Blue Diversion - in short
The Blue Diversion Toilet is an appealing, affordable and safe solution for washers as well as wipers. It is designed for industrialized manufacturing and a sustainable sanitation value chain with zero discharge, recovering all resources. The Blue Diversion Toilet is the centrepiece of a market-based approach to sanitation that will be attractive for profit-seeking entrepreneurs.
Animation giving the overview of the sanitation system
The Challenge
The story of the Blue Diversion Toilet began in 2011 when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiated and funded the competition "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" (RTTC). Our team from Eawag (the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) partnering with the Design firm EOOS was among the eight universities who received a grant in the fist round of the RTTC. The goal was - and still is - to bring sustainable and affordable sanitation services to urban slum neighbourhoods in low-income countries with a toilet that has to recover all resources, and operate grid-free (not be connected to an electricity grid, piped water, or sewer), with total costs not exceeding 5 US cents per person and day.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation infographic
about the need for a reinvented toilet |
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation short video
about the Blue Diversion Toilet, 2012 |
Blue Diversion - a total sanitation value chain solution
We developed a holistic sanitation "Blue Diversion" system that works across the entire sanitation value chain from capture, storage and transport to reuse of resources. The core of the system is the Blue Diversion Toilet, a new generation urine-diverting toilet. It separates undiluted urine, faeces, and used flush-and-wash water. Separating these streams at source enables efficient resource recovery. The used water is treated in a multi-barrier treatment system and reused on-site. The resources of the urine and faeces are recovered off-site at a community-scale Resource Recovery Plant (RRP) where fertilizers are produced. In order to ensure safe and reliable disposal of the urine and faeces at an affordable price, we developed a profitable franchising business model that will be interesting to entrepreneurs.
“Blue” highlights the availability of wash and flush water, which is an advantage when compared to conventional source-separating toilets. "Blue" is also inspired from "The Blue Economy" thinking.
“Blue” highlights the availability of wash and flush water, which is an advantage when compared to conventional source-separating toilets. "Blue" is also inspired from "The Blue Economy" thinking.
