed to reinventing the toilet. Hensman said they decided to hold a toilet fair to show how far the scientists have gotten in that time, and to give them an opportunity to learn from each other. 
    Reinventing the toilet has the potential to improve lives as well as the environment. Flush toilets waste tons of potable drinking water each year, failtorecapturereusableresourceslike thepotentialenergyinsolidwasteand aresimplyimpracticalinmanyplaces. 
    Gates predicted the result of this project would reach beyond the developing world. "If we do it right, there's every possibility that some of these designs would also be solutions for rich and middle-income countries," Gates said. AP

Top: Bill Gates looks at a device that uses solar energy to treat human waste Bottom: The winning toilet from Caltech

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