The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is likely to collaborate with an Indian company that can deliver toilets that will cost less than five penny, or Rs 3 for a user a day.

For a low-cost sanitation solution, the Foundation is currently engaged in discussions with Stone India, a G P Goenka-controlled Duncan Goenka Group outfit. Stone Biotech, a subsidiary of Stone India, manufactures toilets that biologically clean human waste and do not require a sewage connection.

Goenka told Business Line that the Foundation was likely to place a trial order for 1,000 such units in Bangladesh for immediate use. This real-setting test could be a precursor to possible usage of Stone India’s bio-toilets in Africa.

The Foundation is involved in projects that deal with solutions for water, sanitation, and waste management in sub-Saharan Africa, which requires millions of such cost effective units.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s programme also focuses on the development of tools and technologies that can lead to radical and sustainable improvements in sanitation in the developing world. Last year, its grants to three universities in the US, the UK and Canada produced three prototypes of toilets.

Stone Biotech developed a number of bio-toilet design systems on its own for passenger trains, buses, stationary use and self-sustenance. The prices of such units vary between Rs 13,000 and Rs 60,000.

The system works like this: a bacterial agent turns the waste into water, which is then disinfected. “This harmless and clean water can be recycled or discharged, depending on the specification,” Goenka said.

One of the models has an in-built solar power unit, and can pump up the cleaned water for reuse in the system itself. Goenka said that patent applications for all the models have been filed in the domestic and relevant overseas domains.

>jayanta.mallick@thehindu.co.in

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