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The world needs more toilets – but not ones that flush.  

According to a 2017 article on The Conversation website, most wastewater flushing toilets create – more than 80% of the wastewater worldwide – this goes directly back into the environment. No treatment, no use, just a lot of open sewers. An eco-friendly ablution solution is desperately needed.

The headline of the above article is: The world needs more toilets – but not ones that flush. Sanitech agrees with this notion.

Many people may not know this, but flushing toilets can negatively impact the environment.

Environmental impacts of flushing toilets:

1. Flushing and Water Use Toilets use a lot of clean, treated water. The same water feeding your toilet also flows to your taps; this is clean, treated water that is suitable for drinking. Remember, we have a global water crisis.
2. Toilet Energy Use Most flush toilets and sewers use a gravity-fed system and don’t require electricity- which is another crisis we are currently facing. However, many buildings with multiple floors require water to be pumped to bathrooms.
3. Toilet Paper and Environment Traditionally, toilet tissue is used to avoid blockages when using a flushing toilet. Except, of course, if you use a bide. According to an article in The World Counts, 42 million tons of toilet paper are used globally annually. The production of this toilet paper requires 712 million trees. 1,165 million tons of water and 78 million tons of oil.

The environment is fragile, and we need to mitigate our impact on it. It may sound like a long reach, but using an eco-friendly toilet in our homes and commercial properties can lessen the negative impacts of toilet use. 

How to reduce the environmental impacts of flushing toilets

Fortunately, there are numerous options to help us reduce the environmental impacts of our toilet use. These options include:

• Low-flow WaterSense Toilets – These toilets meet both water efficiency and flushing performance requirements. They use less water per flush than other low-flow options.
• Low-flow single-flush systems – Specifically designed to allow the removal of feaces and excreta with less water.
• Dual flush systems –Designed for choice between a half or full flush when disposing of liquid waste or solid waste.
• Bidet Fittings and Toilets - Modern bidets spray a targeted stream of water exactly where needed.
• Waterless Composting Toilets - These toilets provide the right environment for human waste, toilet paper as well as other organic materials to break down via a natural process
• Waterless Incinerating toilets - These toilets send waste to an incinerator to be burned.

These are all suitable options. They will help you save water and manage waste. However, are they practical and economically viable? Specifically on construction sites or in mines?

Sanitech: New Improved Concept Toilet (NIC)

Waterless toilets, for instance, can cost between R50 000,00 to 70 000,00. Thus, this option is not feasible. Mine owners, or the responsible persons, have to ensure that they provide workers with dignified ablution facilities that are not too expensive to acquire and also eco-friendly.

Even if it’s not listed above, such an option exists, and Sanitech can provide it. We have portable toilets for underground mines. Sanitech’s new and improved concept toilet has the following benefits:

• Easily transportable – can be moved in sloping areas with low ground clearance.
• Low combustibility – ideal in mines with a high ignition risk e.g., coal mines.
• Have a rotating bowl mechanism - Nanotechnology coating creates a slippery surface in the bowl, allowing the debris to clear without using water.
• Security for women - the lockable inside mechanism and PPE hook for overalls and lamp packs.
• Sealed, removable canister - minimises spillage and makes servicing easier.
• No feacal exposure - no exposure to waste (visually or physically) makes it more hygienic to users, the environment, and servicing team.

The Sanitech New Improved Concept (NIC) toilet is a portable toilet unit that is freestanding with a self-contained water supply that operates without cables, pipes, or connections to water or electricity. It is available in 2 heights and can be assembled underground. This option is especially suitable for refuge bays due to height restrictions.

Our New Improved Concept toilets check all the boxes of the issues mentioned in this article.

• Dignified.
• Eco-friendly.
• Save water.
• Affordability.

Most of the toilets used in mines currently are simply not adequate anymore. South African mines still use the open-type drum toilet, which has several health implications and degrades the dignity of users and those who clean the drums.

The waste that accumulates inside the drum is visible and spreads noxious fumes harmful to mine workers. Additionally, pests can spread disease if they enter the toilets and move through the mine or come into contact with food or water supplies.

This is all avoidable with the NIC toilet because, as mentioned, it uses nano-technology to prevent debris from sticking to the bowl and is lockable. This is a more hygienic, dignified, and secure solution for miners underground and aboveground.

Sanitech can restore the dignity of workers and do your part to help conserve the planet one toilet at a time. Contact Sanitech for your first New Improved Concept (NIC) toilet order.