Community toilets can yield nutrient-rich fertilizer. A new type
of public toilet is helping people in Haiti make fertilizer from
human waste, a project that may someday revive the country’s
degraded farmland, curb disease, and create jobs. - by Christine
Dell’Amore, National Geographic News, October 26, 2011 Since
2006 the U.S. nonprofit Sustainable Organic Integrated
Livelihoods (SOIL) has been installing public toilets in Haiti,
where 80 percent of the population has no access to sanitation.
Most Haitians are forced to dispose of their waste in waterways,
plastic bags, or even abandoned buildings, according to SOIL.
Any existing toilets are often poorly designed, with waste
flushing straight into rivers or groundwater. (Related: “World
Water Day Focus on Global Sewage Flood.”) Such practices mean
that human feces easily get into the water supply, which can
cause waterborne diseases such as cholera, currently at epidemic
levels in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention