Location: Nairobi, Kenya.
Timeframe: 2010 – 2021
Project Status: completed
Problem/Gap being Addressed
Over 2 miilion people live in informal, low income, settlements in Nairobi and the majority lack access to a safe sanitation facility. Existing approaches to address the sanitation crisis have focused on improving coverage through construction of latrines at plot (several households sharing) or community level (public toilets). These conventional approaches are constrained due to high population densities, insufficient land, short life span of latrines, cost and safety issues. Latrines are generally not open at night and require frequent manual desludging which commonly ends up in rivers and open drains, further exposing residents to public health risks. As a consequence residents are often forced to resort to open defecation or use of potties, make shift containers and plastic bags in their home (particularly at night), which are subsequently emptied into open drains, rivers or tossed away (“flying toilets”). Women and children tend to spend a greater proportion of their time within settlements and consequently are disproportionately affected by this problem.
- Solution:
This project set out to confirm whether a household container based toilet (CBT) could provide an effective, 24-7,
sanitation solution which addresses issues of convenience, safety, hygiene, privacy and dignity. . Container
based sanitation (CBS) differs to improvised containment of urine and faeces widely practiced in camps and urban
slums by offering a dignified and hygienic, “closed loop” solution, as faeces and urine is safely contained prior to
disposal at an agreed site ensuring public health risks are safely managed. The absence of suitable1 toilet
products for the bottom of the pyramid market, meant that designing and production of a toilet was a key element
of the project. - Results:
The toilet underwent several iterations based on feedback from users and operators servicing the toilets.
Prototype 1, the “jitegemee” toilet produced in India was field trialled in 2011 across 100+ HHs in 2 settlements of
Nairobi. Feedback was positive confirming an interest in the concept of CBTs but the low cost design was
considered crude and odour was a significant barrier and deterrent to siting a toilet inside dwellings.
Consequently version 2 was a urine diversion toilet which utilised readily available recycled vessels for waste
collection. In 2013 Oxfam took the idea to a Nairobi based start-up – Sanergy – a social enterprise focusing on
developing a sanitation franchise which explored waste to value by products. Sanergy had independently
developed its own communal level CBT and they had business, sales & marketing and product design skills that
Oxfam lacked. Increasingly as the project developed from 2014 onwards, Sanergy have led the process which has
included several prototypes using fibreglass and 3-D printing under the development name ihud (in home urine
diversion). User centre design principles have been followed with regular consultation with users/customers and
service operators being instrumental in refining the design. The final product now being produced by a commercial
manufacturer in Nairobi is version 5. The toilet is a high quality product which should last several years. It consists
of 5 components – the base (which is also the urine tank) and body are rota moulded, an injection moulded lid, a
faeces container is produced from recycled metal and faeces bags (reusable or biodegradable.
Uptake remains slow, at the start of 2021 Sanergy had ordered 3,000 toilets but only 100+ HH toilets were in
operation under its “freshfit” brand name. This complements the larger communal “Freshlife” toilets where there
are several thousand operation units in Nairobi.
This project initiated and hosted a Toilet Summit in 2016 in UK for leading global specialists of container based
sanitation, which led to the formation of the Container Based Sanitation Alliance, which has been instrumental in
convincing WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme to recognise CBS as improved sanitation.
1 The commercial market for container or cartridge toilets is driven by demand from camping, caravans and boats and
products tend to be chemical based so are not suitable to a humanitarian context.
The cost of the toilet at £65 is above the initial target price of $50 that the project was aiming for. It is available
to purchase through the Oxfam Supply centre. - Learning/applicability elsewhere:
Container based toilets are an additional option to address sanitation needs where conventional means are not
appropriate – e.g. difficult ground conditions (rock, collapsible soil, flood prone areas) or where there are
restrictions for digging or permanent structures. Although designed for urban slum contexts, there are many
similarities with displacement camps. Practically toilet units stack and nest for ease of transport so lend
themselves for rapid deployment in a humanitarian context. As a household level toilet, it potentially provides a
dignified solution for people who are unable to access, or afraid using, shared sanitation facilities, e.g. elderly,
people living with special needs, women and children.
CBS has not been proven at scale in a humanitarian context. Before considering whether container (CBS) is
appropriate it is essential to consider how waste will be managed. On a small scale CBS may be appropriate as
self supply/management with users being responsible for emptying waste in nearby latrines. As numbers increase
so does public health risk through unsafe disposal of waste by some individuals. At relatively low numbers (50+)
it may become viable as a livelihood opportunity to service toilets. It is worth noting that it has taken Sanergy
almost 10 years to establish their business and get to a point where they are now able to take CBS to scale. - Additional Information:
Project documents (Box link), CBS implementation guide; World Bank evaluation of CBS. A critical factor for the
success of this project was time and flexibility afforded by the WIF funding. Innovation also takes time, in this
case ten years from conceptualisation to completion (and it is still ongoing). Oxfam identified a very strong Kenyan
partner (Sanergy) and gave them space to lead the project. Several funding streams have enabled this project: WIF
£25K (2010-2011), HECA innovation fund £35K (2012-13), £62,588 (2016-17), $US30,000 Emergency Sanitation
Project (2018)
Contact person: Brian McSorley, PHE Advisor, GHT, brian.mcsorley@oxfam.org
The
The final toilet product being modelled by a Sanergy employee
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