Assessment of simple sanitation systems 3 - kitchen and tolet waste - amounts and composition in relation to diet

Simple, cheap and well functioning wastewater systems are needed for improving the life of the 2.6 billion people presently without even a toilet. Such systems are also needed for the expaning areas of scattered houses, e.g. in vacation districts.

We have, with support from Sida, installed such a simple and cheap system in six houses in East London, South Africa. The system has dry urine diversion toilets. The faeces are thus collected dry, mixed only with wiping material and some soil. This faecal waste will then be thermally composted, at a temperature above 50 degrees C.

The project consists of measuring the amounts and composition of the kichen and toilet (urine and faeces) waste from the six houses, and the relationship to diet and time at home. The measurements will be done during a 3-4 week period and will be done in collaboration with other students measuring on the other components of the sanitation system. This project is done in collaboration between Stockholm Environment Institute, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, University of KwaZulu Natal and Buffalo City Municipality.