Toilets challenge brainy scientists at Seattle Toilet Fair

By Bob Difley

A fair dedicated to hi tech toilets is not something the average RVer would mark on his calendar and plan to attend, but it was interesting enough for Bill and Melinda Gates to host the Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle, WA this week. The goal of the fair was “showcasing the designs and working prototypes of eight design finalists from around the world” who accepted the challenge to reinvent the toilet.

The Gates’ foundation offered the competition and prize money to stimulate scientists and entrepreneurs to tackle a household item that hasn’t changed much in 150 years, yet is still not accessible to an estimated 2.5 billion people around the world who lack modern sanitation.

“The qualifications for entering stipulated that the toilet must operate without running water, electricity, or a septic system, not discharge pollutants, preferable capture energy or other resources, and operate at a cost of 5 cents a day” writes Donna Gordon Blankinship in USA Today.

That’s a tall order, but the teams were up to the challenge, by turning solid waste into energy (in some cases to run the toilet system) or recycling waste into usable substances like animal feed. Prototypes will be tested over the next three years and successful trials will likely lead to marketable toilets.

But let’s take a step beyond the purpose of the challenge and figure that if the toilet is successful in developing countries by satisfying the required criteria, it wouldn’t be  long before some entrepreneur starts looking for other markets, the RV market for instance.

Think what one of these hi tech toilets would mean for your RVing lifestyle–especially for boondockers. First, it would require no water supply to use it, therefore substantially extending your boondocking days before the necessity of refilling your water tank and dumping your holding tank. It would also use no electricity, conserving more amps in the batteries to do other things, and would not discharge pollutants, so would practically eliminate the need for a black water waste tank.

Usually when you hear about new wonderful products coming your way your first reaction is that they will cost a fortune, but the concept being the toilet challenge was to be affordable in third world countries, so how expensive could they be when they hit the RV market? Or am I being naive?

But on the surface, and with the positive results of the challenge, I would guess that you haven’t seen the last of these hi tech toilets–an no more smelly dump stations or waste tanks. That I can get behind.

For RVing articles and tips take a look at my Healthy RV Lifestyle website, where you will also find my ebooks: BOONDOCKING: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands (PDF or Kindle), 111 Ways to Get the Biggest Bang for your RV Lifestyle Buck (PDF or Kindle), and Snowbird Guide to Boondocking in the Southwestern Deserts (PDF or Kindle), and my newest, The RV Lifestyle: Reflections of Life on the Road (PDF or Kindle reader version). NOTE: Use the Kindle version to read on iPad and iPhone or any device that has the free Kindle reader app.