The Inspiration Phase of the project was intense, with scores of interviews needed to

understand all facets of the design challenge. “Because sanitation is a systems-level

challenge we knew that we couldn’t just design Clean Team’s toilet,” says team member

and designer .

After six weeks of talking with sanitation experts, shadowing a toilet operator, digging

into the history of sanitation in Celaya, and talking to scads of Ghanaians, key insights

about what the toilet should look like and how waste should be collected emerged.

An important historical note came out too: For years Ghana had night soil collectors,

people who cleaned out bucket latrines each night. But because many night soil collectors

dumped human waste in the streets, night soil collection was banned in the 1990s as a

threat to public health. This meant the team could leverage an existing behavior around

in-home waste removal, but they would have to avoid any association with illegal

dumping.

IDEATION

This was a lightning-fast phase in the project, one that leapt from learnings to prototypes

in seven weeks. After brainstorming with its partners and everyday Ghanaians, the team

determined which direction to take and began testing its ideas. What aesthetics did

people like? Would a urine-diverting toilet work? Were people comfortable with

servicemen coming into their homes? Where in the home would the toilet go? Can you

design a toilet that can only be emptied at a waste management facility?

By building a handful of prototypes and modifying existing portable toilets, the team got

tangible elements of the service into the hands of Ghanaians. They learned how the

service should be positioned, early ideas around marketing and promotion, as well as

certain technical limitations, namely that though flush functions appeared popular early

in the goings, water scarcity was a major factor to contend with.

IMPLEMENTATION

Once the service offerings, and look and feel of the toilet were more or less fleshed out,

WSUP ran a Live Prototype of the Clean Team service. Because tooling for toilet

manufacture is so expensive, WSUP used off-the-shelf cabin toilets, which approximated

about 80% of the toilets that IDEO.org would design, to test the service. They got great

results, went ahead with manufacturing, and as of 2012, the toilets are in production,

sport IDEO.org’s branding, and have found their way into the lives of over 1,000 people.

ideas. The design team suspected that having someone come into subscribers’ homes to

collect and dispose of waste would be an element of Clean Team’s offer. The specter of

night soil collectors and a history of illegal dumping made it critical from a systems level,

but would users accept it?

When the team discussed the idea with people, they heard that consumers would be

happier disposing of their own waste if it could save them money. Potential subscribers

were also reluctant to allow service people into their homes.

Though the team had a hunch about how the service would have to work, they put the

idea to test by running a prototype. By enacting even just a portion of the eventual Clean

Team service, the designers could learn how people would react not just to toilets in their

homes, but also to others emptying them.

The design team began the prototype by putting a few portable toilets in the homes of

potential subscribers. After a short time, they came back to hear people’s thoughts and

reactions.

Though the toilets themselves were popular, people quickly came to realize the value of

someone else taking care of waste disposal. Once potential subscribers experienced what

it meant to have a full toilet, and how involved proper waste disposal would be, their

desires changed.

“This was a great example of a time when asking people to tell you what they want doesn’t

always give you the information that you need. “Giving people the ability to test things

totally changed their perspective.”

Though the team was happy to have their hunch confirmed, an even bigger win was

learning that potential subscribers would actually prefer the more sanitary route. This

key piece of information set the team on a path to design waste disposal and

servicepeople into the Clean Team system.

