Tracks of Change: The Journey from Drop-Chute Toilets to a Thriving Sanitation Economy 

It is 2010. I am on a field trip sponsored, rather grudgingly, by my undergraduate degree – an excursion to a hill station about 12 hours via train. Our supervisors – teachers coerced into putting extra hours in shepherding us around – are fast asleep at 10 P.M.  

I often have a tendency to pick the wrong kind of friend who, in turn, has no qualms in asking me to accompany them in pursuits I would rather stay away from. The latest pursuit, in this case, was when my friend Maya comes rushing to me just as I am climbing up to the upper berth for the pillow and blanket waiting for me, to mention, out of breath – that her current romantic interest was willing to share half a cigarette he found, with her, in the train toilet – and would she accompany me on this endeavor. I ventured to ask her why she needed me when it was already half a cigarette – and I don’t smoke or wish to engage in fumes in a small, closeted area which is no doubt already filled with other unappetizing scents – and without having anyone interesting to look at for myself, as well? She looked at me as how one’s puppy looks at its master when the master chooses to eat a delicious, well-prepared meat whilst having fed the puppy some sort of mass manufactured dog meal. 

So out I get begrudgingly. The person of interest in question was already inside and had taken the cleanest spot – right next to the wash basin. My friend joined him there quite enthusiastically – leaving me to the unfortunate destiny of having to stand right on top of the toilet – in this case, a pit latrine. While they exchanged brief verbal flirtations, I being the pillar of moral support and a bodyguard – did not have much to say – and happened to notice that I could see the rails passing by through the hole from the latrine. This made me realise that when one uses this latrine, it falls directly on the rails.  

This was almost 15 years ago. Just 15 years ago, in India, the waste that fell on rails (known as drop-chute toilets) not only caused disruption to the functioning of the train on the tracks, but also required waste to be removed manually – through the practice of manual scavenging. People were employed to individually remove waste from tracks by hand. In the early 2000s, this meant managing and treating excreta from 9,000 trains, which serve around 14 million passengers daily. This would mean approximately 274,000 liters of excreta was discharged onto railway tracks every day. 

The Indian Railways has since then installed bio toilets in most of trains operating via the government platform for railways – and a Union Minister also issued a statement in 2022 that no manual scavengers are now employed with the Indian Railways. Most of these bio-toilets are built in partnership with startups such as Aikon Technology or Banka Bioloo – who respond to tenders to build bio-toilets in individual trains.  

Traditional flush toilets, which consume 10 times the average daily drinking water requirement, are not suitable for countries with limited access to water or sewerage networks – and definitely not viable for a moving train. Bio-toilets work by using a bio-digester, a tank that contains a specific blend of bacteria, to break down human waste into water, methane gas, and a small amount of solid residue. The solid residue is often made into compost, unlocking yet another market opportunity – learn more about its environmental and economic benefits here 

As of 2022, the Indian Railway, in partnership with these organisations, have built over 80,000 bio-toilets in passenger coaches. This is just one example of a successful partnership between a private enterprise and a public body –such partnerships are
crucial to ending the global sanitation crisis by 2030. Below are three successful and profitable examples: 

The first case is of  Lootel, a company that operates smart toilet cafés offering premium unisex washrooms on a pay-use-redeem model, where users pay for restroom access and redeem the fee toward food and beverages.  

The partnership between Lootel and the Government of Indore arose when the government outsourced the operation and maintenance of public toilets to Lootel due to difficulties in maintaining them in-house without a dedicated revenue model. Read case study here 

Garv Toilets and the Delhi Metro Rail is another instance of a successful partnership between public and private entities, ensuring access to clean and safe sanitation facilities. Garv Toilet’s Hubs generates revenue through multiple streams, including outdoor advertising (50%), user and subscription fees (35%), and retail kiosks (15%). Garv Toilets enhanced the project’s appeal by initially offering 50% of the profit from outdoor advertising to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC). Their 20-year contract with DMRC provided a stable and reliable foundation for anchoring their business model.  Read case study here. 

Banka Bioloo launched six pilot projects in rural Odisha, where the Central government plans to install 1,000 bio-toilets over a 90 km stretch. With ₹1,000 crore allocated to the bio-toilet initiative covering 1,000 panchayats across India, this presents a significant business opportunity. The custom-made toilets, priced between ₹15,000 and ₹18,000 each, highlight the profitability and scalability of bio-toilets as a viable business, particularly with substantial government backing. Read case study here 

It is with no doubt that the sanitation sector presents a compelling investment opportunity – by 2030, the Sanitation Economy is projected to reach USD $493.9 billion in Asia, $76.8 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa, and $19.2 billion in Latin America. To harness fully this potential, a skilled workforce is essential, creating sustainable and dignified livelihoods. Jobs in this sector are resilient, as waste management and sanitation are essential services that remain in demand regardless of economic cycles, recessions, or other disruptions. New technological advancements in sanitation have transformed the human-waste interface into a human-machine-waste interface, enhancing scalability and efficiency. This not only improves the effectiveness of sanitation services but also restores dignity to workers in this field.  

In India we are taking fast and meaningful steps to change the status quo of undignified handling of waste, and access to sanitation. Manual scavenging and the handling of waste has always been traditionally allocated by caste, and these government and private partnerships have led the path towards abolishing it – but not without the help of strategic capital. Banka Bioloo, having raised multiple rounds of capital, is now a listed company in India, a beacon of inspiration for all of us working in sanitation – and hopefully, a guiding light for investors to see the profitability, and impact, of enterprises in this sector.  
 
We match progressive investors with promising innovation. Register here to learn more about investment opportunities with sanitation businesses. 

Author: Malavika Ravi, Accelerator & Investment Manager Email: ravi@toiletboard.org

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