How do we build toilets that are simple, cost effective and easy to maintain?

From remote areas like the mountains of Nepal, to crowded cities like Dahka in Bangladesh - the resources and space available for building toilets can really vary in the countries we work.

To make sure the toilets we build last, we always use technology best suited to the area, with materials that are available locally, including spare parts. It's also important that local people can learn how to fix and maintain them, so the toilets keep working long into the future.

Here are some of our most-used types of toilet...

For some communities in Cambodia the Tonle Sap river is home. So when your toilet is floating, how do you safely get rid of your waste? The solution: the HandyPod.

This clever yet simple toilet treats waste on the spot and produces fertiliser for families to use on crops at the same time!

VIP stands for ‘ventilated improved pit’ - a cheap and simple toilet to build with local materials. In a VIP latrine the waste drops into an enclosed pit below. To deal with issues like the smell and flies, a pipe runs out of the pit and away from the toilet building. Then when the pit is full, the waste is taken out and away for treatment.

toilet-technology-vip-latrine
Without the latrine there were so many issues and it impacted our health, but now we have a latrine we are living better.
Fati (right), Burkina Faso

How do you remove waste from a toilet pit? With a Gulper!

Julius, a sanitation worker from Tanzania, explains "our work is making a big difference because people are not sick as much. Since the Gulper, the number of cholera outbreaks have gone down.”

Julius Chisengo, 49, sanitation worker, standing in front of his gulper after a long day of emptying latrines, Kigambon-Umawa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, June, 2019.
Image: WaterAid/James Kiyimba

See how toilets change lives

The toilet technology we build can make a world of difference to people's dignity, safety and health.

Buy a loo for someone

Mark a special occasion with a gift that is truly life-changing. Send a bog in a bag, a bog builder or a VIP latrine, to name just a few.