Madagascar is the fourth-worst place to find a toilet, and diarrhoea-related diseases are rife. Could an odourless and waterless loo hold the solution?
American design student Virginia Gardiner did not expect to end up finding her muse in a toilet, or find power and profit out of poo.
She also did not expect to find herself and the waterless toilet she designed for wasteful westerners (originally it was embraced by posh festivalgoers), on the island of Madagascar, piloting a system that turns faecal waste into biogas.
Related: Can mapping faecal flows cut the crap in developing cities?
Customers are pleased that they can ‘make money off this shit’ by generating power for the community