A loo made from horse poo could be set to change the world.
London-based industrial designer Virginia Gardiner has created a waterless toilet — made of horse dung.
The “compact, composting toilet” is 90 per cent horse manure and is designed to help the 2.6billion people globally — 40 per cent of the world’s population — who do not have access to a proper loo.
Ms Gardiner aims to “turn waste into a commodity” and hopes that the new design will cut death and waterborne illnesses around the world.
The “Loo Watt” — named to reflect its dual role as a loo and source of biofuel — is a sealed storage device for human waste.
Once the loo is full, it is sealed and taken to a bio-digester where it can be converted into biofuel, which can then be used for cooking.
Ms Gardiner chose manure as a packaging material as it is a “carbon rich, biodegradable material” that aids methane production, in order to create the biofuel.
“People are often surprised it’s made of poop — it has a pleasant softness as a material” Ms Gardiner said.
The Loo Watt has been recognised in the AIGA Aspen Design Challenge — an award for a creative design to raise awareness of the global water crisis — and was a finalist in the Buckminster Fuller Challenge, a $100,000 (£61,000) prize awarded to support an idea that has the potential to solve humanity’s most pressing problems.
This article was first published in Horse & Hound (30 July, ’09)