a Sanitation Economy can be built, turning an unaffordable cost into a thriving economy.

Public finance alone cannot solve the sanitation crisis, but – together with business – a Sanitation Economy can be built.

The business framing of sanitation

The Toilet Board Coalition pioneered the Sanitation Economy – a market-based approach to the sanitation system that builds on innovative business models and strategic collaborations to provide customer-centric & sustainable sanitation products and services to everyone, everywhere.

Products and services range from toilet access to collection and transportation, digitised sanitation, and its reuse – where output products are sold back to local businesses or utilised on site.

This approach allows businesses to thrive while serving low-income markets, driving engagement towards SDG 6 – sanitation for all by 2030.

Sign up for Sanitation Economy 101, our 3-module course exploring the history, potential, and real-life impact of the Sanitation Economy. 

Sanitation Economy 101 is currently available in English. It will also be available in French and Spanish later this year.

Sign up for: Sanitation Economy 101

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Toilet marketplace

ACCESS Businesses offer customer-centric solutions that provide safe, sustainable, and climate-resilient sanitation for all, including products and services for toilet access and the realisation of menstrual health and personal hygiene. Whether in public or private settings, this spans centralised and decentralised systems, rural, urban and peri-urban settings.

CIRCULAR SANITATION MARKETPLACE

TRANSPORT Where and when necessary resource collection and transportation technologies bring resources to treatment facilities. In some situations, this treatment may be on-site. 

TREAT Resource recovery plants replace traditional waste management with a circular economy approach. Connecting the biocycle, they use multiple forms of biological waste, recovering nutrients and water, and creating value-adding products. 

RE-USE The output products are sold back to local businesses or utilised on-site:

  • Industrial & forestry re-use of treated wastewater
  • Agricultural re-use of nutrients and organic matter; compost, fertilisers, nitrogen and phosphorus
  • Protein ‘meal’ for pet and farm animal feed, or oils for cosmetics
  • Public, private or industrial use of energy products; fuel, electricity, heat
  • Industrial use of innovative products; bio-plastics, faecal matter for pharmaceutical regenerative health products

SMART SANITATION MARKETPLACE

The entire process is smart, where digitised sanitation systems optimise data for operating efficiencies, and maintenance, plus consumer use and health information insights.

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